The partnership advances interoperability and security of existing CIAM systems through trusted and verified decentralized identity and verifiable credentials

We’re delighted to announce that we have partnered with Carahsoft Technology Corp., The Trusted Government IT Solutions Provider®. Through this partnership, Carahsoft will serve as Nuggets’ Master Government Aggregator®, making our products available to the Public Sector through Carahsoft’s reseller partners and NASA Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V, Information Technology Enterprise Solutions — Software 2 (ITES-SW2), National Association of State Procurement Officials (NASPO) ValuePoint and OMNIA Partners contracts.

With the growing need for trusted digital solutions, decentralization offers unmatched privacy and security. Partnering with Carahsoft will amplify our reach within the Government, providing them with our cutting-edge private decentralized identity solutions. We are excited to leverage Carahsoft’s extensive network and expertise to enhance operational efficiency and security for our customers.

For some background, Public Sector organizations face unique challenges surrounding credentials, identity reusability, and interoperability. They need tools to combat the ever-evolving issues around fraud, AI, deep fakes, ransomware, and data privacy that will also deliver a seamless and frictionless user experience while increasing operational efficiencies.

Government agencies face two significant obstacles to data integrity: the increasing cost and challenges associated with data privacy and the acceleration of sophisticated scams and rampant fraud. Nuggets solves for both. Our fully decentralized wallet and platform protect organizations from data breaches, ransomware, and fraud while ensuring digital identities always remain verified, private, and secure.

Today’s first-generation systems contain enticing silos of sensitive personal data, making them a prime target for hackers and data breaches. These siloed components from multiple service providers can be difficult to integrate, creating poor visibility for individuals who don’t have an integrated stack.

Additionally, legacy systems have created a host of significant issues both in terms of security and business objectives and are hindering growth. They are exposed to high levels of fraud, have low assurance and utilize multiple authentication factors while their authorization controls are often limited.

By implementing Nuggets across existing customer identity and access management (CIAM) solutions, agencies can adopt a more modern and adaptive infrastructure, enabling transformational shifts.

Brian O’Donnell, Vice President of Cybersecurity Solutions at Carahsoft said: “As Government agencies face growing demands for secure and efficient digital processes, Nuggets’ advanced technology offers an ideal solution. Together with our reseller partners, we are dedicated to providing these innovative tools to enhance security and decrease fraud with a premier user experience.”

Nuggets is a Decentralized Self-Sovereign Identity and payment platform that guarantees trusted transactions, verifiable credentials, uncompromised compliance, and the elimination of fraud — all with a seamless user experience and increased enterprise efficiencies.

We’re building a future where digital identity is private, secure, user-centric, and empowering.

We’d love to hear from you if you want to enhance your data privacy and security offering.

You can learn more about our solutions here or get in touch with us here.

Nuggets Partners With Carahsoft to Bring Private, Reusable Identity and Passwordless Solutions to… was originally published in Nuggets on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

We hope you’re well and enjoying the holiday season. As is customary at this time of year, we’ll look back at some of the highlights from the past 12 months and give you a sneak peek of what’s to come in 2024.

It’s been an incredible year in terms of product development and traction. We’re working with the Bank of England to design a privacy-preserving identity layer for the potential Digital Pound. For more on this, check out the CoinDesk article here.

We participated in Phase 2 of The Bank and International Settlement’s and the Bank of England’s Project Rosalind alongside Amazon, Bank of Canada, Barclays, and Mastercard. We customised the Nuggets identity and payment wallet to enable retail use cases utilising CBDC, to carry out e-commerce payments all without sharing and storing PII data.

Our product enabled:

• Creating a CBDC account
• Making a retail payment with a verifiable receipt
• Making a CBDC micropayment
• The ability to freeze, unfreeze, and delete a CBDC account

Then in September, we announced our inclusion in the first cohort of the European Blockchain Sandbox.

We’re implementing trusted European cross-border payments using Nuggets. Combining Verified Self-Sovereign Decentralized Identity (SSDID), Verifiable Credentials, Selective Disclosure, Zero Knowledge Proofs, Auditable Nuggets, and Blockchain we’re able to facilitate secure, efficient, and compliant remittances between individuals, businesses, or Governments in different European countries. All whilst meeting the requirements for AML, CTF, KYC regulation, and eIDAS2.

For more information visit the European Commission’s website here.

Gartner

Throughout the year we’ve also been mentioned in no less than five Gartner reports! These included Gartner’s Hype Cycle for Digital Identity, 2023 and Gartner’s Market Guide for Identity Verification, 2023.

