TL; DR
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A secure form of digital ID is in high demand in the Web3 space, and the newest entrant into the race is Fractal.id.
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The ZK Proof can then respond to the questions below with a yes or no answer.
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The idea is: Your information is held by one trusted company/entity (e.g. the state/federal government, which already has all that information anyway) and they create a ZK credential showing that you are legitimate.
Full story
So ICYMI, a secure form of digital ID is in high demand in the Web3 space, and the latest entrant into the race is Fractal.id.
We don’t know if they’ll be the ones to crack the code here, but it’s worth talking about Why this is being tried and what scares people.
The big problem with Web3 identification for most people (us included) is this:
How can anyone trust these companies/platforms/protocols with their personal information?
(The crypto space isn’t exactly known for its reliability).
There is no perfect answer…but the basic architecture is there.
And it works with Zero Knowledge Proofs (ZK Proofs).
Think of ZK Proofs as follows:
Say you’re randomly asked out on a date (look, you’re going!). You type the person’s name into Facebook/Instagram and realize you have a mutual friend…
You approach that friend to do some exploring (i.e. ask him, “Should I roll the dice here and say yes to the date?”).
ZK Proofs acts as that mutual friend in the world of Web3 and crypto.
A website/company/service/protocol may request:
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Is the name we’ve been given real?
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Are they old enough to use our service?
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Does this person have good credit?
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Do they earn enough to qualify for our services?
ZK Proof can then respond to these questions with a yes or no answer.
Instead of of vomiting:
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A government ID/date of birth
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Social Security Number/Credit History
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Or access to any bank accounts/pay slips
The idea is:
Your information is held by one trusted company/entity (e.g. the state/federal government, which already has all that information anyway) and they create a ZK credential showing that you are legitimate.
(All without going into the details).
The result?
Your real information is not located on multiple vulnerable servers, spread around the world and owned by private entities.
It’s a great concept! And a big (potential) step forward in the field of privacy.