Brand Identity, Digital Identity and Crypto Aspirations
Debesh Choudhury, PhD
Information Security Researcher, Academician, Entrepreneur | Password & Cybersecurity, Digital Identity, Biometrics Limit, 3D Education | Linux Trainer | Writer | Podcast Host
How many cryptocurrencies and cryto wallets are operational in the world? It is easy to guess without counting that 'a lot many' digital currencies and wallets exist. The vision and mission of the owner companies of each and every cryptocurrency are quite ambitious and audacious. But not all or a very few of these crypto brands would be able to conquer the aspired digital business heights. In fact, the brand identity has to play an important role in achieving the projected crypto data aspirations. Finally, a digital Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) is indispensable in attaining the envisioned crypto goal.
Everybody knows that the journey of cryptocurrency had started with Bitcoin Blockchain in 2009
Everybody knows how and when Bitcoin started. The possibility of peer-to-peer transfer of digital money opened a new horizon of crypto-economics. Blockchain or immutable distributed digital ledger is the basis of Bitcoin where each and all transactions are written sequentially through intensive computational puzzle solving called mining. Bitcoin being the highest rated among the cryptocurrencies, it is the top tier brand in the crypto market. Unfortunately, Bitcoin mining consumes heavy electrical power and requires high computational resources. Naturally Bitcoin identified itself as a power hungry and very slow crypto brand.
A large numbers of digital currencies gradually started to exist ..
We can't count how many cryptocurrencies exist now. In every nook and corner, there is a cryptocurrency under different names. Ethereum, Ripple, Monero are some of the prominent ones. Ethereum has showed promise in nonfinancial applications, such as smart contracts. Among these Ripple is in news for projecting applications in cross-border money transaction. There are also block-less distributed ledgers, such as IOTA that works on the principle of Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG). IOTA opens possibilities of machine-to-machine transactions suitable for low power IoT devices. IOTA has its digital coin tangle but it is focused for various nonfinancial real-world use cases including digital identity.
It is not bad remembering precautionary warning of Prof. Matt Blaze who got significant research contributions in the area of distributed systems and security policy for the last 25+ years. Prof. Blaze openly warns in his website front page, "Many cryptocurrencies are scams, and I strongly advise against their use as investment vehicles".
Now Facebook has announced their cryptocurrency LIBRA
Facebook has announced that they are going to launch a cryptocurrency LIBRA by forming a business association called LIBRA. This business association is supposed to have many members or partners. But, as of today (June 28, 2019), not a single member or partner of the LIBRA association has yet openly confirmed their official association.
Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data breach of 2015-2016 leaked more than 50 million users' personal data
Personal data of more than 50 million Facebook profiles were harvested in 2015-2016 Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data breach allegedly connected to manipulating people's opinion in the 2016 US presidential election! This has been revealed only in 2018. Very recently, Facebook is also in news for its alleged involvement in tilting Israel’s April 2019 election result.
A question arises: Do 'Facebook and Privacy' go along together?
Our friend David B. Grinberg has rightly raised a few valid questions on Facebook's transparency on dealing with the users' private data. David comments, "I don't put much faith or confidence in his latest pronouncements about LIBRA, nor should anyone else—lest they get suckered again by FB’s shameless 15-year track record showing a callous lack of transparency and bad faith with their global user base, which is consistently taken for granted". A detailed discussion is available in his Medium article.
Our friend John Marrett's research studies have extracted significant information regarding the credibility of Facebook's LIBRA association. John's detailed comments in my earlier post have revealed the concerns of Chris Hughes, Facebook's Co-Founder (2004 - 2012). John comments, "Hughes wrote in the Financial Times, calling on regulators worldwide to approach the endeavor with 'exhaustive' scrutiny. He elaborated on those ideas on Twitter. Hughes notes that while Facebook was clever to project the appearance of limited power in the project, at the end of the day Libra is Facebook—and its corporate partners—through and through". Chris Hughes has called Facebook's cryptocurrency plan as 'frightening'.
