Blockchain and Identity

Projects/companies working on blockchain and identity (pull requests welcome):

• Namecoin is a blockchain that has been conceived from the start to be used for registering domain names. It is the first fork of the Bitcoin software.
• NameID is an OpenID service based on Namecoin identifiers.
• CertCoin is an MIT paper about a NameCoin-based decentralized authentication system which maintains a public ledger of domains and their associated public keys.
• ChainAnchor is MIT paper about an architecture that adds an identity and privacy-preserving layer above the blockchain, either the private blockchain or the public blockchain in Bitcoin.
• Blockstack is a network of computers that collectively maintain a global registry of domain names, public keys, and cryptographic hashes. With this registry, Blockstack serves as a decentralized domain name system (DNS) and a decentralized public key infrastructure (PKI). Onename is a product built on Blockstack that allows people to register identities.
• A workshop called “Rebooting the Web-of-Trust” has produced a paper about a Decentralized Public Key Infrastructure (DPKI), which registers identifiers and associated public keys on blockchains.
• The non-profit organization XDI.org has designed a blockchain-based registry for human-readable names and machine-readable numbers.
• Startup Consensys has developed a blockchain-based identity system called uPort to launch an “Internet-of-People”.
• Identit.ee is a program to build blockchain identity solutions related to the Estonian e-Residency concept.
• BitAlias allows users to register names in the Bitcoin blockchain and point them to their wallets.
• EtherID allows registration of domain names for an Ethereum account.
• ENS is the “Ethereal Namespace”, a contract system and set of conventions to form a hierarchical namespace.
• Ethereum Name Service is a naming system based on Ethereum smart contracts that provides registration of human-readable names, as well as resolution to service and resource identifiers. A name is registered by using an Ethereum dapp to enter an auction process for the desired name.
• Evernym is developing a public permissioned distributed ledger called Sovrin, which is designed specifically for "self-sovereign identity" and privacy-preserving cryptography. It is fully open source (FOSS) as project Indy within the Hyperledger family. Multiple white papers explain the the ideas and technologies behind it.
• At Ethereum’s DEVCON ONE conference, a talk on blockchain, digital identity, and public key infrastructure was given.
• Bitnation seeks to establish the concept of “world citizenship” through identity registration on the blockchain. The project is collaborating with the Estonian e-Residency program and also has a focus on offering "blockchain emergency IDs" to refugees.
• Linux foundation hyper ledger project looking to develop a cross-industry open standard with many big companies participating.
• ID2020 seeks to provide every child born after 2020 with a self sovereign digital identity, which helps reduce risks of trafficking and drive digital inclusion.
• Shocard is an early stage company developing an “identity platform” built on blockchain.
• A research team at Athens University of Economics and Business is working on “information-centric” networking and is exploring the use of blockchain technology for “content names”.
• The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is funding research on the "Applicability of Blockchain Technology to Privacy Respecting Identity Management"
• An MIT paper about "Decentralizing Privacy: Using Blockchain to Protect Personal Data".
• An Ethereum blog post about "Privacy on the Blockchain", including some thoughts about identity systems.
• Jolocom is developing a "SmartWallet" for everyone to own their personal digital identity, using Social Linked Data, WebID, and verifiable claims standards, as well as Ethereum smart contracts. The company focuses on decentralization and GDPR compliance, and is part of the E.U. AGILE IoT consortium.
• Danube Tech is collaborating with several other efforts to build blockchain-based identifier registration, data sharing, and messaging infrastructure.
• Scuttlebot is a "blockchain identity" protocol avoiding a singleton-based approach. It embraces subjectivity over consensus, e.g. each identity can publish messages that map their favorite pet name mappings for themselves and others. Patchwork is a user-facing decentralized messaging and sharing app based on Scuttlebot.
• Startup Cambridge Blockchain is working on an Identity Blockchain for validating secure digital identity documents, processing electronic signatures, and recording transactions.
• Proof-of-Individuality addresses the challenge to prove that a person only has one account within a system, without sacrificing the advantages of anonymity/pseudonymity. See here for a draft implementation using "virtual pseudonym parties".
