The Path to Digital Identity: What roles can this Play in the Government?
One key for every individual, for all services
As the world goes digital, gaps in regulation and government systems are becoming apparent. The demands of the rapidly digitizing global population are growing, and the systems that used to work no longer suffice.
But governments need to look no further for the solution, and there is no need to look for more than one channel. We recognize these challenges and are responding accordingly with a single platform to solve the new-age dilemmas in governance.
Consensus AI as a national identity system has massive implications for government services. Here, we discuss what these implications are and how we are building a full solution system through the Sentient Network to ensure that governments keep up with the evolution of the digital age.
Financial inclusion: giving everyone access to services
Identifying the unbanked and enabling them to take part in trade and access services is one of the most significant benefits to establishing a “universal” ID system. There are 1.1 billion people who don’t have an ID at all, and therefore cannot access basic services; they can’t even open bank accounts.
“An officially-recognized form of ID is the key enabler — critical not only for exercising a wide range of rights but also for accessing healthcare, education, finance, and other essential services,” the World Bank stated in a post, or as they put it “Counting the uncounted.”
Financial inclusion has been proven to be correlated to a society’s overall economic progress. World Bank Director of Research Asli Demirgüç-Kunt, along with Leora Klapper and Dorothe Singer of the institution’s Finance and Private Sector Research Team of the Development Research Group, wrote a paper outlining the link between financial inclusion and economic growth.
“Access to formal financial services allows people to make financial transactions more efficiently and safely and helps poor people climb out of poverty by making it possible to invest in education and business. By providing ways to manage income shocks like unemployment or the loss of a breadwinner, financial inclusion can also prevent people from falling into poverty in the first place.”
The research asserts that the effects of financial inclusion stretch beyond the individuals who are direct beneficiaries, and impacts society on a much broader scale.
“Financial inclusion also benefits society more broadly. Shifting payments from cash into accounts allows for more efficient and more transparent payments from governments or businesses to individuals — and from individuals to government or businesses. Although no conclusive evidence exists at this point, access to the formal financial system and appropriate credit can potentially facilitate investments in education and business opportunities that could, in the long term, boost economic growth and productivity.”
The “money” implications of Consensus
Aside from the substantial reduction of costs and human hours, machine learning plays a significant role in unleashing significant financial implications of the technology. What machine learning delivers in this aspect is the identification of opportunities for individuals who are otherwise dismissed by traditional banking institutions due to poor credit history, or the lack of any history on which to base risk analysis altogether.
Machine learning can use other factors and individual histories and patterns to create more accurate assessments of risks and model possible outcomes, as well as the best possible agreements, which can be finalized in smart contracts.
Having its own native cryptocurrency, the SEN, disbursement of loans and benefits is integrated into the platform, enabling the transfer of value fast and at very little cost. It is through this cryptocurrency that the economy can flow: rewards and incentives, payments and compensation, loans, even crowdfunding for projects.
Through Consensus, processes that used to be done manually can be automated, including filing forms, contracts, and issuance of payments and receipts. Citizens that need services may not even need to be physically present at an agency’s office — a blockchain-based identity system can be used to verify the person redeeming benefits, what those benefits are, and instantly record the transaction onto the ledger. What we end up with is a system that is far more resistant to fraud, yet requires far fewer resources. It increases productivity, efficiency, satisfaction, and above all else, public trust.