The Hype Cycle report highlighted ‘Decentralized Identity’, ‘Verifiable Credentials’ and ‘Identity Wallets’ as categories with benefit ratings of Transformational and High.

Gartner defines ‘Transformational’ as enabling “new ways of doing business across industries that will result in major shifts in industry dynamics”.

And ‘High’ as enabling “new ways of performing horizontal or vertical processes that will result in significantly increased revenue or cost savings for an enterprise.”

The Identity Verification Report report covers how digital identity must be “secure, simple and — ideally — portable” and Nuggets was featured alongside Microsoft and IBM.

Thought leadership

Our founders continued to be invited to events around the world, sharing their insight and knowledge across identity, privacy, and payments. Involved in panels and discussions from January through to December, highlights included:

• Money 2020 in Amsterdam, discussing all things UX and consumer protection
• Coinbase London Meetup, covering all things crypto, web3, and tech
• Trust:Live event hosted by LexisNexis, discussing trust and digital identity
• The Women of web3 Summit, all about making web3 work for women
• Two techUK panels (Digital ID in the Finance Sector & Diversity and Inclusion in Digital ID)
• The Avalanche Summit II, discussing AML compliance in DeFi
• The European Identity and Cloud Conference, discussing the importance of identity and privacy and Digital Assets at the OpenWallet Deepdive Workshop.

We also became a member of the Trust Over IP Foundation in July and shared our commercialisation journey with the members of the Ecosystem Foundry group just two weeks ago.

Awards

Over the past few years, we’ve received an incredible amount of awards and recognition for our platform, and we’re always immensely proud when a renowned third party validates our work. This year was no different, and it began back in January when we were awarded Gold for “Best Mobile Authentication Solution” at the Juniper Research Telco Innovation Awards.

Nuggets was also included in Sifted’s list of early-stage startups to watch around the globe, and we were highlighted as one of the key wallet services in the web3 identity stack by 1kx.

Seema was named among 7 influential women shaping the future of crypto and web3 by Cointelegraph and was also featured in the Microsoft Alumni Network.

What a year!

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone we met, spoke to, and worked alongside throughout the last 12 months — and it doesn’t stop there!

2024 looks set to be another big year, as we have a whole host of great plans in the pipeline. Here’s a quick preview of just some of the things we have scheduled for Q1 that we can let you in on at this stage…

• The launch of a new Partner Program and Nuggets Developer Network
• A new workshop offering for businesses looking to explore the possibilities of DSSI within their organisations
• The launch of a new podcast series — “Nuggets of Information”

Enjoy the holiday season, and we hope you have a restful break, and we look forward to catching up with you again in the new year.

2024 is going to be a transformational year! was originally published in Nuggets on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

In the information age, trust, privacy, security, compliance, and user experience are paramount. While last-gen identity solutions based on passwords, emails, devices, and wallet addresses are still prevalent, people are paying for this convenience with one of their most valuable assets — personal data.

The emerging Web3 makes the problem of data security and fraud more immediate, but it also provides solutions.

Decentralized identity systems promise to empower users to verify themselves and conduct online transactions without disclosing their personal information. However, many existing platforms can’t offer a holistic solution that addresses critical aspects like digital identity, interoperability, user data security, compliance, and payments — that’s where Nuggets makes the biggest difference.

Nuggets is the only product that enables organizations to comply with regulations whilst maintaining their privacy, guaranteeing data security, and remaining fully decentralized. As a super-wallet, Nuggets also enables multi-rail payments and provides a convenient cache for crypto assets — all tied to a verified decentralized identity.

Best of all, Nuggets is available globally right now.

More power to you

Requiring just one-time onboarding during sign-up, Nuggets focuses on providing a user-friendly, secure, and interoperable experience across Web2 and Web3. The solution provides a merit-based reputation and prioritizes protecting users’ data — enabling them to navigate the digital world with confidence and ease.

By leveraging a combination of Self Sovereign Identity (SSI), auditable nuggets of data, Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs), peerDIDs, and verifiable credentials, Nuggets has created a state-of-the-art solution that puts privacy and security at the heart of its design.

Users’ identification is linked to W3C verifiable credentials and ZKP proofs, allowing them to confirm their status without revealing any private information.

Nuggets is also a fully customizable, ready-to-deploy solution that supports real-world use cases. As such, brands can seamlessly integrate Nuggets into existing infrastructures, compliance processes, payments, and customer experience immediately or offer Nuggets as a standalone identity solution.

One of the most critical challenges facing Web3 is complying with regulations without requiring users to hand over a litany of personally identifying information to a centralized third party. Until now, there has been no decentralized way for Web3 protocols to do this.

