Digital Souls in the Metaverse
In tandem with the development of Web3, or its extra decentralized version in the form of Web5, is the rise of the Metaverse. Global tech consulting firm estimates that by 2026, about ¼ of the global population is going to be spending at least an hour a day in the Metaverse. As we embark on a collective migration to the digital sphere, we would need to find a way to authenticate and verify our digital identities.
With this, let’s explore some digital identification concepts, frameworks and developments:-
- The Concept of SSI
The concept of Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) entails the granting of full ownership and absolute control to individuals over their digital identities with zero reliance on third parties. The functional manifestation of SSI takes the form of decentralized identifier (DID) which is defined by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) as "a new type of identifier that enables verifiable, decentralized digital identity."
The 3 Main Pillars of SSI (Source: Dock.io)
- The Framework for SBT
In May 2022, Vitalik Buterin together with two other authors published a paper titled "Decentralized Society: Finding Web3’s Soul." The paper sets out the framework for Soulbound Token (SBT) which entails the tokenizing of the verifiable credentials of identity owners in the form of NFTs that would serve as digital identities in a Web3-based Decentralized Society (DeSoc).
Use Cases of SBT (Source: NFTNow)
- Recent Developments of SBT
On 8 December 2022, Japanese financial group Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG) announced that it has entered into a partnership with blockchain service provider HashPort. The main goal is to conduct research on SBTs to explore their possible real world use cases for community development, job applications, knowledge-sharing services and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs).
SMFG’s SBT Development Plan (Source:SMFG)
Through its embodiment of the concept of SRI, the SBT framework is helping Web3 and perhaps even Web5 users to merge their real world and digital identities. This would help them to find a sense of belonging and their place in the Metaverse.
