South Korea Champions Blockchain-based ID
People in South Korea will soon be able to have their identification digitally embedded in their smartphones and secured on the blockchain, a government move intended to boost the economy by tapping into the country’s large tech-first population.
Smartphone-implanted IDs will replace existing ID cards and are expected to have an economic value of about 3% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), Bloomberg reported on Monday (Oct 17).
See also: Blockchain in action: Creating a private, unhackable and trusted digital identity
A distributed digital ledger can create a digital identity that can be shared without giving up privacy and trust because it cannot be faked or counterfeited, PYMNTS reported in May as part of its Blockchain in Action series.
Having identification built into smartphones is one of the many emerging technologies powering an expanding digital economy that went into warp speed during the global pandemic as people did everything from home.
“All services that have not been able to fully go online will now be able to do so,” said Suh Bo Ram, director general of Korea’s digital government agency in charge of the program.
Read more: India uses WhatsApp to access digital ID documents
Digital IDs make online verification easier, removing the need for authentication codes via text or taking pictures of paper identification. The digital IDs are expected to launch in 2024, with around 45 million residents expected to adopt the technology within two years.
“Digital IDs can bring huge economic benefits in finance, health care, taxes, transportation and other areas and can quickly catch on among the Korean population,” economist Hwang Seogwon of the Korea Science and Technology Policy Institute told Bloomberg.
“But there needs to be more risk assessment technologically to ensure that the danger does not outweigh the benefits,” Seogwon added.
Related: How to catch the next wave of digital transformation
According to data from the United Nations (UN), Korea is among the most tech-savvy governments worldwide, ranking third behind Finland and Estonia based on e-government, telecom and telecom infrastructure, Bloomberg reported. The USA ranked last in the top 10 list, just behind Australia.
“Korea is becoming a quiet power that shows the future of global technology,” Heather Vescent, president of Oregon-based IDPro, an association of digital ID professionals, told Bloomberg.