Solving this issue, Nuggets features built-in tools to ensure compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and The Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) requirements, including Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) procedures, without compromising decentralization, privacy, or autonomy. Whether you’re an individual, DeFi protocol, exchange, or DAO Nuggets creates a frictionless, secure experience and reduces the risk of cybercrimes while simultaneously ensuring users’ privacy and security and increasing operational efficiency. Nuggets’ self-sovereign identity solution also serves as a critical entry point for DeFi, as it allows users and service providers to operate in a verified, compliant environment.

Cultivating a Vibrant Web3 Ecosystem

Nuggets’ vision goes beyond creating a cutting-edge identity solution — it is committed to nurturing collaboration and adoption within the Web3 ecosystem. Companies like Collab.Land and Yieldly have already embraced Nuggets’ vision in its pursuit of a safer, more private digital future.

These partnerships highlight how Nuggets is being harnessed to boost user control, interoperability, compliance and privacy across a wide array of applications, from decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to Web3 communities.

Nuggets’ solution has the potential to spark a profound transformation in industries as diverse as e-commerce and healthcare, allowing everyone — people of all ages, backgrounds, and businesses — to benefit from its identity solution.

By incorporating Nuggets into their systems, companies can simplify onboarding processes, elevate user experiences, and protect sensitive information without compromising on convenience.

Together, we are building a future where digital identity is private, secure, user-centric, and empowering.

If you’re looking to enable identity, compliance, or payments, we’d love to work with you.

Request a demo with Seema at partner@nuggets.life

Nuggets: The Only Decentralized Identity Merging Identity, Compliance, and Payments was originally published in Nuggets on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

We hope you’re all well and enjoying the Holidays!

Each year we look back at what the teams achieved and 2023 is set to be another exciting year for Nuggets and our partners!

We’ve been busy enabling verified self-sovereign decentralized identity and protecting the privacy and security of individuals and businesses worldwide and we’re excited to share what we’ve achieved in 2022.

Here goes…

Nuggets becomes the only decentralized identity to be certified as a trusted identity

We became the only verified self-sovereign decentralized identity to be certified against the UK Government’s Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework (DIATF), from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Following months of thorough review and assessment of our technology, processes, and systems, Nuggets has been recognised for its secure and trusted identity platform. We’re now a certified Digital Identity Service Provider of digital identity including Right to Work, Right to Rent, and DBS.

Not only that, Nuggets is the only reusable, interoperable decentralized identity for Web2 and Web3 that has delivered the highest confidence identity. No other decentralized self-sovereign identity has received this accreditation!

Read more about the DIATF certification here.

Government’s Digital Marketplace

We were awarded the Government’s Digital Marketplace’s G-Cloud 13 Framework for the second time!

And we were awarded a place on the Crown Commercial Service Digital Outcomes and Specialists 6 Framework.

We’re excited to be working with the public sector to eradicate fraud, and protect privacy and security, by enabling our award-winning and patented verified self-sovereign decentralized identity wallet.

We killed it in Partnerships and here’s some of the highlights!

We launched Nuggets for DeFi which is the only way to comply with BSA & FATF — KYC, AML without compromising DeFi.

How?

Using SSI, Auditable nuggets, ZKPs, peer DIDs, and verifiable credentials whilst creating a frictionless user experience.

So our DeFi partners can finally have their cake and eat! 🍰 And if you would like to do the same, email us at partners@nuggets.life.

We started working with Collab.Land which has over with over 3.5 million users across communities like Axie Infinity, Bored Ape Yacht Club, and NBA Top Shot, and over 100 communities join every day. They are utilizing Nuggets to give users more control and portability of web3-verified reputations.

Read more here.

Towards Digital Self-Sovereignty: The Web3 Identity Stack by 1KX

‘And we’re meeting users where they are in Web2. Web3 primitives are starting to integrate with Web2 applications and services, to bring decentralized identity to the masses’. Our integration with Collab.Land was included in the ‘Towards Digital Self-Sovereignty: The Web3 Identity Stack by 1kx’ ‘Collab.Land integration with Nuggets to allow Reddit users to mint their reputation as a VC to unlock access’.

We are integrating with GAIN

Our verified self-sovereign digital ID solution is integrating with the Global Assured Identity Network (GAIN) — a collaborative force of 150 financial institutions aiming to instill a verifiable, interoperable, and reusable global identity standard.

Read more here.

We partnered with iProov, the world leader in biometric face authentication technology. They integrated with us to ensure compatibility with Self-Sovereign principles and open standards, including W3C Verifiable Credentials (VCs) and Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs).

