- MyID’s chief advantage is that it can be used across the entire financial sector.
- ICONLOOP’s DID solution could provide way for cryptocurrency exchanges to more easily become KYC-compliant.
- As the MyID Alliance expands, some believe it has taken an early lead in Korea’s DID ecosystem.
Korean-language blockchain news site Block Media on Monday took a look at the current state of the MyID Alliance as part of a series on Korea’s big three DID networks.
The MyID Alliance centers on ICONLOOP’s DID solution MyID, which allows users to re-use ID information generated in the course of opening an online account with a financial company when they open an account with another financial company. By allowing users to open accounts using information stored on their device, the solution makes opening financial accounts much, much easier.
The biggest strength of the MyID Alliance, according to Block Media, is that it can be used across the entire financial sector. This is thanks to its inclusion in the Financial Services Commission’s “Innovative Financial Services and Regulations Sandbox.” It is KYC compliant, meaning you can use it to open a bank account, take out a loan or buy stocks. This also makes it highly expandible.
Block Media notes, though, that while service is set to launch in the first half of the year, it may take some time before every partner company in the alliance is ready to use it.
The MyID Alliance’s strength was on display recently when Bithumb, one of South Korea’s biggest cryptocurrency exchanges, joined the MyID Alliance as a “Growth Partner,” i.e., a partner that plans to put the MyID solution into actual use. Of the MyID Alliance’s 57 partners, 34 are Growth Partners, including heavy hitters such as Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, Kyobo Life Insurance, DB Insurance, Yanolja, Cafe 24, Payco, Saramin, GS Shop and S1.
More companies are reportedly considering joining the alliance. Accordingly, Block Media notes some are saying that the MyID Alliance has already taken the lead in the scramble to control South Korea’s DID ecosystem.
Bithumb will incorporate MyID into all its services, including sign up and transactions. What makes MyID particularly attractive to cryptocurrency exchanges such as Bithumb is that the KYC compliance process for exchanges is notoriously strict and time-consuming since everything is done online and because cryptocurrency transactions are regarded as risky. Because MyID’s inclusion in the FSC’s sandbox allows it to be used as a KYC compliance tool under South Korea’s amended financial transactions law, however, it could provide exchanges with a much-needed way to simplify the KYC process.
An official from the MyID Alliance told Block Media that with interest growing in user ID verification and personal information security since the recent amending of South Korea’s financial laws, eyes have been turning to DID thanks to its reliability, stability and convenience. The official added that more attention would land on MyID in particular since it can be used as a legally compliant means to confirm customer identification as the government recognized the solution as a way to confirm real names when it included it in the FSC sandbox.
DID also lessens the burden that financial companies endure in protecting and storing personal information since they would no longer possess the personal information.
