Editorial

SK Telecom, LG Uplus and Samsung teaming up on new Korean Blockchain-powered Digital Identity service

Asian trio plan to firms to offer self-sovereign identity (SSI) app to allow users to manage their personal information, with Higher Education first target vertical

Posted 15 July 2019 by Lucy Brown


‘Blockchain Technology’ on Flickr by surya s (c) All Rights Reserved

SK Telecom confirmed this week it’s working on a Blockchain-based Digital Identity service with fellow Korean telecoms firms LG and Samsung, with other partners including KEB Hana Bank, Woori Bank and local IT company Koscom.

The partners are committed to releasing an SSI (Self-Sovereign Identity) app to allow users to manage their personal information, with a currently projected release date of 2020.

At that time, users will mainly centre in South Korea’s Higher Education sector, where proof of graduation is often needed when applying for a new position; the idea is that if the applicant is using an SSI service, Blockchain could enable their prospective new employer to verify that the information is authentic.

SSI is a growing force in Digital ID, with backers claiming it allows users to control their own data using decentralized identifiers (DiD). Quite how Blockchain will be used to deliver this is currently not being stated by the consortium.

Go here for the original (Korean) press release.