There’s a lot more to come in 2023…

Read more here.

Seema joined the Technical Advisory Committee of ID2020.

ID2020 promotes the adoption and implementation of privacy-protecting, user-managed, and portable digital ID solutions. As an ID2020 Alliance partner Seema is helping set the course for digital ID to ensure that it is responsibly implemented and widely accessible to all alongside Ankur Patel, Microsoft, Brian Behlendorf, Linux Foundation, Hugo Nunes, Meta, Bryn Robinson, Mastercard, and Daniel Bachenheimer, Accenture.

We were named ‘Consumer Encryption Solution of the Year’ at the CyberSecurity Breakthrough Awards 2022!

With over 4,100 nominations from all over the world, it was amazing to see Nuggets recognised alongside winners such as Palo Alto Networks, LexisNexis Risk Solutions, Onfido, and an impressive list of global organizations tackling fraud and data security!

More here.

We were included in the RegTech 50

For the most innovative UK compliance technology firms.

Read more here.

Seema was featured in the Innovate Finance: ‘Women in FinTech Powerlist 2021 and in the Computer Weekly: Most Influential Women in tech 2022.

Alastair shared his thoughts around self-sovereign decentralized identity and blockchain.

These articles make for perfect reading if you want to learn more about decentralized identity, blockchain, and real-world use cases that will make protecting our identities and data a reality.

Why Social Media Needs Self-Sovereign Identity.

Alastair discusses the way we achieve true authentication in our complex world.

Thanks to decentralized technologies, a true system of verification, that also accounts for privacy, is now possible.

Read the full article here.

Verified, Self-Sovereign Decentralized Identity enables compliance without compromising DeFi.

Zero Knowledge technology, Peer DIDs, and verifiable credentials within a secure decentralized identity deliver compliance without compromising DeFi.

Read the full article here.

Thank you all for your continued support and wishing you all a happy and healthy 2023 from the entire Nuggets Team. 🙏🏽

In the meantime, you can keep up with all our latest news, events, and conversations by following Nuggets on LinkedIn and Twitter.

2023 is set to be another exciting year!💫 was originally published in Nuggets on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

We’re excited to announce that Nuggets is the only verified self-sovereign decentralized identity to be certified against the UK Government’s Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework, from the Department for Culture, Media, and Sport.

Following months of thorough review and assessment of our technology, processes, and systems, Nuggets has been recognized for its secure and trusted identity platform. We’re now a certified Digital Identity Service Provider of digital identity (incl. Right to Work, Right to Rent, and DBS).

Not only that, Nuggets is the only reusable, interoperable decentralized identity for Web2 and Web3 that has delivered the highest confidence identity. No other decentralized self-sovereign identity has received this accreditation!

Along with this, we’ve been certified for the following identity profiles:

Low Confidence Identity Profiles (L1B):

• Low confidence identity profiles that enable users to view and update personal information.

Medium Confidence Identity Profiles (M1A):

• Medium confidence identity profiles that gives users access to

sensitive information, money, or benefits.

High Confidence Identity Profiles (H1A):

• High confidence identity profiles that enable users access to secure buildings, like nuclear power stations, or highly secure information, like classified government documents.

We couldn’t be happier to see Nuggets as a certified Digital Identity Service Provider. At Nuggets we believe that users should have full control and ownership over their personal information. This accreditation opens up so many more opportunities for us to share our technology to ensure that people can access a private and secure and trusted identity. Finally, internet users can have complete control over their personal data that they deserve.

If you’re a business looking to implement reusable digital identity, and for better ways to protect your customer data, you can now enable Nuggets worldwide. Get in touch with us today at partners@nuggets.life. 📩

Nuggets becomes the only verified self-sovereign decentralized identity to be certified against the… was originally published in Nuggets on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

In the wake of the devastating collapse of FTX just recently, there’s no doubt that stricter, more comprehensive regulations will be coming into the digital asset industry. As demonstrated by the previous blacklisting of Tornado Cash, lawmakers simply aren’t going to tolerate anonymity in crypto continuing. There need to be mechanisms in place to bring decentralized finance (DeFi) in line with legislation like the Bank Secrecy Act and organizations like the Financial Action Task Force without comprising user privacy and their fundamental human rights.

However, this notion has many in the cryptocurrency community concerned. Anonymity is a principle that the field is built upon, and most can’t ignore the years of abuse that individuals have endured from big tech companies harvesting and profiting off of their data. If that wasn’t enough, then there’s the well-documented security failings that have exposed the sensitive information of millions of innocent people. For these reasons, it is hard for many to accept the idea of similar Know Your Customer (KYC) verifications coming into the DeFi space. Individuals and institutions are often encouraged to hold all their assets themselves in non-custodial wallets, as this protects them from the fallout when events like FTX occur. However, for casual users and newcomers, private custody can be a bit tricky. Fortunately, all of these issues can be addressed with a single product.

