Detailed Plan
Note: It’s assumed the reader is already familiar with Atala Prism (https://atalaprism.io)
“It is about signalling to the world that the Cardano community plans mass-adoption of DID …”
Most associate Microsoft as being a centralized software provider, however, they have also signalled for some time their commitment to DIDs.
Unthinkable and unpalatable for many readers, but is it not pragmatic to build a working relationship? DID can potentially be a bridge between Atala Prism (Cardano) and the MS ecosystem…ie. millions of users.
MS DID whitepaper = https://query.prod.cms.rt.microsoft.com/cms/api/am/binary/RE2DjfY
Microsoft’s philanthropic work in Africa is well documented (see links below)
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/corporate-responsibility
4afrika https://www.microsoft.com/africa/4afrika/about-us.aspx
MS DID team have worked with blockchains previously. For example their Identity Overlay Network (ION) on the Bitcoin mainnet.
https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/microsofts-ion-digital-id-network-is-live-on-bitcoin-2021-03-25
…as well as DID solutions running on Sovrin and Ethereum. See “An introduction to decentralized identities | Azure Friday”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r28GeXkxn0w&t=641s
They are members and contributors to several standards bodies and working groups..eg. W3C, DIF..etc with many ‘live’ use cases. See testimonials from Verifiable Credentials customers below…
Microsoft’s mission statement is “to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.”
A stated by Charles Hoskinson on Twitter, Aug 2, 2020 “*Cardano is an open platform that seeks to provide economic identity to the billions who lack it by providing decentralized applications to manage identity, value and governance”*
It’s clear from above that both entities’ values and goals are aligned, at least on paper. My plan is to propose a working relationship that is mutually beneficial to both entities but most importantly beneficial to the end users in developing countries.
Charles Hoskinson recently opined in his “Saturday Night Thoughts” that “the biggest challenge for Cardano is not technological, that’s easy. It’s just getting a bunch of smart people to sit down and do things the right way and get them disciplined and funded and motivated enough to keep doing it until it gets done”.
What does success look like?
- Commitment and support from IOHK Atala Prism and Microsoft Decentralized Identity team(s).
- Establish common use cases.
- Trial pilot(s).
- Expand pilot(s) if successful into new verticals, jurisdictions…
- Create demos, blogs, vlogs, papers..etc on above.
Potential Pilots:
- @Chad’s idea in comments re: xbox gaming.
- LinkedIn ‘tick mark’ to verify DID credential. Potentially aligns with IOHK Ethiopia use case. -> Idea by John O’Connor on his recent AMA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5bn8yweqPs
Requested Funds: Happy to do this at cost, ie. minimal funds for hours spent, any travel costs to meetings…etc.