Blockpass unveils blockchain-based “Passport for a Connected World”
Blockpass IDN today unveiled the “Passport for a Connected World” — the first fully decentralized, fully compliant blockchain based identity verification platform.
The goal of Blockpass is global realization of identity for the Internet of Everything. Through the use of Ethereum blockchain technology and smart contracts, Blockpass is a Regtech platform offering shared regulatory and compliance services for humans, companies, objects and devices.
As this identity system supports verification of humans (KYC), objects (KYO) and connected devices (KYD), it will enable the development of new applications that rely on a trusted connection between human, corporate, and device identities.
Solving Problems of the Blockchain Ecosystem
In the initial phase, Blockpass will serve as the much needed identity solution for the blockchain ecosystem and its businesses.
The blockchain ecosystem has a rapidly growing economy with an upsurge of crypto-token offerings, the entrance of hundreds of millions of dollars in investment, as well as the establishment of new token exchanges, crypto-cards, money transfer platforms and utility tokens for various different industries.
In this ecosystem, there is a major need for an identity protocol to allow for compliant interactions on public, permissionless blockchain protocols. Most governments require or will require that blockchain businesses and crypto-tokens follow regulatory anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) requirements when bringing on customers or investors. However, such identity verifications take several days or weeks to complete, slowing down user onboarding and leading to significant barriers to entry. The cost of compliance for blockchain businesses is extremely high, representing as much as 20% of their total operating costs.
“Blockpass is a platform-as-a-service designed to solve this problem. Blockpass is a shared infrastructure for blockchain businesses to share a verified user base and reduce this cost of on-boarding customers,” said Hans Lombardo, Chief Marketing Officer of Blockpass IDN.
The surge in the amount of token offerings or initial coin offerings (ICO) is particularly compelling for the Blockpass business model. Many ICOs have raised significant funds but do so without verifying the identity of investors. Some projects have raised over USD200 million completely from anonymous investors. Fearing money laundering, terrorist financing and ponzi schemes, governments around the world plan greater regulation of token offerings and the blockchain ecosystem in general. Some countries, like China and South Korea, have completely outlawed ICOs altogether.
Lombardo noted, “with its built in Regtech and identity verification system, Blockpass is thus well positioned to be the regulatory “gold standard” for crypto-token issuance and customer onboarding for banks, credit cards, exchanges and money transfer platforms operating in the blockchain ecosystem.”
Blockpass will offer a way to:
- Help blockchain businesses reduce their compliance costs
- Protect the identity and personal data of the user of the system
- Systematically address blockchain’s need for Regtech and identify verification
- Provide privacy in the form of an identity verification system that is compliant with next generation data protection regulations
The immediate product features of the Blockpass platform will engender significant benefits and cost savings. Developers will be able to design standard tokens that plug into Blockpass meaning that the transaction can be performed and achieve full compliance in minutes.Using the protocol, Ethereum blockchain startups will be able to launch a fully compliant token into the market that permits the easy onboarding of existing KYC members from Blockpass. Digital currency exchanges and other digital currency merchants will be able to partner with Blockpass IDN, enabling a simple ‘single sign-on’ process for both existing and new Blockpass users who want to join those partners’ services. This means that exchanges and other blockchain merchants will reduce their on-boarding friction and cost substantially.
Identity for the Internet of Everything
Subsequent phases of the Blockpass platform’s rollout will include an identity creation and verification system for connected devices and objects. This will establish Blockpass as a secure conduit between humans, companies and devices. Blockpass will not only allow for greater security and interoperability in the Internet of Everything, it will enable seamless ownership transfer, rental or sharing of devices as well as the development of many highly efficient next generation applications.
“With machine-to-machine communication, how does one validate “identities” and secure data at such massive scale. In the first wave, identities related to people, in the second wave it now includes sensors and devices.” — Manufacturing Tomorrow, 2016
In summary, Blockpass IDN is going to reduce the cost of compliance significantly for blockchain merchants, make compliance attractive for users through incentive ‘mining’ schemes, protect the personal data of users, and create a seamless and secure environment for human to device interactions.
In early 2017, Infinity Blockchain Labs (IBL) and Chain of Things (CoT) formed a joint venture to work on a universal identity verification platform that now is Blockpass. Based in Ho Chi Minh City, IBL is a R&D company engaged in intermediary and RegTech services employing blockchain technology. Based in Hong Kong, CoT is dedicated to leveraging the nexus between blockchain and IoT to help establish standards for device identity and to enable greater IoT security and interoperability.
