CHAPTER 17

Decentralized Identity

“If you ask me to quote one implementation in Blockchain that would

lead to mass adoption and to be used by everyone under the sun, it

is Decentralized Identity”. – Debajani Mohanty

Before discussing decentralized identity in detail, we must know how

different it is from traditional digital identity, and also, why is there

even a need for this technology and what all business challenges it

addresses.

17.1 Digital Identity

Identifying someone in the real world is not a big deal; however,

when it comes to the Internet, we use digital identity to get

recognized. Using digital identity, we can identify not just humans,

but organizations, devices, and even animals online. Digital Identity

is necessary for authentication, authorization, access to online data,

registration, and deregistration, and in fact, its role has become

crucial for beginning and maintaining any kind of business

relationship online. Obviously, digital identity is some information that

is unique to a user that the user would not share with anyone. For

example, user ids, bank accounts, credit card numbers, biometrics

data etc. Digital identity is also associated with the user’s personal

data that may require privacy; refer to the following as examples:

Credit card, debit card, or any form of financial details

Health information

Biometric data

Criminal history

Ethnic and racial origin

Sexual orientation