As the country further adopts blockchain technology, South Koreans may soon allow its people to utilize blockchain-based digital identification instead of conventional cards as early as 2024.
According to a Bloomberg story dated October 17, the government is planning to eventually install digital IDs as apps within mobile devices that function similarly to conventional resident registration cards.
According to the World Bank and McKinsey & Co., digital IDs have the potential to increase a nation’s gross domestic product by up to 13% and decrease business expenses by trillions of dollars, according to Bloomberg.
Role of Digital IDs
Digital IDs remove the need for text-based authentication or taking a picture of a certificate, making it more straightforward to be confirmed online. Instead, completing tasks like money transfers, casting a ballot, or even becoming eligible for government benefits just requires a pin or fingerprint.
“Digitals IDs can yield huge economic benefits in finance, healthcare, taxes, transportation, and other areas and may catch on quickly among the Korean population,” said Hwang Seogwon, an economist at Korea’s Science and Technology Policy Institute.
What else is there in the plan?
According to Suh, the idea would also involve the government’s adoption of a decentralized identification system, which would prevent it from having access to data saved on phones, including the digital IDs being used, their usage patterns, and whereabouts.
According to the Portulans Institute, an American think tank, the tech-savvy nation, which ranks first among all countries in using technology in life, commerce, and government, is not a stranger to such technology.
