Vinny Lingham, CEO of Blockchain Identity Startup, CivicKey has stated that the world will be a safer place when people are in control of all their identity information, and on their devices and not sitting in a centralized database waiting to be stolen. The Bitcoin price prediction savant made this insightful pronouncement in an interview with CryptoCoinsNews about his new brainchild of Blockchain ID.
According to the World Bank Group’s Identification for Development, (ID4D), one in five people have no access to identification documents. In fact, statistics explain that 1.5 Billion people in the world today are incapable of proving their identity, which means they are unable to access a whole lot of services that are fundamental human rights.
Secure ID System
“Blockchain ID’s effectively give us a way of digitising artefacts of the past, such as passports and drivers licenses and moving them from the physical world where they can be easily forged to the digital world of blockchain where that is virtually impossible,” Lingham asserted. The statement brings to mind the Blockchain’s immutable and verifiable ability.
At the moment Civickey’s Blockchain ID is available only in the US, but Lingham has assured the world it will be available everywhere soon:
“We are launching verified accounts for the USA only and basic accounts worldwide on May 23rd at Consensus in New York. We will add additional countries for verification on a regular basis, and based on demand.”
Governments Are Supportive
Governments over the world today are also launching National Identity Programmes and claim it will assist in planning development programmes, which some experts disagree and hold it is a way to monitor citizens and control them. Someone will think governments might be jealous of a Blockchain Identity Scheme and come after its initiators, but the CEO of CivicKey thinks otherwise.
Lingham Revealed:
“Governments have been very supportive of what we are doing – creating secure methods for citizens to verify and transfer identity information, which they are in control of. Our platform works globally, and we don’t store any personal information on our servers – it’s all stored on the user device.”
Trust Vs. Reputation
Thanks to the invincibility of the Blockchain, decentralised trust and reputational systems can be created by the private sector devoid of government interference and manoeuvres. However, the South African Venture Capitalist explained Civic is only involved in identity. “Reputation is about what you have done – identity is about who you are,” he said. “We don’t make judgement calls – we just verify the facts.”
Motivation Behind Scheme
Apparently, Vinny Lingham’s upbringing in Southern Africa played a very crucial role in the initiation of this worthy project to put the identity information of individuals in their hands.
“I grew up in South Africa, during Apartheid and I was a witness to how “democracy” was undemocratic in that black (and “non-white” people such as myself) were excluded from the economy until Nelson Mandela freed South Africa from these shackles,” Lingham revealed what motivated him to create such a system.
He added:
“There are still millions of people in South Africa and the rest of the world, without a form of identity and who can’t participate in the democratic process. If we can give everyone in the world the ability to control and own their identity information, then I think the world will become a better place.”
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