Upgrading to a Better Digital ID System

Full names, email addresses, mailing address, phone numbers, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, account numbers and phone passcodes may have all been compromised in a recent data breach that affected more than 70 million people.

It’s the kind of devastating data breach that makes you wonder why digital identity is so broken.

And, it’s also the kind of news that makes us double-down on developing our product toolset so that everyone has a better chance of protecting their personal information. It’s part of why we built Civic ID.

Here’s how we’re innovating to advance digital identity protection

Our approach to digital identity, called Civic ID, has three key components: digital, mobile and hybrid. First, we provide digital identity through our Civic Pass platform. You can get a Civic Pass after you verify an aspect of your identity, such as personhood, age, location or government ID. Then, your Civic Pass is stored in your wallet as a non-transferable token, which signals that this aspect of your identity has been verified and allows you access to dApps. Second, we recently introduced a physical identity card akin to a traditional driver’s license, equipped with an NFC chip for interaction with mobile devices, which provides a tangible verification of identity. Finally, we combine your digital and physical identity to address it in a hybrid way. This involves connecting your digital and physical identities and leveraging NFC-enabled devices to indicate your physical presence.

This comprehensive system not only reinforces the significance of digital, physical and hybrid layers but also addresses the shortcomings of individual methods in modern identity verification. By integrating these elements, Civic ID presents a pioneering solution poised to revolutionize the landscape of identity management.

Why we built Civic ID

Across our industry, identity verification is not approached as an exact science. Instead, it’s thought of as a matrix of signals evaluated in aggregate. As pioneers in blockchain-based identity solutions, we embarked on a mission to address the challenges posed by the absence of reliable verification mechanisms for both digital and physical identities.

When it comes to beating advanced threats and AI, in-person verification is the ultimate indicator that a person is the individual they claim to be. To date, our products have only been accessible digitally. Now, we’re adding a physical ID card to the mix of signals we use to determine an individual’s identity, thereby making a hybrid physical and digital identity possible.

How Civic ID will help protect against emerging identity threats

Already, there are many obvious use cases where Civic ID can help. For example, in the realm of decentralized finance (DeFi), Civic ID can help verify transactions, build trust, and prevent fraud. On content platforms, Civic ID could confirm user identities, preventing impersonation and protecting shared content. In the real world, Civic ID can make interactions with banks or universities smoother by letting individuals share specific identity details while keeping privacy intact. By giving users more control over their identity, Civic ID encourages collaboration and growth in new areas. We’re also excited to build solutions for emerging use cases, and can’t wait to learn what our audience dreams up next.

Finally, we are really looking forward to coming up with new ways to protect identities, so that we can leave the old, antiquated system behind us.

Get on the waitlist now for Civic ID, by visiting civic.id. Learn more by catching our X Spaces.