Three Self-Sovereign Identity Platforms to Watch

The first instinct of many governments, NGOs, and international organizations may be to create single-purpose identity solutions through the use of biometrics and commonly available identity products.¹ This is increasingly impractical and a disservice to the end user. Our analysis concentrates on firms dedicated to developing self-sovereign identity solutions.

The firms included within our report offer slightly different ecosystems. Each will include a self-sovereign identity platform and a private company (or group of companies) that will sell value-added services for their respective platform. Two of the ecosystems—from Everest and Evernym—will include an independent foundation as steward of the SSI platform with a fiduciary responsibility to uphold established principles. We believe that this structure is a strong model for governance.

Figure 2: A Suitable Model for a Self-Sovereign Identity Ecosystem

Multi-purpose, independent self-sovereign identity solutions are generally preferable to a collection of single-purpose tools for at least four reasons:

• Leverage: Any network-based ecosystem requires a critical mass of users to function and becomes more useful at scale. SSI is no exception. As an SSI solution interacts with an increasing number of services and credential providers, identities becomes stronger, more robust, and increasingly valuable. Each entity that provides a service or offers a credential increases the quality of an identity. Consider how you feel about a social media profile that has hundreds of contacts, some of whom you know, as well as years of posts and interactions: it is probably a real person. Now consider one with dozens of contacts, none in common with you, and a series of single issue posts: It might be a bot. The same is true with identity.
• Complexity of Related Technology: The technology needed to create and administer secure digital identities is complex and constantly evolving. Specialists and/or third party firms are better suited to create, deploy, and maintain digital identity solutions. These private entities are also more adept at keeping pace with rapidly evolving technologies. For instance, a firm interviewed for this report is actively tracking the rate at which the speed and cost of DNA sequencing are decreasing. Its leadership is waiting for the day when the technology can be used for biometrics.
• Risk Mitigation: Because identity is the core business of SSI platforms, their developers have a greater incentive to prioritize privacy and security than a government with competing priorities.
• Market Forces: Competition and the needs of various user groups will motivate and support both development and technological innovation.

Using the principles of SSI as a basis for analysis, we have developed a number of questions concerning the design specifications of various self-sovereign identity platforms and/or products. The three companies we have included in our analysis are Everest, Evernym, and uPort. Each firm is briefly described below.

Table 4: Attributes of the Self-Sovereign Identity Firms

The Basics: Originally known as EverID, Everest is a California-based digital identity firm founded by Bob Reid and Brad Witteman in 2016.² Everest describes itself as “dedicated to liberating humanity from subservience to centralized, non-user friendly identity management and capital allocation organizations.”³ Through distributed, encrypted data storage, Reid and Witteman aim to socioeconomically empower billions of people.⁴

Network: The firm is creating the Identity Network (IN): “a non-profit, stewarded identity and value transfer network for the common good of the planet.”⁵ Everest asserts that IN will provide the technological infrastructure and protocols for every human to own and control their identity data, including biometrics. The blockchain-based network is designed to be self-funded, transparent, and to exist in perpetuity.⁶ It is anticipated to go live in late 2018.⁷

Governance: The governance model will include the Identity Network Foundation (INF) charged with safeguarding the independence, transparency, and longevity of the network. Board members must be from an established NGO or international organization dedicated to socioeconomic development.⁸ The targeted launch date for the INF is December 2018.⁹

Decentralized Application: The Everest decentralized application is designed to operate within the IN ecosystem. The dApp will contain EverID, described in the Everest Whitepaper as a “digital biometric identity system to store and confirm user identity data.”¹⁰ Everest technology creates a user identity and records user information into a proprietary, encrypted storage file: the EverID Datagram.¹¹ This dataset is stored on an individual’s smartphone, if available and also on a network of InterPlanetary File System (IPFS)¹² nodes.

Everest plans to create and support a new economy to verify identity and record, update, store, and transfer value.¹³ In order to do so, Everest will include two additional components within its platform. The first is EverWallet, a multi-currency digital wallet with built-in document storage, which is included in the Everest decentralized application.¹⁴ The second is EverChain, a transaction system built on a private, permissioned instance of the Ethereum blockchain.¹⁵

Per the Everest Whitepaper, a robust digital identity will allow individuals to validate themselves to large organizations, such as banks or hospitals, and obtain services. In turn, these entities can use the Everest platform to cost-effectively verify user identity, track service delivery and consumption, and ensure that funds are delivered securely. The Identity Network ecosystem is intended to mitigate issues such as leakage, fraud, and inefficiency.¹⁶

