TL;DR
-
There’s a lot of demand for a safe form of digital ID in the Web3 space, and the latest entrant in the race is Fractal.id.
-
The ZK Proof can then respond to the questions below with a yes or no answer.
-
The idea being: Your details are held by one trusted company/entity (e.g. the state/federal government, which already has all that info anyway) and they create a ZK Proof proving you’re legit.
Full Story
So ICYMI, there’s a lot of demand for a safe form of digital ID in the Web3 space, and the latest entrant in the race is Fractal.id.
We don’t know if they’re going to be the ones to crack the code here, but it’s worth talking about why this is being attempted and what’s scaring folks off.
The big problem with Web3 identification in most people’s mind (us included) is this:
How can anyone trust these companies/platforms/protocols with their personal information?
(The crypto space isn’t exactly known for its trustworthiness).
A perfect answer doesn’t exist…but the basic architecture is there.
And it functions using Zero Knowledge Proofs (ZK Proofs).
Think of ZK Proofs like this:
Say you randomly get asked out on a date (look at you go!). You type the persons name into Facebook/Instagram and realize you have a mutual friend…
You hit that friend up to do some recon (i.e. ask them “Should I roll the dice here and say yes to the date?”).
ZK Proofs act as that mutual friend in the world of Web3 and crypto.
A website/company/service/protocol can ask:
-
Is the name we’ve been given real?
-
Are they old enough to use our service?
-
Does this person have good credit?
-
Do they earn enough to qualify for our services?
The ZK Proof can then respond to these questions with a yes or no answer.
Instead of giving over:
-
A government ID/D.O.B
-
Social security number/credit history
-
Or access to any bank accounts/pay stubs
The idea being:
Your details are held by one trusted company/entity (e.g. the state/federal government, which already has all that info anyway) and they create a ZK Proof proving you’re legit.
(All without snitching on the details).
The result?
Your real info doesn’t live on multiple vulnerable servers, that are scattered around the world and owned by private entities.
It’s a helluva concept! And a big (potential) step forward as far as privacy is concerned.
