Welcome back to The Frontier. There’s an October chill in the air for us here in the Northern Hemisphere, but we’re still raring to go with all the latest blockchain updates and news for you!
First up we have a brand new blog for you on Blockchain and credentials.
A recent news piece in The Conversation on students and employee’s credentials prompted us to explore our own work in this area here at ByzGen. Credentials (like degrees) and micro credentials (like driving licences) prove your expertise in those areas. And it looks like blockchain could be the very thing to streamline the verification and ownership of such credentials – something we dive deeper into in our blog.
Also, if you’re interested in our platform FALKOR and want to better understand our FALKOR SI product we’ve got a brand new explainer PDF you can download here. As you may know if you’ve been with us for a while, FALKOR SI is a proven enterprise blockchain platform trusted by some of the world's largest technology providers and system integrators. It’s derived from the architectural principles of blockchain, and backed by years of development, prototype testing, and enterprise deployments. In the first section of the explainer, we talk about FALKOR SI’s components, and in the second how it’s used as part of a managed service. Why not check it out?
In this fascinating piece by Coin Telegraph, it’s revealed that tech-savvy South Korea could soon allow its citizens to use blockchain-based digital ID, instead of physical ID cards, as soon as 2024. These IDs could then be conveniently embedded into apps on smartphones. It certainly proves that blockchain can be used to scalably support IDs in a decentralised way. It interested us at ByzGen, as we’ve worked on extended use cases in this area in terms of protection of IDs and assets, and how they’re used. For example tracking where driving licences are being used – which is also mentioned in the article. It’s still important to note though, that no matter how capable and decentralised the ID management system is, it still needs the thumbs up from government authorities or corporations to work properly.
In other news, Devdiscourse have been discussing the impact blockchain technology can have on education and poverty. Blockchain could help people get globally recognised tamper-proof and portable credentials, and improve social inclusion by giving equal opportunities to everyone regardless of their background. It also allows financial inclusion, independence and self-sufficiency. Basically traditional and prohibitive systems (like banning school education for women and girls in Afghanistan) can be completely circumvented. When technology can have an impact like this, it’s life changing. And as per our credentials blog mentioned above, the technology extends beyond education and into other types of credentials too.
And finally, The U.K. government has introduced a bill that could see blockchain technology being adopted as a way to store documents. The Electronic Trade Documents Bill would be a smart move if it is passed, with electronic documents increasing security by being easier to trace. The document storage also speaks to the data layer on our platform FALKOR SI, so it's something we’re very familiar with. The other bonus would be the paperless nature of the process, a move that should reduce carbon emissions if passed into law.
And that’s all for this month! If you’re interested in blockchain technology and the impact it's having both in the UK and globally, be sure to follow us on social media @Gen_Byz on Twitter, or @ByzGen over at LinkedIn.
Until next time,
The ByzGen Team
Marcus, Terry, Shristy, Rob and Ryan
