Opinion piece: What are the benefits and problems arising in a future where blockchain allows individual citizens to control their own identity?

Many countries such as India and china have national identification systems. Self-sovereign identification is an excellent global identification system solution that cannot be altered and extremely secure. Users control their personal data and their online identities allowing greater personal data safety and reduced identity theft. It empowers individuals with the ability to control what they release leading to reduced redundant steps involved in identifying self, enhanced user experiences and security.

The use of a distributed ledger system removes the need for a central database allowing multiple parties to securely share information with each other. Estonian governments’ implementation of self-sovereign identification system has shown to reduce bureaucracy. Improved secure voting processes are another advantage of this system. Banco Santander recently conducted voting during its recent AGM assisted via a blockchain based identification system. Other use cases include: passports, e-residency, birth, death and marriage certificates etc.

Commercially this presents a significant opportunity for companies to significantly reduce burden on data protection and compliance. As an example, banks could reduce the heavy burden placed on them to monitor Identification and Money laundering.

However, blockchain identification systems are not without problems. Individuals still have the need to prove their own identity using a digital key, if lost, or locked due to incorrect use an administrator is required to roll back a transaction or give special access. As for a business intending to implement this system it would be a challenge educating their clientele regarding self-sovereign identifications. The system is also not 100% secure. In October 2017, a security vulnerability affected the 750,000 Estonian national ID cards.

Even so, the current identification verification methods are inefficient and insecure. With the momentum developing in blockchain it is inevitable that a more secure and more efficient self-sovereign identity system will be developed in the near horizon.