Methods to Trigger (or Prevent) the Revolution of Decentralized Identity
How (not) to start a revolution in decentralized identity
In the world of blockchain, there have been revolutions in two main areas: the revolution of direct ownership of money with Bitcoin, and the revolution of governance and control functions with Ethereum. However, as blockchain has grown, we have seen the emergence of centralization and concentration of power, which goes against the original ideals. For example, currently, there are only six mining pools in China that control 80% of Bitcoin's hash rate, and two pools dominate 51% of Ethereum's hash rate, making the distribution even more extreme. These issues have led to criticisms of the Proof-of-Work (PoW) and Proof-of-Stake (PoS) mechanisms. To address these challenges, the concept of Digital Identity has become crucial. The mainstream approaches are Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) and Web of Trust. However, it is acknowledged that these approaches fall short of the ideal. Therefore, Idena has proposed criteria for creating encrypted IDs based on the characteristics required for a unique human identity. The first criterion is to maintain anonymity by not sharing personal information. Idena does not require the sharing of personal data or documents, and it does not reveal the individual's identity (ID). To create a digital person, one needs to receive an invitation code from a valid participant in the network and apply for verification using that code.
The third criterion is self-verification resistant to censorship in a collective distributed manner. Test results are collectively self-verified, eliminating the need to rely on third parties. This is achieved statistically, as the accuracy rate at the time of test completion is known.
The fourth criterion is time synchronization and secure Sybil protection to verify participant uniqueness. Verification is performed at a synchronized time, allowing the verification of the uniqueness of network participants. Idena proves the uniqueness of participants' humanity and epoch (the period until the next validation session) in regular validation sessions. When the predetermined time comes, each participant in the network is assigned a flip, and participants answer within the predetermined time. All answers are processed on the network.
By adhering to these criteria, Idena aims to revolutionize decentralized identity while avoiding the pitfalls that have plagued other blockchain projects.