- Fintech startup cheqd has launched a new product dubbed Credential Payments.
- This product draws on the strength of SSI and blockchain technology to enhance data privacy.
Private banking company cheqd has announced the launch of Credential Payments, a new feature of its recently released decentralized network and SaaS product, Credential Service.
The cheqd Offering
The launch of Credential Payments gives individuals and organizations a way to get payment for providing their identity data without compromising their security. This further reinforces infrastructure to create Trusted Data markets just like an entirely new industry category.
According to a published statement, Credential Payments is a pioneering capability for Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI). It generally enables the settlement of on-chain payments for Trusted Data that is stored off-chain to facilitate privacy. With this kind of structure in place, it becomes very possible for users to exchange and transact their verifiable Trusted Data in a way that further preserves their privacy.
cheqd operates as a public permissionless network built using SSI and blockchain technologies. Over time, there has been the rollout of products and tools which assist companies to tap into the network’s identity and payment functionalities. One such product is the Credential Service which was launched back in July.
Markedly, Credential Service is a ready-made, Software-as-a-Service offering or “Credential-as-a-Service” product. It was also designed as an easy-to-use, plug-and-play solution for issuing and managing digital credentials. One of its perks is the ease of integration with any organization. It helps to offer a simple solution that helps organizations issue and verify decentralized credentials with ease.
This is achieved by removing the complexities and technical know-how needed to either build or integrate Decentralized Identity within existing applications. Moving forward, developers are then equipped enough to issue and manage credentials by using simple API services. Credential Payment is one of the features supported on the product, alongside Verifiable Credentials and Presentations, Decentralized Identifiers and Identity Keys, and Revocation Registries.
SSI Brings a Change to Regulation
Amidst the global push for a robust regulatory framework that can force many organizations, especially crypto entities to become more responsible and accountable towards users’ data, the use of SSI looks to be a perfect solution.
There is still a growing need for businesses to be compliant with other upcoming advanced regulations like EU’s eIDAS 2.0, which will govern electronic identification and support Verifiable Credentials as a means to exchange identity data and attestations.
Also, the verifiable Trusted Data solves the problem of heightened concerns over fraud especially during this time when there is a rise of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) platforms. From cheqd’s research, it looks like the SSI market has the potential to soar in value up to more than a trillion dollars in the near future.
With the introduction of Credential Payment, the company is creating a niche for itself amongst other identity network service providers
Currently, over 70% of the SSI application vendor market is in partnership with cheqd. In the finance industry, identity networks like that of cheqd are useful to set up Know-Your-Customer (KYC) portals while in the education sector, it can be used for certifying accomplishments and achievements. This helps in providing more tangible trust around accreditations, with a price to establish trust.
