Turkey's BKM launches blockchain-based digital certificate platform co-developed with Microsoft and VeriPark

BKM, Interbank Card Center of Turkey, has announced the launch of a blockchain-based digital certificate platform.

BKM was established in 1990 with the partnership of 13 public and private Turkish banks in order to find solutions to common problems within the card payment system and to improve the rules and standards of bank and credit cards in the country.

According to a press release on Finextra, BKM is transferring certificates to a blockchain-based system through belgem.io, a distributed application developed in collaboration with Microsoft and VeriPark.

Running on the Quorum blockchain – a private Ethereum blockchain developed by J.P.Morgan, belgem.io is a digital platform that allows storing, viewing, and sharing educational certificates. The platform uses smart contracts, Proof-of-Authority consensus algorithm and autonomous governance panel.

“Our decision [to choose Ethereum] was also influenced by Ethereum’s support of multiple consensus algorithms,” BKM explained, adding it tested both the Proof-of-Work and the Parity-based Proof-of-Authority on Azure.

“Our final choice was the Ethereum Proof-of-Authority Consortium, which, thanks to its structure, does not require mining, has an efficient governance portal and a block production rate of two or four seconds.”

The blockchain-based solution includes mechanisms to authenticate users and certificate issuing organizations. It provides an everlasting unique link as a proof for each certificate, the release said

BKM said that in the initial stages of the project, participants of the courses delivered by its training platform BayBayNakit Akademi, Blockchain Turkey Platform (BCTR), FinTech Istanbul, and soon Microsoft Cloud Society, will get their certificates through the belgem.io. It plans to add more institutions and certification types to the application going forward.