This article is about decentralized digital identities (DIDs) and their benefits. DIDs are on-chain identities that let you use a single wallet address or ID to access your accounts on different platforms.
Personal & Online Identities
Personal identities have long since been used to serve consumers better. There are elaborate mechanisms used to identify and authenticate a user’s identity.
Nations today use what is known as a national identifier. For example, in the U.S, people are identified using their Social Security Number. But are these identifiers really safe?
With the onset of digital transformation, our personal identities today have migrated to the digital world. Whether we’re traveling or purchasing something online, we are required to produce a digital identity that is used to authenticate our travel or purchase.
The digital identity can range anything from your national ID number, passport, bank account, credit card, or debit card information. There are three main constraints with using these digital identities.
- These are extremely important and sensitive data that need to be handled only by the user.
- There is no secure place to store this information online. They run the risk of being exposed to third parties, and are susceptible to hacks. Thus, they can be stolen, altered or tampered with.
- Companies that handle this data need to be trusted to keep them safe. They may sometimes be used for purposes other than their intended use.
Is Your Online Identity Safe?
Your online identity nowadays is a username and a password associated with it.
Depending on the platform that you use, you may be required to provide additional information. For example, if it is a subscription based service like Netflix, then you’d be required to provide your credit card or debit card and other details.
If it’s a social media account, then you may be sharing your name, photo, phone number, email address, age, date of birth and other information.
If it’s a centralized & KYC’d cryptocurrency exchange, then the information collected may be your National ID, Passport, or any other relevant ID document and your bank account details.
In addition to this, if you’re browsing a video streaming service like YouTube, the data collected may be used to target you with relevant ads.
Your information is generally safe with them, until they decide to use it for their own vested interests. Facebook, for one, is accused of allegedly selling millions of people’s data to third parties for devious reasons.
More recent data breaches that compromised user data include Cisco’s VPN breach and a hacker selling 5.4 million Twitter users’ data on a forum that resulted from a bug exploit on Twitter.
Hacks and data breaches have been increasing by the day. Just Last month, several high profile companies and websites like the rental service provider U-haul, the ride-hailing and ride-sharing firm Uber, American Airlines and even the online forum Kiwi Farms were hacked. These incidents further reinforces the need for greater security and privacy in sharing personal data. Did you know that you can protect your data and identity by using decentralized identifiers on BChat?
What are Decentralized Identifiers?
Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) are on-chain identities that can be used to identify users without having to reveal sensitive and personal information about them. DIDs can be anything from your wallet address to a BChat ID.
For example, you can use your BChat ID to connect with your friends and family on BChat, without having to provide any of your personal data. All you need to access or restore your account is a 24–25 word cryptographically generated key. There are no usernames or passwords. Any data that you do share or download is encrypted and stored locally on your device.
- Making DIDs Easy to Remember
Decentralized identities are usually long and random hexadecimal characters that are difficult to memorize or recall when needed. To solve this problem, decentralized domain mapping is used. Users can map their wallet address or ID to a human readable domain such as beldexcoin.bdx.
.bdx domains are a part of Beldex Name Service (BNS) that can be used to host a domain on BelNet. Later on, it will be possible to send or receive BDX just by using your BNS domains.
- Benefits of DIDs
They are easy to remember
DIDs are private and secure
They can be mapped to your wallet
They can authenticate your on-chain identity
They can be used to maintain a record of your lendings and borrowings (decentralized credit scores)
They can be used to establish trust and prove your credibility (educational qualifications, employment status, nationality, etc.)
- Benefits of BNS domains
BNS (.bdx) domains can be used to host an intranet domain on BelNet
BNS (.bdx) domains can be used to host MNApps
They can be used to send and receive BDX
Building Trust with Privacy and Autonomy
Your personal identity should always be private. So how do you protect your identity online?
First is to use a safe and secure decentralized encrypted messaging app and a decentralized P2P VPN service to mask your IP.
Use a decentralized identity such as a BChat ID to communicate with your friends and family. BChat never asks for your phone number or email ID. The anonymous signup will ensure your privacy.
BNS domains on BelNet will offer a way for you to host unstoppable applications over the Beldex network. BNS names will also serve as your decentralized identifier on the Beldex ecosystem.
Beldex is currently researching the mapping of BNS domains to both your BChat ID and your Beldex wallet address so it will be possible to transfer BDX and send messages to your BNS names.
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