Editorial

Softbank: We’re going to use Blockchain to guarantee Digital ID

Japanese giant plans to SoftBank aims to use TBCASoft’s application framework – the Cross-Carrier Identification System (CCIS) – to enable what it promises will be ‘Blockchain-based identification and authentication services’

Posted 27 February 2019 by Gary Flood


Japanese IT giant Softbank said this week that it thinks it wants to figure out a way to get Blockchain to support Digital Identity.

More specifically, it has announced a partnership with telco Blockchain specialist TBCASoft around a Blockchain-based “Identification & Authentication” Working Group under the auspices of the Carrier Blockchain Study Group (CBSG), a global blockchain consortium of telecom carriers.

TBCASoft is a US company developing innovative blockchain technology specifically for telecommunication carriers. Its consortium-based blockchain platform enables telecommunication carriers to create innovative services for their subscribers under a more secure, robust, and efficient environment. TBCASoft is located in Sunnyvale, California, the center of Silicon Valley. To learn more, please visit TBCASoft at www.tbcasoft.com.

The aim of the Group: explore how the TBCASoft foundation application framework Cross-Carrier Identification System (CCIS) could help in enabling identification and authentication services.

The pair say in their official announcement of their team-up that most current identification systems rely on a centralised database that could be dominated by a minority group. That’s a problem, as ideally ID services users need to trust one centralised authority to provide accurate identification and authentication processes but are now disclosing personal information to system providers on “numerous Internet databases”.

But the promise of CCIS is that it could offer a Blockchain-based solution operated by independent CBSG carrier members under a CCIS Cross-Carrier Consensus with carrier-grade reliability. CCIS also uses Zero Knowledge Proof cryptography and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) that enables issuing, storing and authenticating a user’s identification without having to reveal private detailed information that the user may not want or need to share.

CCIS could therefore, on paper at least, give individuals “freedom from creating multiple accounts and remembering countless passwords to protect their personal information from identity theft” by using TBCASoft’s Cross-Carrier Blockchain Technology and a telecom carrier highly protected data centres – and via CCIS, businesses and individuals can share and verify encrypted digital identities without disclosing confidential or private information.

“We envision that individuals should create encrypted digital identities, instead of using and storing multiple usernames and passwords on databases here and there with various qualities of privacy protection,” said Takeshi Fukuizumi VP of SoftBank.

“We believe that telecom operators under the CBSG Consortium will play very important roles in the global identity business.”

Ling Wu, Founder and CEO of TBCASoft added, “CCIS is a global platform that protects individuals’ identities from fraudulent activities with telecom carrier-grade reliability. TBCASoft is committed to working with telecom carriers to provide comprehensive and cost-effective blockchain-based identification and transaction services to businesses and individuals around the globe.”

The CBSG Consortium was launched in September 2017 by the pair to enable the joint development of an innovative Blockchain platform designed specifically for telecom carriers, with Sprint Corporation and Taiwan-based Far EasTone Telecommunications Co., Ltd. as initial founding members.

Softbank Group is is a Tokyo-headquartered multinational holding conglomerate that says its aim is to contribute to people’s happiness through the Information Revolution and to become “the corporate group needed most by people around the world.” To achieve its vision, SoftBank advances the Information Revolution with leading technology essential to the times and “superior business models”.