Token & ICO: Everest will use a utility token, the ID, and a USD-pegged token,¹⁷ the CRDT.¹⁸ IDs will allow entities to interact with the system,¹⁹ while CRDTS are the digital currency used to move value.²⁰ Institutions that want access to the Everest economy or want to operate observer/transaction nodes will gain access by purchasing and holding a predetermined number of ID tokens corresponding to their role in the network. Everest plans to conduct an initial coin offering in Fall 2018, and will issue a maximum of 800 million IDs for three rounds of financing.²¹

Every enrollment, verification, update, or transaction will require spending CRDTs. Everest intends to initially peg the CRDT to the US dollar, and each token will be equal to USD $0.01. “The goal of pegging to a known and accepted fiat currency is to achieve stability, liquidity, and transparency.”²² There is no planned ICO for the CRDT, as it will only be used to verify identities and exchange value within the Everest ecosystem.²³

Use Cases: The Everest “testnet”²⁴ launched in July 2018, and Everest 1.0 is scheduled to go live in October 2018.²⁵ The firm is currently engaged in a health service project in Cambodia and a gas subsidy pilot project in Indonesia.²⁶ Other possible use cases listed on the Everest website include land administration; micro-insurance; micro-financing; cash transfers; remittances; medical records; and humanitarian aid.²⁷

The Basics: Evernym was founded in 2013 by Jason Law and Timothy Ruff, and is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.³³ Evernym is a well known player in the digital identity space, and endeavors to “significantly ease the deployment of self-sovereign identity infrastructure in many different industries.”³⁴ The company is perhaps best known for creating Sovrin in 2016.³⁵

Network: Sovrin is designed solely for identity, and the platform is described as “the first global public utility exclusively for self-sovereign identity and verifiable [credentials].”³⁶ The software is based entirely on open standards, with the core network code being open sourced under the Hyperledger Indy project.³⁷ The Sovrin white paper asserts that platform architecture accounts for the four major requirements of self-sovereign identity: governance, scalability, accessibility, and privacy.³⁸ The Sovrin Network is planned for launch in late 2018.³⁹

Governance: Company leadership recognized the need to engage with digital identity, security, and privacy experts to assist with design and governance. To that end, they established the Sovrin Foundation in late 2016 as an international non-profit comprised of a Board of Trustees and a Technical Governance Board. In early 2017, the Sovrin Foundation transferred its open source code to the Linux Foundation⁴⁰ to create the Hyperledger Indy project. The foundation is now finalizing version two of the Sovrin Trust Framework, a document defining the business, legal, and technical terms for participation in the Sovrin Network.⁴¹

Decentralized Application: Evernym was difficult to distinguish from Sovrin only a year ago, but has separated itself from the governance of the platform.⁴² The company is now a vendor of Sovrin-enabled software and services. Its Connect.Me wallet, a smartphone application, will enable individuals to create secure, peer-to-peer communication channels with other people and organizations.⁴³ The application also allows a user to manage digital keys and verifiable credentials, giving a person “true control over their digital identity for the first time.”⁴⁴

Token & ICO: Evernym does not plan to conduct an ICO, but will participate in the Sovrin ecosystem as a vendor of Sovrin based solutions.⁴⁵ Through implementation of advanced “privacy-by-design” features, including pairwise pseudonymous identifiers, peer-to-peer exchanges, and selective data disclosure through zero-knowledge proofs, Evernym believes that it can help to transform major economic sectors. The four highlighted within the Sovrin white paper are: 1. identity and access management; 2. cybersecurity; 3. regulatory technology; and 4. data integration.⁴⁶

The Sovrin Foundation plans to create a digital token—the Sovrin token—for privacy-preserving value exchange. By providing an economic incentive for network participants, the Sovrin Foundation intends to enable a global marketplace for digital credentials of various types and values. Ancillary markets for digital credential insurance and permissioned personal data may also emerge.⁴⁷ An initial coin offering is scheduled for 2018.⁴⁸

Use Cases: Launch of the Evernym Connect.Me application is planned for 2019.⁴⁹ The firm has already conducted a number of pilots across varying geographies and sectors. Prominent examples include a digital identity solution for credit unions, financial services in Canada, a partially completed birth registration project in Illinois, and a nationwide initiative to provide U.K. doctors with a digital passport and reputation system.⁵⁰

The Basics: uPort grew out of ConsenSys, a Brooklyn-based blockchain firm. Rouven Heck, Michael Sena, Christian Lundkvist, and Pelle Braendgaard are considered the founders.⁵⁷ The stated purpose of uPort is to “return ownership of identity to the individual by creating a trustworthy, flexible, and inclusive identity solution that empowers people.”⁵⁸

