The Pacific island nation of Palau is expanding its partnership with decentralized identity protocol RNS.ID to deploy digital residency IDs (DIDs) on the Solana blockchain.
The launch of Solana-based IDs was announced yesterday via the official RNS.ID Twitter account. The company claims that “this is the first time a sovereign nation has given Solana a legal identity.”
The country launched its digital residency program in 2022, offering global citizens residency, supported by Palau. But the people who purchase them do not have to physically live there. The country released its first Legal DID, or decentralized ID, on Ethereum in September 2023 – in the presence of none other than Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.
https://x.com/RNS_global/status/1816316977226604925
The RNS.ID platform allows users to apply for a digital Palau residency card for $248. These residencies allow for visa extensions of up to 180 days, while also providing anonymity to people who want to use cryptocurrency exchanges they might not otherwise have access to because of their location.
“It’s exciting to see that Palau is now using Solana for their IDs. From the documentary we made about the ID system they are building, we could see that they had the right ideas at the right time and some gained market traction. I expect this to continue with this new initiative,” says George Harrap, co-founder of Step Finance Declutter.
The Palau government enforces a vetting process for all applicants, including anti-money laundering and identity verification checks, which can take up to ten days. A recent announcement claims that RNS.ID has provided 7,338 digital residencies to its users to date since September 2023.
Decentralized IDs in the chain
Decentralized identity systems have long been promoted as one of the top applications of blockchain technology with the most far-reaching implications. Reports from May indicate that Microstrategy – famous for its Bitcoin (BTC) accumulation strategy – is developing a decentralized identity system built on the world’s first blockchain.
MicroStrategy co-founder and executive chairman Michael Saylor explained at the time that the system in question would be based on ordinal-like inscriptions. Similarly, Shiba Inu developers revealed last year that they were also working on their own digital identity systems.
Another major player in the decentralized identity space is Worldcoin, a company that can also boast the participation of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
In February, Worldcoin also announced that it will implement a solution for its World ID, which will be used to verify the identity of esports players.
Developed in partnership with crypto-powered esports tournament platform Community Gaming, the initiative aims to allow tournament participants to “prove their personality.” That would be done mainly by scanning their irises with a device that Worldcoin proponents call the Orb.
Edited by Stacy Elliott.