A Private, Provable Identity

DeFi is built out of technology like blockchain and smart contracts, which are what form the basis for anonymous financial services. However, another technology known as Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs) provides the means to bring true identity verification to decentralized networks, all while preserving user privacy and giving them more control over their data than ever before.

By utilizing existing credentials or an individual’s biometrics, ZKPs can be generated that confirm the veracity of the data without having to reveal it. These proofs then serve as the basis for a verified Self-Sovereign Decentralized Identity (SSI) that no external entity can access or alter without permission from the user. Using the SSI, anyone can provide W3C Verifiable Credentials and ZKPs to confirm who they are across any platform in a private and secure manner.

This system can bring decentralized, private KYC that can still stay in line with the regulator’s needs for verification. It also satisfies the philosophy of the decentralized community, and in fact, solves many of the issues that major tech companies have created over the last decade. This ID can also act as an asset wallet, allowing users to manage their funds from one single interface that they have full control over, eliminating the need for third-party custody of funds. SSIs can be implemented across any DeFi service, but can also be used for verification with traditional platforms and even physical access to locations. All of this can be done while still concealing a user’s image, financial history, or even name.

SSIs In Practice

Take the use case of applying for a credit facility . Using ZKPs, the person applying could prove that they had a minimum amount of capital qualifying them for the facility, but wouldn’t have to reveal their actual balance or assets. The bank would still be safe to lend the funds, and the user’s financial dealings would remain private.

Of course, there will still be times where some personal information will need to be accessed. For example, SSIs can also be encoded with a person’s medical history. Obviously, medical professionals will usually need to see the actual information, not just a proof. In such a case, the user can grant access to the specific information needed, and for only as long as it is needed. Their profile isn’t an “open book,” and only the individual or designated loved one can access it.

Implementing ZKPs for SSIs opens the door to a decentralized future that satisfies governments, businesses, and even consumers. There’s no longer a need to allow unfiltered access to user data, all while companies remain confident that they are dealing with validated customers. This isn’t just some grand vision of tomorrow, either. All of the technology needed to bring it to life is available, and being deployed today.

If you or your team are looking to comply with BSA or the FATF Travel rule and enable KYC and AML, there’s now a way to comply without compromising DeFi.

Get in touch with us at partners@nuggets.life. You can have your cake and eat it, right now!

About the Author:

Alastair Johnson is the Founder and CEO of Nuggets, an award-winning identity super-wallet, delivering verified self-sovereign decentralized identity.

About Nuggets:

The only identity super wallet Nuggets is an award-winning identity super-wallet, delivering verified self-sovereign decentralized identity. It means privacy and security like never before with trusted transactions — every time.

Nuggets is built for Web2 and 3, DeFi, and the Metaverse and beyond. It provides a reusable, interoperable decentralized identity, with a merit-based reputation that travels with you. As well as a non-custodial cache for your digital assets.

The result? Vastly reduced fraud, and safe compliant customer data. No wonder we’re already trusted by major organizations.

Verified, Self-Sovereign Decentralized ID Enables Compliance Without Compromising DeFi or Users was originally published in Nuggets on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Self-sovereign identity and payment provider Nuggets is piloting its Verified Self-Sovereign Digital ID solution with the Global Assured Identity Network (GAIN), a grouping of 150 financial institutions striving for globally interoperable digital identity mechanism for individuals and businesses. Nuggets’ approach requires both parties in every transaction to be verified via open standards, and has an eye to the metaverse.

Nuggets’ Verified Self-Sovereign Digital ID uses open standards such as W3C verifiable credentials, decentralized identifiers (DIDs), zero-knowledge proofs and the encrypted communication standards of DIDComm.

Both the originator and recipient of a transaction made within the GAIN pilot, whether for money or digital assets, would be required to be verified for the transaction.

During the transaction, the user’s identity is established through the creation of a unique Peer Decentralized Identifier (PeerDID). The verifiable credentials involved support selective disclosure. The transaction also uses zero-knowledge proofs. This means information supplied can remain anonymous while the users can also prove who they say they are without giving away any of their personally identifiable information.

As the use of DIDs as a digital identity standard becomes more widespread, Nuggets hopes its SSI service will be interoperable with solutions and could be used to combat ID fraud risks in the metaverse.

