Why Use Blockchain for Digital Key Management?
Digital Key Market Growth and Trends
In recent years, various industries including finance, supply chain, real estate, and art have undergone a transition to the Web 3.0 era, with blockchain technology at the forefront. In the access control industry, digital keys have become a part of the accelerating digitization trend.
Gone are the days when physical keys were the only means of access, and losing a key meant changing every lock. Now, digital door locks have become ubiquitous, and biometric technologies like voice, face, and iris recognition are enabling contactless access. Smart door locks also provide remote access control and access history, making them highly convenient.
The rise of mobile technology has increased demand for new services, with companies offering integrated solutions like simple payment services in a single app. Digital keys are no exception, providing customers with greater convenience. In fact, as of 2022, over 180 million digital keys are already in use, and this number is expected to grow by 18% annually through 2026.
As digital keys became more widespread, some cloud service providers introduced solutions that integrated access control systems requiring high security. However, cloud-based digital keys are not always user-friendly. This is because cloud service providers, not users, have ownership and control over the management of digital keys. As a result, users may face the inconvenience of having to distribute and manage an increasing number of digital keys.
A Transparent and reliable way to manage digital keys
For digital keys to fulfill their essential purpose of “protecting mine,” they must exist independently and be entirely owned by users. This is why the integration of blockchain servers is becoming increasingly necessary in the digital key market. Blockchain servers enable transparent management of all digital keys, including ownership transfer to users. This provides users and companies with the convenience of digital keys while reducing management costs and minimizing plastic waste.
These advantages make blockchain-based digital keys that provide open environments and standardized protocols appealing to users and space managers. In the Web 3.0 era, we can expect digital keys to becoming the key to new experiences that we have never seen before.
While general digital keys require central servers, which can cause significant inconvenience in server interruption, blockchain-based digital keys can continue to function even if the server is down due to disasters or company closures.
According to CEO Kim Do-hyun, decentralized blockchain access systems are more useful to users because they are always available, even if a company fails or experiences server issues.
Furthermore, Sesame Research Institute’s Chief Technology Officer Choi Min-kyu notes that blockchain technology is safer than other methods since it provides an immutable record that certain groups cannot change arbitrarily. The Sesame Research Institute uses its experience in constructing joint entrance doors and blockchain-based digital keys to provide middleware to companies needing safe access and security solutions.
The Community in Your Neighborhood on Digital Key App
The Keyring app, developed by the Sesame Project, utilizes blockchain features to provide digital key services. Beyond simply replacing physical keys, it also allows residents of a certain neighborhood to create and communicate with local communities. The app even enables nearby businesses to sell products and services to the community and tracks the consumption trends of neighboring residents. There are about 180,000 Keyring users in the Seoul metropolitan area, with plans to expand to other regions and reach 1 million users by the end of the year. We also announced the plan to the establishment of Singapore corporation and the plan to expand the global market in January. As the world moves towards digitization, we are studying how best to manage digital keys and integrate them into the growing IoT market.
