Spruce Systems and “Decentralized Identity”

The Evolving World of Decentralized Identity & Spruce Systems

Decentralized identity is a further advancement for Web3 and DeFi that was covered in REDeFiNE TOMORROW 2023. This time, Austin Arensberg, Senior Director of Okta Ventures, joined the conversation with Wayne Chang, CEO & Co-Founder of Spruce Systems. You will find a fascinating highlight in this article.

Discover Spruce Systems. A strategy to give users more control and ownership over their data.

The main objective of Spruce Systems, one of the pioneers of "decentralized identity," is to provide users more flexibility and control over their data on websites. It also seeks to unleash innovation to replace the conventional online platform sign-in procedure, in which the platform owners retain complete control over all user data.

Wayne stated that Spruce Systems' objective is to manage online data similarly to how we manage physical assets. By utilizing a solution protocol linked to a data vault, it also seeks to address the issue of inadequate digital asset supervision and improve user accessibility to online information. Access to electronic health records in the US is one example of the problem, which frequently prevents patients from getting the treatment they deserve.

Additionally, Spruce Systems creates a "Sign-in With Ethereum" feature that enables users to access website services or create their digital identities on any platforms they choose using their Ethereum accounts rather than those of other major centralized companies. This function also enables the use of DeFi in the future.

What are the benefits of decentralized identity?

Wayne presented his view of decentralized identity by classifying it into two major categories: Foundational Identity and Functional Identity. The first is the information used to identify a person for general purposes and released by institutions, such as driver's licenses and passports. The latter, meanwhile, is utilized for more focused functions, such as confirming an individual's age and proving credibility before making an investment.

Many people can issue, suspend, and independently verify the sources of their documents because of a decentralized identity system. They can issue certificates to establish their content's legitimacy and ownership. This process can also generate new use cases, such as credit assessment, and confirm trustworthiness.

In addition, Wayne emphasized enhancing user capabilities, managing data, and establishing credibility and ownership of digital assets.

The future application of decentralized identity

According to Wayne, the use of decentralized identity can be broken down into two main categories: the collaboration of the public and private sectors and the use of cryptography mechanisms to build a system for digital identity that shares data with the blockchain and digital currency industries.

The world is now focusing on implementing decentralized identity across many industries, which is more readily apparent. Smartphones can be used, for example, to verify a digital driver's license, or the European Digital Identity Wallet aims to make it possible for Europeans to confirm their identities using open-source technology standards.

Wayne highlighted the significance of cryptography in the decentralized identity system and pointed out the use of ISO and W3C (The World Wide Web Consortium) verifiable identification data standards. This may result in system compatibility and the parallel use of blockchain transactions and digital signatures.

Spruce Systems places an intense focus on the enhancement of diverse digital environments and user-centered design. Arensberg questioned the advantages of decentralized identity and the growing popularity of mobile device identification, including the potential use of the decentralized system in Apple Wallet. Future digital identification data should prioritize openness and keep clear of the issue brought on by centralized authorities with excessive control over user data.

A new approach to creating a "Decentralized Identity" system standard.

To enable the use of decentralized identity, Spruce Systems develops a new standard with accreditation organizations like the W3C, ISO, and many others. Establishing these standards helps lower application risk by giving users new options.

The main goal of Spruce Systems is to establish a connection between the use of decentralized identity and those who generate and review identification data in the private sector, such as medical records, transcripts, employment histories, and many other types of data. The field is currently being facilitated by an open-source project called SSX (Spruce Secure eXchange).

To sum up, Spruce Systems seeks to introduce a widely accepted modern identification standard that allows users total control and fosters the industry’s innovation in identifying identification data.