Yesterday, the payments firm Mastercard announced it is joining the ID2020 Alliance to explore digital identity solutions.
The ID2020 Alliance was founded by Accenture, Microsoft, Gavi, Rockefeller Foundation and IDEO. Partners include NGOs, private companies and UN agencies.
Theongoing pandemic has led to the emergence of digital-only solutionsthat require users to prove who they are. Digital identity could playa significant role in facilitating access to a range of digitalservices.
“Wemust work together to establish consistency and common standardsacross the globe that can make this a reality, addressing realchallenges faced by people every day and sparking continuedinnovation,” said Ajay Bhalla, president, Cyber & Intelligence,Mastercard.
Lastyear, Mastercard said it was exploringdecentralized digital identity forverifying financial transactions, government interactions, and onlineservices. It is a well-established fact that digital identity couldenable banking and other services for people with no physical papersor credit history.
TheWorld Bank estimates overa billion people lackany form of legally recognized identification. This hinders theiraccess to vital services, including healthcare, social protection,education and finance.
Several solutions are being developed globally, but ID2020 believes collaboration and global partnerships are key to digital identity adoption.
“Digital identity can be a powerful force multiplier to enhance social and economic opportunities for all people,” said Dakota Gruener, Executive Director of ID2020. “But to fully realize that potential, governments, technology companies, financial institutions and civil society must collaborate. We are delighted to welcome Mastercard to the ID2020 Alliance and applaud their commitment to privacy-protecting, user-centric digital identity.”
Gruener recently penned a Harvard whitepaper about COVID-19 immunity certificates for the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics.
TheID2020 Alliance enables partners to pool in funds and other resourcesto develop digital identity projects.
TheAlliance has already launched pilots andrecently worked with the Governmentof Bangladesh tolaunch a digital identity program for vaccination in the country.
Digitalidentity hasmyriad applications, and Mastercard previously joined the Trustover IP (ToIP)Foundation. Other members of the consortium include Accenture,Evernym, IBM, DIDx, and R3.
Evernymis the company that initiated the Sovrinnetwork,the public self-sovereign identity network. SouthKorea hasthree separate decentralized identity projects.
Lastmonth, Microsoft, Evernym, ID2020 and many others formed the COVIDCredentials Initiative (CCI)to use digital identity for keeping OVID-19 spread in check.