“For too long now business has relied on usernames, passwords and devices as the gateway of confidence to ensure authentication, leading to fraud and misuse,” comments Alastair Johnson, founder and CEO of Nuggets.

“Securely engaging in the digital economy requires a user-owned and controlled ID solution that cryptographically proves everything from access to services to trusted transactions. It needs to be reusable, verifiable, portable, private and secure. It’s an important recognition that GAIN has ensured that self-sovereign identity will be a part of this moving forward.”

GAIN is currently undergoing consultation on its development and role as financial institutions continue to join.

“GAIN and Nuggets share a duty to protect users from financial crime and uphold the law. By leveraging our user-centric and high-trust identity paradigm, financial institutions can satisfy adherence to global regulation while upholding the sanctity of user privacy,” Johnson added.

Nuggets was included in a fintech accelerator program run by Accenture in early 2021 and during the pandemic launched a biometric delivery verification service to reduce fraud costs for ecommerce.

Nuggets goes global with pilot of its self-sovereign digital ID platform in GAIN was originally published in Nuggets on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The ideas so far put forward found insufficient traction, and that sent regulators back to the drawing board. However, with the release of an updated framework comes an opportunity. The new techniques and ideas that are necessary to bring about such an identification system are already present in the Nuggets verified Self-Sovereign Identity platform.

eIDAS 1.0 Explained

The Electronic Identification, Authentication and trust Services (eIDAS) is an EU regulatory framework designed to govern both electronic identification and general trust services in the world of electronic commerce. Established in 2014, eIDAS comes along with the European Commission’s (ECs) broader mission outlined in Europe’s “Digital Agenda.” The ultimate purpose of this endeavor is to push innovation and generally bring the EU into the 21st century.

eIDAS specifically calls for the Union-wide adoption of a European Digital Identity. Under this system, all citizens are given their own unique, verifiable digital credentials. These can then be used to securely access services online and offline across the EU.

This is not a brand-new development, and a public service-only version of this model is already being rolled out, but the adoption rate of this first attempt has been fairly poor. Only about ⅔ of EU citizens even live in a country that has enabled such an ID, and they don’t yet all work together. To add to the problems, there has also been some general resistance to the move, with detractors pointing out the potential abuses surrounding both user autonomy and general privacy.

It also doesn’t help things that the events of 2020 and 2021 have left an irreversible mark on society and how people interact with it. This all has led to the EC deciding to go back to the beginning and reimagine what this regulation really needs to look like.

How To Fix What Was Wrong

Those who have opposed the original framework for this universal eID have pointed to a variety of concerns, so let’s take a look at what those are right now. First of all, in its original form, the regulation described a unique ID that was linked to all aspects of a person and would ultimately follow them for their entire life. There wasn’t enough wording to describe how things like privacy or separation of different types of information would work, leaving the door open for companies to be able to see far too much, and the user could only do little about it.

Then there was the concerning part of the proposal that called for governments to be able to implement a form of “kill switch” on any given ID. The stated purpose was to cut off funding should illegal activity or terrorist financing be detected, but many still felt this was too far of a stretch. The possibilities for abuse or even honest mistakes leading to the “deletion” of a person in the system were just too troubling.

Lastly, the eID described in the original version also isn’t well optimized for the variety of use cases it has in the private sector. Too many limitations and complexities meant it couldn’t be an all-in-one solution for both public and personal use, and other IDs would likely be necessary. This will only stand to limit adoption and frustrate the general public. Nobody wants to use one ID to board a plane and another to make a verified purchase.

Fortunately, EC listened and has put forward a whole new model called eIDAS 2.0. This is being done to address the failings of the original model and hopefully roll out a system that is safe, functional, and ultimately attractive to private citizens, businesses, and governments alike.

What To Expect From eIDAS 2.0

eIDAS 2.0 will engage with the points of contention that brought criticism to its predecessor. For starters, this new framework now acknowledges the role of self-sovereign identity (SSI). The benefits of SSI sit with ownership and control of the individuals’ personal information. Additionally, having been based upon decentralized blockchain technology, eIDAS 2.0 is based upon concepts of reusability and interoperability.

This also brings in the added benefit of curbing the control that big tech companies like Facebook have over user data. Because of some of the recent issues surrounding how social media platforms handle this information, it is imperative that this new eIDAS system doesn’t hand them, even more, control and instead takes it away. This is especially true as eIDAS 2.0 is designed to incorporate many more types of personal data than any ID ever has before.

According to the legislation itself, any such ID would have to contain the bare minimum of the following information: name, address, age, gender, civil status, family composition, nationality, educational qualifications, titles and licenses, professional qualifications, public permits and licenses, and financial and company data.

