Six worldwide corporations have banded together to start the IEEE blockchain Identity of Things standardization. According to IEEE Chair of the Identity of Things Working Group Dr. Xinxin Fan, researchers from Lockheed Martin, Ericsson, Lenovo, Huawei, Bosch, IoTeX and China Academy of Information and Communications Technology are developing the global standards for blockchain-based decentralized identities in an effort that commenced two years ago. Related: Decentralized identity can bring the analog world into the digital one After two years of research, the six major global businesses have provided the proof of concept for blockchain-based decentralized identification (DID) for IoT devices, which …

Earlier this month, the Ethereum Name Service, or ENS, formed a decentralized autonomous organization, or DAO, for the ENS community. Cointelegraph spoke to two ENS DAO delegates who applied for the opportunity to represent the community and stay involved in the decision making process: Victor Zhang, CEO of AlphaWallet, an open source Ethereum wallet, and Gregory Rocco, co-founder of Spruce, a decentralized ID and data toolkit for developers. Zhang spoke about his experience as an external contributor to ENS and an early supporter since 2018. Zhang initially sought to help ENS by offering Alpha Wallet as a user-friendly tool for …

Ontology, a developer of self-sovereign identification systems on the blockchain, announced a partnership with decentralized mobility platform bloXmove on Tuesday morning in a bid to accelerate the development of its decentralized credentials. The decentralized digital identity protocol, or DID, will enable blockchain participants to share their personal information, such as a driver's license, in a private, secured, and encrypted manner. DIDs may one day be required for complex decentralized finance applications, such as urban transport apps, decentralized health insurance, or decentralized car insurance. Simple smart contracts would not suffice in processing, for example, where a decentralized insurance underwriter covers a …

On Monday, distributed domain protocol Ethereum Name Service, or ENS, launched its own governance token in an effort to distribute voting rights for its new decentralized autonomous organization, or DAO, to active users of the ecosystem. Cointelegraph spoke with Brantly Millegan, ENS’ director of operations, to learn more about the nonprofit’s decision to shift to a DAO model and his thoughts on the power of the ENS community: “ENS is an open public protocol. The core components of ENS are decentralized and self-running (e.g., no one can take away another person’s .ETH name), but there are a few things that …

Many nonfungible token marketplaces are allowing digital collectors to identify artwork based on the wallet address of the creator through a partnership with software giant Adobe. In an Oct. 26 announcement, Adobe said it would be partnering with major nonfungible token, or NFT, marketplaces including OpenSea, KnownOrigin, and SuperRare to allow users to verify the authenticity of the digital content. Adobe’s Content Credentials can add an NFT creator’s wallet address and social media information to the metadata of tokens listed on the marketplace. "This partnership furthers our commitment to empowering users with more tools as we collectively rethink how we …

The regulators are closing in. It’s one thing to unbundle market functions to their parts ― custody, aggregators and Prime Brokerage ― to satisfy institutional compliance departments. It’s another to keep regulators happy. From the Financial Action Task Force pushing forward with its guidance for Travel Rule compliance to the still-evolving European Markets in Crypto-Assets regulatory framework, and the somewhat clumsily-handed U.S. infrastructure bill, the regulators are slowly tightening their noose, and I fear this may be the start of a multi-year staring match ― with the decentralized finance (DeFi) market now firmly in their sights, too. Related: DeFi: Who, …

Governments are tasked with bringing fair and efficient services to the public. Unfortunately, providing transparency and accountability often results in a reduction in efficiency and effectiveness or vice versa. Governments are usually forced to choose to improve one at the cost of the other. On rare occasions, technology comes along that enables governments to improve fairness and efficiency. The move from paper-based record keeping to computer databases was one such technology. The internet was another. Blockchain is the next. Like the internet before it, blockchain will not only improve how the public interacts with government services, it will have broad …

The Ethereum Foundation (EF) and Ethereum Name Service (ENS) are backing a proposed system for secure sign-in using Ethereum from decentralized identity software firm Spruce. Spruce’s system was selected after EF and ENS submitted a Request for Proposals in July encouraging developers and software firms to propose a sign-in package using OAuth — an open standard for access delegation. A Monday announcement states that the firm aims to give users control of their own online identities, offering an alternative to handing over one’s personal data to the likes of Google, Apple and Facebook. Spruce notes that the Ethereum ecosystem “already …

A new report on the potential for blockchain identity management solutions to become integrated across sectors has forecast strong growth for its global market, at a compound annual rate of close to 71%. The report grounds its predictions on a study broken down into segments by sector — e.g., government, healthcare, banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI), geography, and applications. It was published by the Lyon-headquartered market research solution provider ReportLinker. Drawing on an analysis of several existing blockchain identity management market vendors — Accenture, Amazon, Bitfury Group, Civic Technologies and others — the report expects the total global market …

Years after CryptoKitties were released to the masses, the nonfungible token (NFT) sector is finally going places. Coveted collectibles are selling for millions of dollars in some of the world’s finest auction houses. Top-flight soccer and basketball teams are releasing once-in-a-lifetime moments that fans cherish. Movie studios are starting to issue NFTs as memorabilia too, unlocking new revenue streams when they are needed most. It’s little wonder that NFT-focused companies are attracting eye-watering valuations. Just take a look at Sorare, which is on track to secure a price tag of at least $3.8 billion through its latest funding round. Although …

Following a $1.25 million seed funding round, a cryptocurrency payments and identity management app is moving deeper into decentralized finance. Numio has partnered with zkSync to provide a trustless layer-two solution for payments that it says are instantaneous and as much as 100 times cheaper than transactions on the clogged and expensive Ethereum blockchain. Numio promises peer-to-peer scalability of 2,000 transactions per second. Led by HashKey Capital, the funding round will allow Numio to push into DeFi, including cryptocurrency trading, swaps, pooling, and staking on Ethereum's layer two. Also on the roadmap is support for e-commerce and point-of-sale capability, letting …

A blockchain platform that allows businesses and developers to issue and manage verifiable credentials has announced that it is transitioning to a proof-of-stake algorithm. Dock says the switch to PoS will further decentralize its network — increasing the number of validators involved in securing its infrastructure, and enhancing governance measures. Until now, the project’s blockchain has been based on a proof-of-authority algorithm, where validators were selected by the Dock Association, a nonprofit organization. The move to PoS means that validators will now be chosen by the network based on how many Dock tokens have been locked up to back their …