Imagine if tomorrow, someone took away your social security number, your passport and your driver’s license. If you had no official identity, how would you go to school or go to the doctor? What would you do to survive in your desperation? This is precisely the dilemma over three million Rohingya face worldwide.
What is a Digital ID and how will it use Blockchain?
A digital ID is a record of attributes that are used by information technologies to identify people, organizations, and other entities like equipment and machines. The purpose is to cryptographically prove your existence and family relations, recorded on the Blockchain, a distributed ledger.
The digital ID from this project is not a passport or work permit and is not intended to conflict with existing forms of national identification. It merely acts as a verified identifier of that individual’s status as a Rohingya while ensuring their private data is protected, and can be obtained through downloading an e-wallet on the smartphone. Blockchain became famous as the technology behind the Bitcoin phenomenon, but its applications extend beyond just cryptocurrencies.
Blockchain is decentralized, peer-2-peer, cryptographically secure, and not controlled by any government or banks – which means no single party can compromise a person’s identity. Using their own unique Blockchain-based digital identities and crowdfunded resources, the Rohingya diaspora communities will have the foundation to empower themselves economically and socially.