We’ve been mentioning Zzeung quite a bit in these pages.
ICONLOOP’s authentication service using MyID is an important use case of blockchain-based decentralized ID. In the long run, it could also prove an important driver of ICX transactions as well.
So, what is this Zzeung? How does it work? Why is it a big deal?
Zzeung?
Zzeung a mobile authentication that takes care of all your authentication needs with one app.
For example, you can use Zzeung to:
- Prove your COVID-19 vaccination status
- Remotely open up a bank account
- Produce your driver’s license
- Manage your certificates
In the bad old days, these would require multiple apps, multiple sign-ins, physical visits to a bank or office, mountains of paperwork or other hassles.
If you were lucky, maybe you could use Facebook, Twitter or Google to sign in to multiple platforms… that is, if you didn’t mind turning over all your personal data to big companies to monetize — with no compensation for you, of course — and silo for the convenience of hackers.
But with Zzeung, you can do all of this with one app. No multiple sign-ins. No visits. No paperwork. And no surrendering all your personal data to some faceless corporate entity to monetize and abuse.
Zzeung includes — in app — several services, including:
- the government’s vaccination status service
- real name authentication services for Shinhan Bank and NH Bank
- a driver’s license authentication service for rental car services
- an ID service for Gangwon Province’s “Health Up” platform for managing chronic diseases.
- It also lets you manage certificates issued by blockchain (and public chain)-based certification service Broof.
Installing Zzeung is a piece of cake. Just download the app from your Google or iOS marketplace, verify your name, citizen number and phone number, and boom, you’re done. Of course, the fact that Korea has a national ID system — and that your mobile phone is almost always linked to that national ID — makes this easier to implement.
MyID?
Zzeung is powered by MyID, ICONLOOP’s blockchain-based DID solution.
To quote ICONLOOP:
“MyID verifies data integrity via blockchain, realizing SSI(Self-sovereign identity) with a structure where users can store the personal data authenticated by identity authentication institutions on their smartphones and submit required information for authentication in a simple and easy manner.
MyID verifies data integrity via blockchain, realizing SSI(Self-sovereign identity) with a structure where users can store the personal data authenticated by identity authentication institutions on their smartphones and submit required information for authentication in a simple and easy manner.”
In short, MyID:
- Issues decentralized IDs (DIDs)
- Manages the issuing, submitting, verifying and revoking verifiable credentials
- Gives users full control over their own credentials conveniently by storing them on separate cloud servers.
The South Korean government has named MyID to its regulatory sandbox and designated it an innovative financial service.
MyID also forms the centerpiece of the “MyID Alliance,” a collaborative organization establishing a blockchain-based digital ID ecosystem centered on MyID. The MyID Alliance currently has 86 member organizations, including companies in the finance, fintech, e-commerce, sharing economy and health care sectors.
Seriously, why should I care?
Well, for starters, DID is cool.
Decentralized IDs represent one of the most important innovations of the decentralized Web3. DIDs allow for self-sovereign identifications that you control, unattached to particular platforms or even governments.
And it couldn’t come at a better time. ReadWriteWeb founder Richard MacManus wrote last year:
“So why do we need to decentralize? Simply put, because of the power of “walled garden” companies like Facebook, Google and Apple. Decentralization brings the potential for users to take back control of their personal identity and data; that’s why it’s so important.
Perhaps the key to the decentralized web is identity. Think about how important your Google, Facebook and Apple logins are to nearly everything you do on the web. But ultimately, you’re not in control of your identity on any of those commercial platforms. Google or Apple could shut down your email address, which is typically used as your login, at any time. As for Facebook, it has shown over the past year that it can and will “de-platform” you if you’re deemed to have broken its rules. There’s also the fact that on any of these platforms, your data can potentially be subpoenaed (or worse) by governments without you even knowing it.”
Even assuming Google and Facebook aren’t misusing or mistreating your data, there are other reasons why we need DIDs.
Over 1 billion people around the world have no IDs, including so-called “stateless individuals” and many refugees. For countless people, going to the city hall to get a copy of your birth certificate isn’t an option, either because the city hall does not exist or exists in the capital hundreds of miles away, or because the city hall is being bombed by rebels or invading forces. And without an ID, these people cannot take advantage of so many of the services the rest of us take for granted.
Need another reason to care about Zzeung? OK, how about this — it’s an ICX use case.
I know we’ve explained this before, but repetition is a good educational (and promotional) tool: Zzeung partially operates on the public chain to verify first-time users. This involves a small ICX transaction fee. The transaction fees might seem minuscule at first, but they add up.
Two major South Korean banks already use Zzeung. The MyID Alliance has 86 partners, including many of South Korea’s leading financial companies. In a recent interview, ICONLOOP JG Kim said that as a login means and verification service, Zzeung has infinite use possibilities, and that going forward, it could be put to use as a KYC solution for virtual asset exchanges.
All of this means that in the near future, Zzeung could spark a significant upswing in ICX transactions.
