Korean-language blockchain news outlet Block Media recently sat down with ICONLOOP director Sohn Yujin to discuss MyID.
Sohn is responsible for financial industry projects and services within the MyID Alliance.
She calls MyID a decentralized ID service specialized for the financial sector as it began by gaining regulatory exemptions through the Financial Services Commission’s sandbox. She explains that ICONLOOP is initially focusing on finance since MyID has set itself apart by access to the sector, where regulatory barriers are notoriously high.
That said, MyID can be used outside the financial industry, too. ICONLOOP is expanding service in two directions. The first is expanding outward from the financial sector based on MyID’s status as a top-flight real-name verification system.
The other is to link MyID with other services. For example, ICONLOOP currently operates its blockchain-powered certification service Broof and visitor administration service VisitMe as separate services, but going forward, it plans to connect its DID services with MyID.
Naturally, securing users is critically important. Sohn says the MyID has received additional regulatory exemptions to increase its number of users. These exemptions allow people to use MyID not only when making financial transactions, but also when issuing means of access.
Sohn also discusses the recent addition of major South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb to the MyID Alliance. This has observers speculating that the Financial Services Commission has virtually signed off on exchanges using MyID as a means to satisfying KYC requirements.
She says that while the details will need to be worked out after the executive ordinance of South Korea’s revised financial transaction law comes out, MyID likely could be used as a customer verification solution for exchanges if they are designated financial institutions. This is because the service’s sandbox exemption allows it to be used to confirm customer identification under South Korea’s financial transaction laws. She also said it was highly likely that MyID could be used since banks can use it, making it much more secure than having exchanges confirm IDs themselves.
Sohn predicts that MyID will shatter the existing paradigm of digital identification by allowing people to use an ID issued from one institution at all other institutions, financial and non-financial alike.
She also suggests that foreigners, too, may eventually be able to use MyID to open untact accounts. Recent legal revisions now recognize the alien registration cards issued to foreigners residing in South Korea as a means of ID for opening untact accounts. In order for MyID to work in this case, however, financial institutions will first need to connect with the Ministry of Justice so that they can confirm alien registration cards.
Sohn also discusses the recently announced common standards for using DID in the financial sector. She says South Korea’s three major DID alliances — including the MyID Alliance — took part in creating those standards, and that MyID satisfies all the standards’ requirements.
