Projects/companies working on blockchain and identity (pull requests welcome):
- Namecoin is a blockchain that has been conceived from the start to be used for registering domain names. It is the first fork of the Bitcoin software.
- NameID is an OpenID service based on Namecoin identifiers.
- CertCoin is an MIT paper about a NameCoin-based decentralized authentication system which maintains a public ledger of domains and their associated public keys.
- ChainAnchor is MIT paper about an architecture that adds an identity and privacy-preserving layer above the blockchain, either the private blockchain or the public blockchain in Bitcoin.
- Onename is a company developing Blockstack, a set of tools for registering names using a combination of the Bitcoin blockchain and a distributed hash table (DHT). Blockstack supports well-known domain name operations such as registration, renewal, and transfer.
- A workshop called “Rebooting the Web-of-Trust” has produced a paper about a Decentralized Public Key Infrastructure (DPKI), which registers identifiers and associated public keys on blockchains.
- The non-profit organization XDI.org has designed a blockchain-based registry for human-readable names and machine-readable numbers.
- Startup Consensys has developed a blockchain-based identity system called uPort to launch an “Internet-of-People”.
- Identit.ee is a program to build blockchain identity solutions related to the Estonian e-Residency concept.
- BitAlias allows users to register names in the Bitcoin blockchain and point them to their wallets.
- EtherID allows registration of domain names for an Ethereum account.
- ENS is the “Ethereal Namespace”, a contract system and set of conventions to form a hierarchical namespace.
- Ethereum Name Service is a proposed protocol that provides flexible resolution of short, human-readable names to service and resource identifiers.
- Evernym is developing the first "self-sovereign identity platform" on a permissioned distributed ledger called "Sovrin", which is dedicated solely to identity, and it is fully open source (FOSS). A podcast is available that explains the concept of "universal identity".
- At Ethereum’s DEVCON ONE conference, a talk on blockchain, digital identity, and public key infrastructure was given.
- Bitnation seeks to establish the concept of “world citizenship” through identity registration on the blockchain. The project is collaborating with the Estonian e-Residency program and also has a focus on offering "blockchain emergency IDs" to refugees.
- Linux foundation hyper ledger project looking to develop a cross-industry open standard with many big companies participating.
- ID2020 seeks to provide every child born after 2020 with a self sovereign digital identity, which helps reduce risks of trafficking and drive digital inclusion.
- Shocard is an early stage company developing an “identity platform” built on blockchain.
- A research team at Athens University of Economics and Business is working on “information-centric” networking and is exploring the use of blockchain technology for “content names”.
- The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is funding research on the "Applicability of Blockchain Technology to Privacy Respecting Identity Management"
- An MIT paper about "Decentralizing Privacy: Using Blockchain to Protect Personal Data".
- An Ethereum blog post about "Privacy on the Blockchain", including some thoughts about identity systems.
- Jolocom is developing applications for everyone to own their personal digital identity, using linked data and blockchain technologies.
- Danube Tech is collaborating with several other efforts to build blockchain-based identifier registration infrastructure.
- Scuttlebot is a "blockchain identity" protocol avoiding a singleton-based approach. It embraces subjectivity over consensus, e.g. each identity can publish messages that map their favorite pet name mappings for themselves and others. Patchwork is a user-facing decentralized messaging and sharing app based on Scuttlebot.
- Startup Cambridge Blockchain is working on an Identity Blockchain for validating secure digital identity documents, processing electronic signatures, and recording transactions.
- Proof-of-Individuality addresses the challenge to prove that a person only has one account within a system, without sacrificing the advantages of anonymity/pseudonymity. See here for a draft implementation using "virtual pseudonym parties".
- Regis is a platform that makes it easy to build, deploy, and manage decentralized registries on the Ethereum blockchain.
- SingleID An app that allows you to be in control of their online identity. It provides safe logins with no registration and no password.
- IDKeys is a distributed global identity system that registers cryptographic public keys on the Stellar blockchain.