PhotoChromic secures digital identity for all. An African innovation, globally applicable for the growing privacy and identity challenge, the product is tested and already in use by fintech clients in the USA, South East Asia and Africa.
Founder, Murray Legg, “Verification and identity and privacy has become the challenge in the more inclusive online world we live in. PhotoChromic have solved this simply and easily by minting your identity as an NFT, stored on blockchain and used as a digital passport.”
Murray has housed his global collective team in Switzerland, which is fast becoming the hub of innovation for blockchain and crypto, “It also allows us to work closely with regulators – if we want to see mass adoption of this technology we need regulation. We may innovate in Africa out of necessity, but privacy and identity is a global challenge and this is a first to market product that ticks the boxes of persistence, and portability – a highly innovative solution that delivers identity as an NFT. It is the missing link that the financial industry has been looking for.”
What is PhotoChromic?
It is a digital identity blockchain protocol that enables users to create a biometrically verified NFT. PhotoChromic provides users with a verifiable identity, enabling the user to programme their data privacy using an NFT and smart contract technologies.
Who controls digital identities? As outlined in the PhotoChromic Data Trust Survey, 89% of online users are highly concerned that their personal information may be compromised in the future. A mere 9% of online users feel safe sharing their personal data online. Identity still largely remains contextual, constrained within centralized ecosystems or platforms without the ability to leverage the data or identity across multiple ecosystems or platforms. Simply put, the persistent components of digital identity are not portable.
Since digital identity has been historically controlled by centralized platforms, on a global scale, the fundamental imperative to take back control of our digital identities now stands as one of the most important parts of our evolution, across every sector of our lives. The all-important moment to rise up against centralized control of our digital identitiesis now.
PhotoChromic returns identity control to those it belongs to
The tailwinds of regulation and open standards At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of financial applications in Europe increased by 72% in a week. It isn’t surprising therefore that “enabling EU-wide interoperable digital identities in finance” is the first stated goal of the EU’s Digital Finance Strategy. Since then, the EU has introduced world-first regulations that set the benchmark for open, shared and secure digital sovereignty. The EU regulatory framework builds on decades of research, engagement, and dedication by the likes of W3C, OpenID and World Bank’s ID4D, and more, who have collectively made much headway towards implementing open standards and frameworks that make self-sovereign identity a viable possibility. Similarly, regulatory frameworks and legislators have placed keen focus on securing data privacy, ramping up across the globe.
Since September 2020, the European Union has released various regulations in furtherance of digital sovereignty in Europe: GDPR; Digital Markets Act; Digital Services Act; Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA); Digital Finance Package, including Digital Finance Strategy, Retail Payment Strategy, DLT Pilot Regime, and Greater digital operational resilience in the financial sector. In May 2022, the European Union Parliament released draft proposals to the “Travel Rule” and “how that should be expanded to include transfers of crypto assets. The “Travel Rule” dictates which personal data is required to be collected when fiat cash is transferred between accounts.
PhotoChromic’s legal advisory team conducted a detailed analysis of the legal implications. In short, the regulation by the European Parliament extends the existing regulations that govern the transfer of banknotes and coins to the transfer of crypto assets. In June 2022, the Commission proposed a framework for trusted and secure digital identity for all Europeans. The primitives of blockchain, Web3 and smart contracts align with the EU’s digital strategy. The EU’s digital strategy may assist Europe in ushering in bringing about technological and financial advancement for Europeans.
PhotoChromic, through its ingenious use of smart contract technologies, takes a critical step forward towards securing verified identity, in a manner that effectively responds to regulation. The PhotoChromic identity framework secures and verifies user identity and protects it too. As a Soulbound identity token, PhotoChromic can now integrate with business identity verification processes, and lighten the regulatory compliance load of corporates resulting in bloated costs, resources and a below par user experience.
Decentralized identity The shift away from centralized organizations in favor of greater decentralization might lead one to think that the role of traditionally centralized organizations such as banks may fall away. PhotoChromic understands that the opposite is true. Consumers seek a trusted partner to guide their journey into the new trustless financial realm. Who better to fulfill this important role than their bank? A skeuomorphic onramp may just be the way to facilitate broader adoption of blockchain technologies.
Smart contract technologies That’s where PhotoChromic brings the true utility of smart contract technologies to the fore, using programmable privacy and cryptographic security by way of a smart contract. The PhotoChromic identity protocol enables financial services providers to leverage their existing identity verification processes, reduce cyber risk, minimize data sharing, and improve the customer journey. As an interoperable, modular, and decentralized service provider, PhotoChromic enables and upholds user-centricity, and places all control over personal data into the hands of the end-user.
As Founder, Murray Legg, explains: “The elements of value, communication and identity form the basis of each era of civilisation. From the middle ages until today, each era has pushed for further freedoms and independence. We’re seeing the start of a new digital renaissance unfold, and we believe that a decentralized society requires even more autonomy of their biggest asset — their identity — and PhotoChromic allows people to make that a reality.”
PhotoChromic leverages open standards of OpenID and Ethereum, namely ENS and SIWE, equipping the user with a decentralized identity in the form of a human-readable address. PhotoChromic uses custom-built generative art to create a digital representation that is a portable, verifiable identity.
The PhotoChromic identity framework provides a verified, portable, digital identity that transcends the boundaries of closed platforms. As the world walks into the Metaverse, PhotoChromic has secured digital identity for all. The proof is in a picture.
More information about the PhotoChromic can be found here:
- Website: www.photochromic.io
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/photo-chromic/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/photo_chromic
- Telegram: https://t.me/photo_chromic