Earlier we also read a frank commentary "Thoughts on LIBRA" by Sovrin Foundation Chair Phil Windley, where he welcomed the happenings with cautions on loss of privacy and autonomy.
Clearly Facebook may be identified as a top tier data broker. Would people agree to risk of loosing their personal data and associated digital money with a data harvesting social media brand?
Digital Identity can be used to authenticate peer-to-peer cryptocurrency transactions
Digital currency implementations require a reliable digital identity in place. Peer-to-peer data transactions may be authenticated by decentralized digital identity. The digital identity data should be owned by individuals in a self-sovereign way so that the identity data remain anonymous or privacy preserved. Raw and complete identity data are never stored on the servers.
Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) is an identifiable personal or organizational digital identity data identifiers which are privacy preserved for authenticating data transaction over the Internet. The digital data may associate digital assets or currencies, insurance and health information, passport and driving license data etc. Decentralized biometrics may also be associated as a personal identifier into the SSI which would make it more robust.
Evernym created Sovrin, a network platform for Self-Sovereign Identity
Evernym created Sovrin, an open source software network platform for self-sovereign identity for every person, organization and connected devices over the Internet. The Sovrin ledger is designed and governed by the Sovrin Foundation. Sovrin is a public distributed ledger designed specifically for privacy-preserving self-sovereign identity. The Sovrin Foundation can be identified as a true nonprofit global brand for Self-Soverein Identity.
Mastercard introduces consumer-centric model for digital identity
Mastercard has recognized the importance of digital identity and has introduced its policy and a model of a digital identity for its consumers in March 2019. They have also announced a collaboration with Samsung to explore serving people securely using digital identity on the mobile devices (May 2019).
VISA has launched a decentralized network for cross border and inter bank payments for the corporates
In June 2019 VISA has gone one step further to adopt decentralized distributed ledger technology to start a network platform for cross border and inter bank payments for the corporates.
Microsoft recognized the necessity of a decentralized digital identity
Microsoft has also announced their plan for a dedicated identity solution over the Bitcoin Blockchain. They will leverage the Azure Cloud platform and Bitcoin Blockchain to build a proprietary digital identity solution.
Should you go for investing in Bitcoin, LIBRA, other digital coins or support Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI)?
This is an open question for all of us who use the Internet for accessing different online services, such as banking, health, land registration etc. What should you do now? Would you invest in cryptocurrencies? Would you test a SSI platform? If you have enough excess money, you may test crypto transactions on Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency.
You can also very easily try testing a SSI platform, such as Connect.me which has been developed by Evernym. Connect.me is the first digital wallet app built on Sovrin Identity and Hyperledger Indy. Connect.me is now open for all individuals globally. You may take part in any other identity project. You may even consider to invest in any SSI project. But choosing to invest in a cryptocurrency without a solid digital identity is pretty risky.
What do you think?
I would love to get your views and suggestions. If you like this article, please click "Like" and "Share" it among your acquaintances and network. Myself and Jose Munoz Mata are in a mission mode to develop a digital identity system based on biometrics and distributed ledger technology. Please don't hesitate to shoot us any question on biometrics, digital identity and distributed ledger technology.
Acknowledgements: I sincerely acknowledge my LinkedIn friends David B. Grinberg and John Marrett for sharing their research studies on Facebook and LIBRA as comments in an earlier short update post.
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More of my articles on Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology:
- Private Key-Loss Conundrum: The roadblock to Blockchain's acceptance by the mass
- Digital Identity, Assets and Governance
- Blockchain and InfoSecurity Community Must Try Quantum Safe Designs
- Big Data and Blockchain Nexus
- Decentralized Digital Identity: Which Distributed Ledger is Most Viable?
- Why Security Experts Dislike "Blockchain Voting"?
- Why doesn’t #LinkedIn have a featured tag for #blockchain? Any thoughts? [after publication of this article, now a hashtag exists]
- Scalability is a Key requirement for Blockchain and other Distributed Ledgers to Succeed
- Distributed Ledger is the Future
- Decentralized Biometrics: Is It the Ultimate Solution?
