Palau mints its first Decentralized Identification Card
BY JOURNAL STAFF
KOROR, Palau — In a room filled with digital residents, Palau law makers, and media representatives, Ethereum co-founder and digital resident of Palau Vitalik Buterin minted his Legal DID, or Decentralized Identification.
Buterin's DID makes history as Palau is the first sovereign nation to issue DID on the Blockchain. The RNS Legal DID ensures that every individual can choose their level of identity exposure, preserving their privacy, and preventing profiling, overexposure, and discrimination, according to government officials. Decentralized identifiers are issued, held, and controlled by individuals, according to Ethereum's website.
Some of Palau’s digital residents take a photograph with President Surangel S. Whipps Jr. and Finance Minister Kaleb Udui Jr. (From left) Michael Anderson; Vin Armani, founder of Badger LLC and creator of Badger Universal Token stablecoin and resident of Saipan; Udui; Whipps; Anthony Torres, commissioner for the Department of Corrections in the Northern Mariana Islands; Anna Tutova, reporter for Coinstelegram; Max Bonneau; Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum; and Kodep Ogumoro-Uladong, a policy consultant from the NMI. Photo courtesy of the Office of the President
"We will issue our Digital Residency Identification on the Ethereum blockchain," President Surangel S. Whipps Jr. said. "We are thankful for our partnership with Vitalik and Ethereum. Ethereum's decentralization, security, and compliance, presented itself as the ideal platform for our initiative. We recognize the immense potential of Ethereum and its contributions to the blockchain space."
The president said the DIDs are the next step in the digital residency program.
"Only a year and a half ago we started on this journey," he said, adding it's a digital journey that started in the physical world. "Palau, we believe has been around for thousands of years. We sailed here thousands of years ago ... then other countries came and claimed us (and) what we did learn is, we learned how to survive."
Whipps said that required innovation —the same innovative spirit that led to the DID.
"Staying true to our core values, we believe in the power of every individual. and most importantly the strength of community and the importance of preserving our unique identity while embracing the global community," Whipps said. "We believe that technology offers an immense potential, and the digital age offers us the tools that ensure that freedom, equality, privacy are not just ideas but realities to everyone."
Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum and digital resident of Palau was the first individual to mint his Legal DID, or Decentralized Identification. Photo courtesy of the Office of the PresidentTo become a digital resident, applicants must go through the KYC or Know Your Client process, which aims to ensure people who become digital residents can be trusted. As of late August, Palau had just more than 10,000 digital residents.
According to Palau's Digital Residency Program office at the Ministry of Finance, the legal DID program is offered to digital residents. The program uses Zero-Knowledge (ZK) Technology. According to bitsamp.net, ZK technology is an encryption technology that allows parties to prove and verify information without having insight into the information itself.
For Palau, this technology was a way to give the Blockchain community "a way to conduct secure and efficient transactions without revealing sensitive information, or too much information, that could be used later for social engineering schemes."
It was described by William Wang, CEO at Cryptic Labs and consultant to the republic, as a way to prove that you are an adult without having to share your birthdate or share your education and work experience without sharing your name, age, race or gender.
Jay Anson, the director of Palau's digital residency program, said the "ZK adds significant value to the Digital Residency Program and will attract more applicants.
"The Palau legal DID program is a cutting-edge tool that shields personal information to ensure the security and safety of economic transactions," he said.
But having done this, what is next for Palau? Anson said his office is looking into "ancillary services online to digital residents. Incorporating this type of privacy and security is a critical step to ensure the services are safe and hacker proof. This can also eventually be sold to non-digital residents at a premium to create additional revenue streams for Palau," Anson said.
He said his hopes are that the message people get is one of possibilities.
"Palau and Palauans have incredible potential to develop next generation technology through leadership and governance, without having to sacrifice culture and identity," Anson said. "This type of research and development impacts the world and is something that can be left for generations. Regardless of demographic, every Palauan and every citizen of the world deserves the ability to keep their private data safe. The Palau Digital Residency Program now offers a way to do exactly that." mbj
