Digital Identity: Canada Plans Blockchain Solution

Soon, Canadians will be able to verify their digital identity using blockchain technology. The security company SecureKey develops together with IBM software.

Whether driver's license, ID card or bank information - everything should be confirmed by the use of apps in the future. In the first half of next year, Canadians will be able to sign up online for the new digital identity system, the press release said. With the program, one can then prove his identity to banks, telephone providers and governments with an app.

The technology should also make it easier for users to control their personal data. You can use the blockchain to privately share your data without having to go through a public registry. This avoids having to create publicly accessible or hackable databases - the trend is towards decentralization.

"What IBM is creating with SecureKey and members of the Digital Identity Ecosystem in Canada will be crucial to solving the toughest questions about (digital) identity. This method is a completely new approach to identity verification. Together with SecureKey we have a head start to transfer the whole thing to the blockchain ",

says Marie Wieck, chief executive of IBM Blockchain.

The system promises success and attracts large investors. Canada's six largest financial institutions, including Toronto-Dominion Bank and the Royal Bank of Canada, have invested a total of 30 million Canadian dollars (approximately 20 million euros) in the project. The three largest telecommunications companies have also been involved in the project.

Digital identity on the smartphone

This is how the whole thing works: A user signs up for a loan online at an institute. Then you have to verify the customer. His identity, creditworthiness, income, etc. A usually rather tedious process. With the new system, the institute should send a request to the user's phone.

If this request is then confirmed, the provider gets all the information bundled and can then grant the credit (or not). The identity of the person is thus confirmed in the digital domain entirely without an intermediary via smartphone and app - the person holding the device in the hand must finally attest only by swiping that the digital identity belongs to his offline self.

However, Canada is not only concerned with identity issues with blockchain technology. Only in September, the North American state decided for a regulated ICO status. Furthermore, it was announced earlier this month to support the legal cannabis distribution with the technology.