South Korea approves blockchain banking ID service

A recent announcement revealed that the South Korean Financial Services Commission (FSC) has given its approval for a blockchain-based ID system to be implemented in banking. Called my-ID by ICONLOOP, it is a method for authenticating identifications when conducting bank transactions via the distributed ledger technology. The intent is to make the bank ID verification aspect more efficient and easier.

This move essentially adds the blockchain ID service to the “Innovative Financial Services and Regulations Sandbox” that the FSC created. In the press release, ICONLOOP CEO, Jonghyup Kim noted the significance of this development and what it could mean for his company. He also pointed out how this new initiative showcases the potential of blockchain in terms of common usage.

“The designation of my-ID as an Innovative Financial Service will be a monumental turning point in the growth of Korea’s blockchain industry,” Kim said. “Although it has been somewhat difficult to find a meaningful use of blockchain technology in everyday life so far, this will be an opportunity to prove and verify the usefulness of blockchain technology. I hope that this marks not only the expansion of blockchain technology but also the creation of an overall digital identity ecosphere.”

For some context as to what it can do, my-ID is a blockchain-based identity authentication initiative that is intended to decentralize information storage of identifications, Medium reports. This will then remove some of the obstacles that can make transactions cumbersome such as putting up with verification steps.

For example, in South Korea, clients are unable to reuse the pictures of their ID over and over in order to authenticate their identities. A new picture must be taken every time and this can be inconvenient. Through my-ID, this will not have to be the case and it addresses numerous other cumbersome authentication steps, as well. This would then help make banking easier on customers.