However, the potential use for SSIs goes way beyond these basic elements and can include things like medical history, purchasing, and browsing preferences. With strict measures in place that only allow this data to be accessed when and where the user decides.

As long as the end-user has final control over the private keys tied to their ID, then this system stands to empower them. This is likely the key to the broader adoption that the EC is looking for in such an eID. We’ve outlined many of the reasons and features that the new eIDAS will encompass, but how will it actually be developed? Well, fortunately, this is where Nuggets comes in!

How Nuggets Makes It All Work

Nuggets have already developed a multi-award-winning, verified self-sovereign digital identity and payment platform that can provide a persistent, interoperable, and verified digital identity. This new platform is designed for and compatible with Web 2.0, Web 3.0, and the rising Metaverse. In addition to verified digital identities, Nuggets also offers a personal cloud vault and auditable data.

This means that anyone using an SSI can demonstrate zero-knowledge proofs or selective disclosure of the minimum amount of data required for proof of identity or access instead of revealing everything and having to leave it behind. Combine this with verifiable credentials that cryptographically prove the validity of any information provided, a win-win situation for users and providers, and create a safer environment all around.

This stands to be the ubiquitous solution that is being described by the eIDAS 2.0 legislation. Because our platform is transnational, all credentials will be accessible anywhere with an internet connection. There is no need to “reinvent the wheel;” Nuggets already offers everything that the EC is looking for.

To make this system work, this SSI leverages a variety of technologies to bring to life the ideas outlined for eIDAS 2.0. For example, in order to limit access to data while still delivering verifiable proof of authenticity, Nuggets employs what is known as Zero-Knowledge (ZK) Proofs. This technique means that the ID can deliver an unfalsifiable confirmation of a person’s identification or right to access something without revealing the underlying data. ZK Proofs form a major cornerstone of how these IDs will bring full control of private information back to the users without sacrificing security for the platforms they engage with.

Furthermore, Nuggets leverages biometric data, such as a fingerprint or iris scan, to link these SSIs to the only person whom they represent. This will make it virtually impossible for anyone besides the actual individual to use them. Combining this type of veracity with ZK Proofs is how absolute validation is possible while still obscuring the underlying biometrics from any third party.

Nuggets packages all of these techniques with other powerful protocols, like W3C verifiable credentials, decentralized identifiers (DIDs), and the encrypted communication standards of DIDComm. By bringing together all of these features, Nuggets is safe to use as a personal financial wallet. What this also means is that consumers can confirm things like age or prove that they have a sufficient minimum balance to, for example, make a purchase or take out a loan all without ever having to reveal their actual bank account information.

Conclusion

We couldn’t be happier to hear that the European Commission has decided to revamp its outline for a European Digital Identity with eIDAS 2.0. Nuggets has already built a system that meets all of its specifications and even more. The platform is ready to use and easy for consumers to interface with. We fully support the need and possibilities that this new type of identification system can offer and can’t wait to bring verifiable, autonomous services to citizens in the EU and beyond.

Working: European Commission’s eIDAS 2.0 Aligns Perfectly with Nugget’s Technology and Vision was originally published in Nuggets on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The strategic partnership combines Nuggets’ self-sovereign ID with iProov’s biometric face verification, enhancing user privacy and security.

Nuggets has integrated with iProov’s Genuine Presence Assurance® and Liveness Assurance™ technology to ensure compatibility with Self-Sovereign principles and open standards, including W3C Verifiable Credentials (VCs) and Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs).

The integration enables users to own and control their biometric template, which can then be used to authenticate transactions using iProov in a private and secure manner. Nuggets have implemented iProov’s technology in conjunction with its own NFC Passport onboarding and re-verification to enable truly trusted transactions.

This extra step ensures that the user behind an identity is always who it should be, above and beyond the device biometrics. iProov’s Genuine Presence Assurance and Liveness Assurance technologies enable organizations to verify that an online user is the right person and a real person.

In doing so, Nuggets protects users and businesses by preventing stolen or forged identities from being used for new account fraud and account takeover fraud. iProov’s award-winning technology is device and platform agnostic, working across any computer, tablet, or cellphone with a user-facing camera.

Driven by emerging regulations such as Europe’s eIDAS 2.0 for Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI), the collaboration looks to service the global demand for robust, empowering digital identity services. Increasingly, consumer needs are moving towards self-sovereign, user-controlled digital identities that are reusable, interoperable, decentralized, and powered by blockchain technology.

