Tykn: Introducing Tykn's Project ZINC and the Sovrin Platform
In the last article we discussed Tykn as a humanitarian service provider that aims to provide identification recording and verification for people who lost or don't have proper documentation. We also looked at a few scenarios where the Tykn technology could be applied in real life. In this article we shall discuss Tykn's project ZINC and the Sovrin platform that Tykn uses.
PROJECT ZINC
Project zinc is a Tykn program that targets vulnerable children. ZINC (which stands for Zero INvisible Children) aims to permanently certify the identity of children in conflict zones by leveraging blockchain technology. source https://tykn.tech/project-zinc/
It's common that during times of conflict and war many people lose important documents. Also it is hard and sometimes impossible to have a newborn child registered during this time as most or all offices will stop to function. There's no telling how long war or insurgency may last. This will likely result in those children growing up with no proof of existence. There are an estimated 230 million children under the age of 5 worldwide who do not possess a birth certificate. The consequences of this include no access to education, health care or mobility, exposure to child trafficking, prostitution, child labour and being used to perpetuate crime and terrorism.
Tykn's project ZINC will focus on those affected regions and make sure that every child is registered. With the cooperation of governments and the relevant authorities, Tykn will develop a legal, STANDARD and verified ledger of records. Registration will be done online. This will negate the reliance on paper documentation. Tykn already has field agents carrying out visibility studies and interacting with refugees in Syria and Lebanon.
You can read a Tykn Refugee Case Study.
Tykn is working with Spindle at Spindle Summer Labs working and fine-tuning new strategies to best bring solutions to the target recipients. Tykn aims to utilize “Hyperledger Indy” platform, to register the legal identity of these children permanently through a mobile application.
SOVRIN
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Sovrin is a Self-Sovereign Identity network based on a public permissioned blockchain.
Normal blockchains are permissionless. This means anyone can be a Validator node on the network. Think of miners on the Bitcoin network. Anyone can set up his/her rigs and start hashing.
The term Public Permissioned Blockchain means that one must seek permission before they can become a Validator node as only reliable parties can be trusted with the task of validating identity transactions.
Sovrin is planning ahead and has taken precaution to safeguard user information. For the meantime the blockchain is unhackable but what if there is a breakthrough in quantum computing that allows someone to crack the blockchain? This would mean all user information on the blockchain will be accessible. So Sovrin doesn't store user data on the blockchain. It uses a pointer system.
According to the Tykn blog,
"The only thing stored on the blockchain are pointers (called Decentralized Identifiers or DIDs). The credentials that the citizen is holding will have an Issuer ID attached. Only the pointers, which are the Issuer ID alongside the key from the authority who issued the credential, are stored on the blockchain. Anyone looking to verify that citizen’s identity will only have to:
- check if there’s a match between the Issuer ID on the blockchain and the Issuer ID attached to the credential.
- check the key of the issuer (say, a government) who attested to the validity of that credential.
Even if the blockchain is breached, the theft of those Credential IDs poses no harm to the citizen. No one can do anything with them."
As an extra layer of security, Sovrin will only allow permissioned entities called Stewards to serve as Validator nodes, ensuring consistency in the entries in the ledger. Tykn is one of those Stewards who are allowed to run Validator nodes along with reputable names like IBM, Cisco, T-labs and two dozen others. Sovrin aims to have up to 300 Stewards within the network in the long run to achieve optimal decentralized governance.
Sovrin uses digital standards such as w3c (created by the World Wide Web Consortium) to specify the Decentralized Identifiers (the pointers) . Sovrin believes that using one standard will achieve interoperability between all the devices and entities on the network.
Sovrin allows users to have complete and total control over their data. This is ideal for achieving the objective of enabling access to human rights through digital identities.
Tykn is working diligently to assist NGOs and governments help people better through the implementation of Digital Identity infrastructures. This is because Tykn has first hand experience of the difficulties that the affected people go through. Tykn believes everyone should have access to their identification and the benefits that come with it. Tykn believes People matter.
If you would like to be a part of this wonderful project or need more information about them feel free to drop a comment and I'll do my best to answer your questions. You can also check them out yourself by following any of the links below.
Project Website: https://tykn.tech
Products & Services: https://tykn.tech/project-zinc/
Press release: https://blog.tykn.tech/tykn-wins-best-ico-at-the-blockchain-innovation-conference-d8b650340e88
Next event: https://www.decentralized.com
Tykn Social Media
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DISCLAIMER: The information contained within this post shall not be taken as financial advice. I am not a financial advisor and none of your investing should be carried out based on any information presented here. You can lose all of your money by not investing wisely. The above information is for educational and awareness purposes only. Kindly Endeavor to DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH.
It's nice to know that Tykn is here to help people with identity issues... A lot of people loose all their papers during conflicts but this will be a good alternative to the paper documentation by some countries.