Network: Unlike the Everest and Evernym solutions, uPort is built on the public Ethereum blockchain. Founded in 2015, Ethereum was conceived as an improvement on Bitcoin, the first public blockchain, adding support for smart contracts and decentralized applications.⁵⁹ While there is constant discussion⁶⁰ about the future of blockchain technologies, the Ethereum ecosystem—which is supported and nurtured by ConsenSys—is relatively broad and robust.⁶¹

Governance: uPort leadership has not expressed any intention to create a foundation for stewardship of its digital identity solution. But if uPort intends to become a major player within the space, we expect that such an entity will be created. Both Everest and Evernym will have independent foundations to safeguard the interests of users and hold all participants within their respective ecosystems to the highest possible standards. In order for uPort to remain a viable and competitive option, an independent foundation with stewardship over uPort may be necessary.

Decentralized Application: The company website describes uPort as an “interoperable identity network for a secure, private, and decentralized web.”⁶² By creating base infrastructure for digital identity on Ethereum, uPort claims to “lay the foundation for a radically free, equitable, [peer-to-peer], user-centric internet society.”⁶³ According to uPort, its dApp is simple to use and meets demanding usability, flexibility, and interoperability requirements.⁶⁴

The firm released an updated version of the uPort ID dApp in late September 2018, and it is available to download for iOS and Android. This new version is built on the Ethereum mainnet.⁶⁵ The smartphone application allows users to register their own identity on Ethereum, send and request credentials, sign transactions, and securely manage keys and personal data.⁶⁶ Per uPort, “users are always in control of their data and they are free to share it with whoever they choose.”⁶⁷

Token & ICO: The uPort solution does not have its own token and there are no plans for an ICO. Instead, uPort is based on Ethereum and uses Ether and other ERC20-compliant tokens.⁶⁸ As such, the application will charge Gas to complete smart contract transactions within the Ethereum ecosystem.⁶⁹ Rouven Heck, co-founder of uPort, emphasized that uPort shifts costs away from the end user, as Gas fees are paid by the identity issuer.⁷⁰

Use Cases: uPort has been applied to a number of initial use cases. These include the Gnosis prediction market, the FOAM geospatial data protocol, asset management, and online poker. In addition, uPort has completed a pilot with the city of Zug, Switzerland.⁷¹ Through its base-layer identity application, uPort can issue “citizenship” to city residents. After input of basic information online, the scanning of a QR code associates the PII with a uPort address. Citizens must then visit Zug city hall, where the government validates the uPort ID and signs the data with a private key. The resulting credential is stored on the user’s smartphone and can be used to log in to city services. A citizen of Zug can use their uPort identity to vote, access a bike-sharing service, and log in to the citizen’s tax portal. As of late May 2018, approximately 300 Zug residents were registered with uPort.⁷²

ConsenSys highlighted a number of benefits of the Zug pilot in a 2017 blog post: 1. reliance on the public Ethereum blockchain lowered infrastructure requirements; 2. decentralized data storage decreased the risk of cyber attack or data theft; and 3. the early version of the application, situated on a testnet, was cost effective and scalable.⁷³

Everest, founded in 2016 and only recently emerged from “stealth mode,” is a relatively new actor.⁷⁴ The California-based company is developing proprietary software, which raises eyebrows in the open source community. Nonetheless, Everest has created a potent multifunctional platform which does not require smartphones, and has conducted a number of impressive pilots with a diverse group of partners (See Box 4 above). Evernym has a longer public record in the digital identity space, having developed Sovrin and the Hyperledger Indy project.⁷⁵

We believe that the differences between Everest and Evernym are similar to the broad differences between Apple and Google. Akin to Apple with iOS, Everest plans to operate in an integrated system where they offer services. In contrast, the indicated commitment of Evernym to open source technology is more analogous to Google and its Android Open Source Project.⁷⁶

As a part of the ConsenSys mesh, uPort is part of an increasingly important Ethereum ecosystem. ConsenSys was founded by Joseph Lubin, co-creator of Ethereum, and it very engaged with the community.⁷⁷ Schemes include ConsenSys Labs, which “supports entrepreneurs and developers around the world as they build on the Ethereum platform,” and ConsenSys Academy, an educational institution “developing the global blockchain ecosystem by bridging the Ethereum knowledge gap.”⁷⁸ ConsenSys also has a number of high-profile partnerships. For example, the company is an advisor to the Government of Dubai on blockchain, and has even engaged in a proof-of-concept with the Emirate to build a blockchain-based land registry.