• Regis is a platform that makes it easy to build, deploy, and manage decentralized registries on the Ethereum blockchain.
• SingleID An app that allows you to be in control of their online identity. It provides safe logins with no registration and no password.
• IDKeys is a distributed global identity system that registers cryptographic public keys on the Stellar blockchain.
• CheapID is a digital identity standard designed for use in conflicted environment like those many refugees or disaster victims may find themselves in.
• DIDs (Decentralized Identifiers) are a new type of identifier intended for digital identity that is "self-sovereign", i.e, fully under the control of the identity owner. DIDs resolve to DDOs (DID descriptor objects) and can be registered in different blockchains (using different "methods").
• A research project on registering WebIDs on the Ethereum blockchain, to be used for Linked Data and Solid.
• An article by the GSMA about the relationship between blockchain and identity.
• A snapshot of the identity landscape by oneworldidentity.com.
• Authenteq is an automatic identity verification platform that uses a facial recognition algorithm to create a digital identity on a blockchain.
• The Humanized Internet is building a prototype of an identity-as-a-service platform, relying on a blockchain system, to store legal IDs, property titles, education certificates, and medical records.
• Deloitte SmartID uses Ethereum smart contracts to store, endorse, share, and revoke attributes, in order to enable users to automate digital processes such as customer registration and commercial KYC checks.
• Master thesis about self-sovereign identity using blockchain technology by D.S. Baars.
• The Fermat project is a community working on the Internet of People, an open, decentralized infrastructure consisting of device-to-device communication, blockchain tokens, profile servers, and other components.
• Civic is a secure identity platform using a blockchain and biometrics on mobile devices, in order to provide multi-factor authentication without a username, password, third party authenticator, or physical hardware token.
• Air is a digital identity platform built on Hyperledger fabric, offering "chaincode" smart contracts and an API for third parties. It uses "XID" tokens based on the Bitcoin blockchain that are transfered upon successful identity transactions and trigger targeted advertising to the user.
• Blockchain Helix is building a platform that consists of "Identity as a Service", "Data as a Service" and "Blockchain as a Service". On this platform, different parties including individuals can manage and share both self-asserted and verified information. The company offers to increase the speed of KYC/AML processes while hughly decreasing the cost of onboarding.
• The Pillar Project is planning to offer a "Personal Data Locker" consisting of a wallet, browser, and token exchange. Personal assets will be put on a blockchain, and "Pillar" tokens will be issued.
• SecureKey Technologies and IBM are partnering to build a digital identity and attribute sharing network for Canadian consumers, using the permissioned, private Hyperledger Fabric blockchain.
• Consent is building a platform for trusted personal data applications and services, using Ethereum smart contracts to implement decentralized identifiers, verified credentials, consent receipts, a web of trust, and exchange of assets and value.
• Mooti offers an "identity chain" technology that makes it possible to issue and revoke verified claims (e.g. governmental, medical, financial, etc.). The platform uses elliptic curve cryptography (curve25519, secp256k1) and includes privay-enhancing features e.g. to obfuscate issuers and holders of claims. A lightweight mobile client is available.
• Banqu focuses on establishing "economic identity" for those who are excluded from the global economy. "Unbanked" individuals can use a blockchain to establish personal and financial records by connecting to their "banked" network (family, friends, small businesses, NGOs). This history of blockchain-based records helps to establish a baseline for future relationships with financial institutions.
• Vida Identity is a blockchain identity and authentication platform that enables distributed key revocation and reissuance. Access to data is always permissioned across applications and services.
• The Mathematical Mesh allows people to create "profiles" to help them secure and link together their devices. CryptoMesh is a proposal for a federated cloud infrastructure to support storage and retrieval of these profiles. Each portal provider in the CryptoMesh maintains a linked log (aka blockchain) of all the profile updates published to it. At regular intervals, each portal provider publishes the last output of the linked log as a "witness value".
