Over a year after announcing its development, Polygon, an Ethereum layer-2 scaling protocol, has released a zero-knowledge decentralized identification solution to the general public.
With the use of zero-knowledge proofs (ZK proofs), which employ cryptographic methods, users of the Polygon ID service are able to confirm their identity online without having to provide any sensitive information to a third party or risk having it kept. On March 1, over a year after the project was formally begun in a closed-source environment, Polygon Labs publicly published Polygon ID.
Polygon ID, according to the Polygon team, was developed to “address the problem of digital trust.”The use of zero-knowledge technology, which enables users to authenticate their identities or other credentials without necessarily disclosing sensitive information, is what distinguishes Polygon ID from most other decentralized ID frameworks, according to Polygon.
Four new tools — Verifier SDK, Issuer Node, Wallet SDK, and Wallet App — are added to the Polygon ID toolset with the public release, enabling developers to incorporate decentralized identification into their programs.
Users will be able to engage with smart contracts and validate data on-chain by producing zero-knowledge proofs using off-chain credentials like their passport, national ID, or bachelor’s degree.This enables the use of off-chain data for secure on-chain verifications using the widely used Verified Credential format.
In addition, according to Polygon, it is the first ZK-based digital ID solution that enables users to store credentials locally on mobile devices like cell phones, meaning passwords are no longer necessary.”Passwordless logins exchange verified credentials in an encrypted format by connecting to a desktop wallet or by scanning a QR code. Businesses may gain from enhanced security, a better user experience, and system administrators who are more productive since password resets require less of their time.
In a tweet on March 1, Polygon ID co-founder David Schwartz said that the solution was created “on the newest decentralized identity standards,” which would help shield users and developers from unlawful access from other parties. In a second news release, he said: “Providing identification in a form that the common customer can utilize is the holy grail of digital ID acceptance.
Many initiatives, including Web3 community management system Collab. Land, ID verification tool Fractal, and infrastructure supplier Kaleido have already committed to incorporating Polygon ID whenever it launches. According to Polygon, they have a combined user base of nearly 4 million.
Polygon ID is also being integrated into other Web3 applications, including the blockchain-building community Guild xyz and the metaverse platform The Sandbox.
In the hours that followed the revelation, the price of MATIC, the native token of Polygon, rose 2.5% from $1.22 to $1.25 before reverting to $1.23.
Quadrata and IDNTTY are two more blockchain-based ID solutions that are now available.