- Hyperledger and LinuxOne: A Superior Blockchain Solution for Business
- Scalable Distributed Ledger: That is very much wanted
- Is Blockchain Ready for GDPR?
- Bitcoin Grows but Energy Decreases
- Greed-Driven Digital Wealth
For more articles, stories, and insights follow #DebeshChoudhury
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I am an academician and researcher of electronics and applied photonics. My current research focuses on Biometric Security and Privacy Protection. My friend Jose Munoz Mata and myself are testing distributed ledger technology for decentralized biometrics and other real world applications. Send direct message for any business inquiry.
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5 年Because Libre is centralized and Facebook knows way too much about everyone already, identity is not as big an issue as it might seem initially. It's rather the opposite. Now, in addition to knowing all that, they will also know exactly what you're spending and what you're spending it on. And should any state actor decide to freeze your assets, Facebook can easily accommodate them. That cannot be done with bitcoin.
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5 年Libre has all the "advantages" of the fiat currencies which it is tied? along with the "excellent" security, privacy, and central control of Facebook. ;) In other words, while its not an utter disaster and may even facilitate some cross-border payments (which can already be done quite nicely with Stellar Lumens and Ripple), it will never be an investment. The only really good thing about it is that it will introduce billions (with a B) of people to the use of cryptocurrencies, some of whom will become interested in real cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin. Anyone who thinks bitcoin is a scam should take a much closer look at the fiat currencies that they are using.? They are the real scam with governments just printing more all the time causing inflation. There has never been a fiat currency that did not eventually end up worthless. Bitcoin is deflationary because there is a fixed limit to how many there will ever be and they become progressively more difficult to produce over time as the supply moves toward that maximum. I believe it will become the best store of value there is. The only real competition it has is from gold and other physical commodities - which are much more difficult to store, protect, and transport.
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5 年Thanks Debesh Choudhury, Ph.D.?As you note, I keep an open mind and look at evidence. I thought Libra might be viable when I first read about it. But the more I have read, especially on monetary policy, the more I believe?that this needs to be rejected. From a most interesting article in The Conversation (https://theconversation.com, well worth getting their newsletter) by John Hawkins, a respected Australian academic who studies monetary policy (and has been an economist working for several national and international central banks): To understand why decentralisation might pose a threat to the role of central banks, let’s recap how they exercise monetary policy. The power of a central bank comes from setting interest rates. The Reserve Bank of Australia, for example, does this through operating what is called the Interbank Overnight Money Market. Banks must deposit enough currency with the RBA to cover obligations to other banks. The RBA effectively sets the floor and ceiling in the market by offering to take deposits or lend in the market at rates 25 basis points below and above its target interest rate. It also transacts in the market by buying and selling bonds and derivatives. Doing this keeps the interest rate in the market very close to the RBA’s target. Changes in the rate are generally reflected in interest rates on bank loans. These in turn affect economic activity and inflation. The concern is that a substantial move towards using electronic money for payments could reduce banks’ importance as money lenders, and therefore the role of the interbank markets. If the central bank’s balance sheet is smaller, its ability to influence the interest rates offered by financial institutions is theoretically weakened.
Information Security Researcher, Academician, Entrepreneur | Password & Cybersecurity, Digital Identity, Biometrics Limit, 3D Education | Linux Trainer | Writer | Podcast Host
5 年Unfortunately #facebook #libra white paper mentions "An additional goal of the association is to develop and promote an open identity standard." It is a pity. The #digitalidentity should be a prerequisite to cryptocurrency. They can adopt the SSI standard developed by Sovrin.
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5 年I am not into cryptocurrency in general and that is regardless of their solidity/solvability/value/safety/privacy/volatility/etc. (simply just not into it), and I am not into anything fb/Zuckerberg related in particular. Neverthless, I appreciate your sharing of expertise Debesh Choudhury, Ph.D.