• Spidchain offers a platform for self-sovereign identity, including desktop and mobile apps for end-users. It uses Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) - backed by optionally Bitcoin or Ethereum - to implement a marketplace for verifiable claims. The Spidchain applications allow individuals to create, recover, and revoke DIDs, to authenticate, to sign and verify files and claims, and more.
• Redd-ID is a naming service that allows usernames to be registered on the Reddcoin blockchain. Usernames are public and searchable. Usernames can be associated with rich information such as public and private user profile details. There is an ability to link usernames to social network identities. The system supports operations familiar from the DNS world, such as expiration, renewal, and transfer.
• Pro-civis offers an "e-government as a service" platform called "eID+". It enables citizens to get an official, electronic Citizen-ID on a mobile app, which can be used for secure and convenient login to websites, and the electronic signing and safe storage of documents. Verification providers such as state authorities can use a web backend or an API to attest to the correctness of a citizen's personal data.
• Cicada is a Dapp platform built initally for a "direct democracy" use case. It envisions using iris scans to generate decentralized universal identifiers ("HUIDs") for every human on the planet, a method referred to as "biocryptics". "HUIDs" can have "sub-IDs" to support selective disclosure. PII can be stored in an "info wallet". Key parts of the system also include smart contracts, zero-knowledge proofs, mixnets, and more.
• ÆVATAR is a cooperative originating in France and established in several different countries that works on delivering self-sovereign identity technologies, using distributed ledger technology and verified claims. It is guided by various regulations and principles such as the GDPR, eIDAS, the UN's ID2020 objectives, and the CEN Workshop 84 standardization body.
• ÆTERNITY is a novel blockchain focusing on improved smart contract capabilities such as better scalability and easier integration of off-chain data. It uses value tokens called "aeons". It offers an identity architecture where every account has a unique ID number, and unique names can be registered and linked to arbitrary data such as addresses on the blockchain. Schema.org's data structures are used for representing data about persons and organizations.
• BitID is a an authentication protocol based on Bitcoin identities, supported by some of the Bitcoin wallets. It authenticates Bitcoin addresses by signing a cryptographic challenge (delivered e.g. via a QR code on a website) using a Bitcoin private key.
• 2WAY.IO is developing a peer-to-peer protocol for trust and identity on the Internet. It maintains "blockchain agnosticism", i.e. doesn't require but will be compatible with blockchain. Its architecture will be based on real-life social and economic structures of human civilizations.
• VerifyUnion is building a platform for "unique user profiles" based on verified digital information, social profiles and financial details, leading to a "social score". Tokens based on Ethereum are designed to incentivize users to both supply and evaluate personal data for verification.
• Trusted Key is a self-sovereign digital identity platform based on Ethereum. It offers a secure mobile identity wallet and REST API web services that enable definitive user identity verification, password-less login, as well as identity fraud prevention via secure transaction and document signing. The design supports handling lost, stolen or new device scenarios without having to trust any other party.
• Tradle offers a "global trust provisioning network" to provide blockchain-based KYC functionality for both "intrabank" and "external" transfers. Mobile and web interfaces as well as bots are available for both customers and employees of financial institutions.
• Nuggets is a blockchain platform giving users a single biometric tool for login, payment and identity verification. It stores an individual's information in a "personal cloud" in "zero-knowledge blockchain storage". A mobile app allows using the camera to add physical identity and payment cards.
• SelfKey is a self-sovereign identity technology stack with an open source identity wallet for the identity owner, a marketplace with real products and services, a JSON-LD protocol, connection to 3rd party identity micro services, and a native token called "KEY" which enables the SelfKey ecosystem to exchange value and data.
• Democracy Earth Foundation is developing "Sovereign", a blockchain direct democracy tool using "vote" tokens to grant democratic participation rights to every human. A proof-of-individuality (POI) process based on peer-to-peer validation establishes that a self-sovereign identity is uniquely tied to a single person. The project introduces a number of interesting socio-technical concepts such as "Social Smart Contract", "Initial Rights Offering", and "Cryptographically Induced Equality". Cooperation is happening with other decentralized identity initiatives such as Blockstack and uPort.