There is also a clear demand for such services from direct digital attestation end-users — such as passport offices and driver and vehicle licensing bodies in the US, EU, and UK. Along with other civil and private registration services, these organizations highlight the need for increased provision of private and secure digital identities combined with biometric verification across a host of Web2-centric end-user implementations.

Nuggets’ platform-agnostic, non-custodial identity solution can service this demand, functioning as a reusable, interoperable Self-Sovereign ID (SSI) with a merit-based digital user reputation that travels with the user across Web 2.0, Web3, and Metaverse applications. Nuggets enables trusted transactions, with verified digital identities for every transaction.

Alastair Johnson, co-founder and CEO of Nuggets, said: “With services increasingly operating within a virtual environment, the need for a reusable and interoperable self-sovereign identity has never been greater. By combining Nuggets and iProov in a Self-Sovereign manner, we enable a high level of biometric verification that is now owned and controlled by the user for the first time. This will bring a new level of privacy, security, and confidence to both users and businesses in markets requiring eIDAS 2.0 (EU), GPG45 (UK), and NIST (USA) in the future.”

Andrew Bud, Founder and CEO of iProov, said: “We are delighted that iProov’s face biometric verification and authentication technologies have been chosen by Nuggets. It is vital that only the right person should ever be able to control and use their digital wallet, so that user-owned digital identity solutions can be trusted by users and by the organisations that rely on them. This will be of crucial importance as we approach eIDAS 2.0 and the implementation of digital wallets in the UK and throughout the European Union.”

If you’re a business looking to implement reusable digital identity, and for better ways to protect customer data, you can now enable Nuggets worldwide.

Get in touch and find out how at partners@nuggets.life

Nuggets and iProov Partner To Bring Biometrically Verified Self-Sovereign Identity and Payments to… was originally published in Nuggets on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Collab.Land, a user-friendly, tokenised, community-management system, has announced a partnership with Nuggets, a self-sovereign verified digital identity and payment platform, to allow users greater portability, interoperability, and control over their web3 reputation and DAO participation based on merit.

The integration will ultimately enable the portability of web3 verified credentials (VCs). While VCs typically refer to cryptographically verified, tamper-resistant credentials such as a passport or ID, web3 VCs can represent anything from Discord server badges to tokenised attestations of skills, character traits, membership or accomplishments.

Nuggets’ introduction comes amid a growing appetite from community members to build their web3 reputation and digital identity and port it across various online communities. By integrating Nuggets’ ID system, Collab.Land bypasses the need for users to have to rebuild their reputation from scratch each time they join a new community or DAO.

Collab.Land started as a means for anyone to build tools to manage their community via bot integrations and has since snowballed. The service — which recently announced plans to decentralise and become a DAO — now boasts over 3.5 million users across its various communities including Axie infinity, Bored Ape Yacht Club, and NBA Top Shot. As it stands, over 100 new communities are adding Collab.Land every day.

Decentralised, portable reputation is something that’s necessary for fulfilling the promise of web3, as well as being able to onboard DAO members based on merit. Reputation is everything when it comes to DAO governance, therefore, being able to attach a users’ DAO admittance, privileges, and voting rights to their Nuggets ID via SSI, which can be used across platforms and DAOs demonstrates how portable reputation is coming to life today.

James Young, Founder and CEO Collab.Land commented: “Our partnership with Nuggets illustrates a critical step in our journey to decentralise. Giving users control of their online reputation and allowing them to go beyond the confines of centralised platforms fits perfectly with that goal. Reputation and community can unlock many opportunities in web3, from DAO participation through to content moderation, and being able to verify standing in this space represents a significant boon for users.”

Nuggets enables individuals to secure their digital identity and associated finances through a self-sovereign identity and payment solution that serves as a reusable, interoperable and verified digitalID for Web 2.0, web3 and as a non-custodial cache for digital assets.

This information can be ‘shared’ with the required parties without revealing any personally-identifying information. This is achieved via zero-knowledge proofs, a cryptographic technique that allows one party to verify data to another party without disclosing any information beyond the capacity to verify said data.

Alastair Johnson, Founder and CEO at Nuggets, Said: “Reputation is paramount in web3. Being able to provide cryptographic proof of your credentials in a way that safeguards privacy and provides security perfectly aligns with the ethos of web3, and we’re thrilled to be working with Collab.Land to be making this a reality.”

If you’re a business looking to implement reusable digital identity, and for better ways to protect customer data, you can now enable Nuggets worldwide.

Get in touch and find out how at partners@nuggets.life

Collab.Land enables Nuggets’ verified self-sovereign digital identity was originally published in Nuggets on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.