ArcBlock, a leading blockchain development platform and decentralized identity provider, has released a new user experience demo that showcases how to enable KYC for any application using decentralized identity and verifiable credentials to verify a user. The purpose of ArcBlock’s demo app is to show how any organization or business can add a decentralized identity to their service and issue the user a verifiable credential to access their service.

ArcBlock, a leading blockchain development platform and decentralized identity solution provider, has launched a new KYC demo app experience that uses decentralized identity and verifiable credentials to show businesses and developers how easy to verify users and create trust between the issuer of a credential, the holder and the verifier.

Verifiable Credentials

Today, many companies are collecting more and more user data, and even accept information from individuals that an independent authority has verified, like citizenship verified by a government agency or education level verified by a university. With decentralized identity, users are now able to receive and use verifiable credentials, or claims that are digital, to prove who we are, and can exchange digital information with whomever we want. Users can use verifiable credentials to verify things such as official records, diplomas, training, licenses and much more.

With Verifiable Credentials, organizations don’t have to collect or protect sensitive user information, as the user is able to store it on a secure device or decentralized identity wallet. When users control their own identity, they can also set constraints and controls on their digital data, sharing only the information necessary to conduct business with organizations, and no more. One of the best examples of where Verifiable Credentials be used helping companies with Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations.

KYC

Today, sharing an email address or phone number is likely the most commonly shared personal attribute, however, on occasion customers need to provide more sensitive information in order to identify themselves. This procedure of gathering users’ personal data is necessary for a wide range of services including banks,financials and investment companies in order to comply with “Know Your Customer (KYC)” regulations. This is why every single time we need to set up a new bank account or go to the DMV to get a license, we’re asked to fill out the same identical form all over again. In the end, this process can lead to poor user experiences and actually negatively reflect on the companies, which was validated by a Thomson Reuters survey on user experiences.

The use cases of using a KYC can be simple, or complex, depending on the requirements. For example, instead of standing in a line at the post office to get a new passport and/or filling out endless forms online, a user can simply provide a copy of the required documents like a driver's license, birth certificate, or passport/ID and include some type of selfie along with the document. The KYC service can then verify that the provided information is real and issue a credential that shows the users' details have been verified.

ArcBlock KYC Demo

While KYC can be challenging, using decentralized identity, we now have the opportunity to rethink the entire KYC experience and make it simple, effective and user-centric. The ArcBlock KYC and Verifiable Credentials demo consists of 3 parts and showcases how users can verify their identity, store their verifiable credentials and share it anytime they want with whoever they choose.

Step 1: Verifying Your Identity

For the KYC demo, ArcBlock will provide the customer identity verification service, but can easily be replaced with integrations with KYC services like Onfido, ShuftiPro or other in-house KYC services.

The includes 3 steps to complete the KYC process:

• have a user register with ArcBlock’s service with an email address,
• verify that email address is real,
• issue a credential to the users' ABT Wallet.

Note, the email address used in this demo represents the possibility of many different types of credentials including activities such as employment verification, continuing education, green card or a copy of a driver's license.

Step 2: Storing Verifiable Credentials in the ABT Wallet

ArcBlock provides a wallet in which the verified credentials are securely stored under “Wallet Cards.” The credentials are portable, meaning that a user can access them at any time provided they have their phone.

Step 3: Reusing Verifiable Credentials

Using the ArcBlock wallet, a user can share access to the ArcBlock issued-credentials in order to sign up for services. It’s just one click, every time.

Ready for Business

ArcBlock's identity services and SDK already supports KYC and a wide range of verifiable credential types to enable businesses to easily leverage decentralized identity and help users to be able to verify their data, while keeping it private and secure. ArcBlock’s identity service uses a distributed ledger architecture and can be used with any blockchain today including ArcBlock’s ABT Network, QLDB, Hyperledger and Ethereum to name a few.