Bhutan Launches World’s First Decentralized National Digital Identity platform
The Kingdom of Bhutan has launched a national platform based on SSI and portable digital credentials for all citizens, businesses, foreign workers and tourists.
Bhutan launches world’s first Self-Sovereign National Identity platform.
The Kingdom of Bhutan through its Druk Holdings & Investment Group (DHI) has just launched a national platform based on SSI and portable digital credentials for all citizens, businesses, foreign workers and tourists.
Jacques von Benecke, CTO describes the path that brought them to develop this project, the technical and non-technical challenges they faced throughout and the future for this impressive body of work.
This guest presentation was held at the March 16, 2023 meeting of the Trust Over IP Foundation’s Ecosystem Foundry Working Group. To learn more about the Trust Over IP Foundation (ToIP) visit trustoverip.org.
Self Sovereign Identity for Government
This approach represents a shift from federated systems to decentralized architecture, explored in this Evernym webinar.
Andrew Tobin presenting explains this, walking through a federated model from 8m:47s, referencing the eIDAS scheme. An example of the difference is shown from 10m:24s, where he demonstrate the convoluted process required to login to a federated system.
From 12m:10s he then compares this to a decentralized SSI approach, highlighting the fast and ultra-simple method it enables, such as being able to log in without a username and password. Across relevant agencies there is global level support for the approach, such as at the European level there is the EIDAS support and ESSIF. Hackernoon explores the implications of SSI and GDPR.
The key strength of the SSI movement and capability is the fact it provides the Identity building blocks for the digital enablement of important organizational and relationship models, such as a ‘VON‘ – a Verifiable Organization Network, and Guardianship in SSI, a way of mirroring the dynamics of relationships when one person has care over another.
It will make possible everything from digital passports and birth certificates, through mobile driving licences, in short an end-to-end Digital Government. One of the leading SSI vendors is Evernym, and in their article From Stateless to Self-Sovereign they explain how this can be utilized at a global scale to provide digital citizenry capabilities for even the most difficult of scenarios.
Speaking at a Napier University conference, Will Abramson provides this introduction:
Also speaking at the Napier conference in this video Andy Tobin of Evernym proposes Scotland should develop their own ‘credential ecosystem’, emulating what has been pioneered in Alberta, Canada – The Alberta Credential Ecosystem.
In Alberta the state owned bank ATB Financial is building ‘ACE’, a local collaboration of organizations beginning to adopt SSI and achieve integrated services through sharing SSI credentials. Andy proposes Scotland replicates this same collaboration model.
Foundations for Next Generation Digital Government
Using examples of physical documents like drivers licences, Andy explains how these are identity credentials that are used to prove who we are to facilitate business processes, such as opening a new bank account, and the essence of Digital Identity is the digitization of these documents and these proofing functions, so that their equivalent purpose can be replicated online.