Steward diversity will strengthen the world’s only global utility for identity
The Sovrin Foundation, the international nonprofit that supports the governance of the Sovrin Network, is pleased to announce the addition of five organizations to its diverse group of Sovrin Stewards. The newest Stewards are the Institute for Internet-Security at the Westphalian University of Applied Sciences, Keyless, R3, Snapper Future Tech, and Streetcred ID.
Sovrin Stewards are volunteer organizations that dedicate resources to operate and maintain the validator nodes which ensure the security and reliability of the Sovrin Network, a global public utility for self-sovereign identity (SSI). There are more than 75 Stewards worldwide supporting the Sovrin Network.
“The Sovrin Network is designed as a global public utility for identity, free from the control of any single government or corporate entity, and the Sovrin Stewards play a critical role in achieving that mission,” says Heather C. Dahl, Executive Director & CEO of the Sovrin Foundation. “The newest group of Stewards approved by the Foundation’s Board of Trustees is a perfect example of the decentralization the Sovrin Network has achieved. From global enterprises to startups to university departments, the Sovrin Network is governed by organizations all around the world.”
The Institute for Internet-Security, an independent and scientific facility at the Westphalian University of Applied Sciences, is one of the key blockchain research centers in Germany. Focused on making the internet a more secure and trustworthy place, the institute will contribute to the security of the Sovrin Network through design, research, and development.
“SSI has been an increasingly interesting topic in our Blockchain Research Group,” says Kevin Wittek, Blockchain Research Group Leader at the Institute for Internet-Security. “Not only an exciting field from a purely technical standpoint, it also promises an immense impact in shaping our digital life and the way our society interacts with the online world. With our Sovrin Stewardship, we want to be at the forefront of those developments and participate as researchers, developers, and advocates of free and open software and infrastructure.”
Keyless is a decentralized platform for authentication and identity management driven by user-friendly, secure biometrics. The company reduces the current complexities of digital authentication with the combination and is implementing self-sovereign identity into its solution through the Sovrin Network.
R3, is an enterprise software blockchain company and the leader of the largest blockchain ecosystem in the world. With its open-source platform Corda, R3 has enabled businesses to streamline their operations through smart contracts and self-sovereign identity, which has been integrated into the platform through Cordentity, a Corda distributed application.
“We are proud to be acting in a stewardship capacity for the Sovrin Foundation, the work of which is crucial in enabling individuals and organizations to govern their digital identity and footprint,” says Abbas Ali, Head of Digital Identity at R3. “The Foundation’s objective of developing technology in a secure and sustainable way aligns entirely with R3’s own ethos, with our Corda platform being designed to ensure private transactions from the outset. Cordentity works alongside the Indy ledger to provide a solution uniquely suitable for self-sovereignty in the digital world, and we look forward to seeing the Sovrin Foundation achieve continued success”.
Snapper Future Tech is India’s leading Enterprise blockchain technology and Innovations company. The company is building “SnapCert – Trust Protocol for Certificates” and plans to integrate SSI capabilities into the platform through the Sovrin Network.
“Identity management and data privacy are major concerns for the world in this internet age,” says Naresh Jain, Co-founder of Snapper Future Tech. “Sovrin’s decentralized identifiers are not only building trust into the ecosystem but also giving control of digital identity into the individual’s hands. We are excited to be part of this ecosystem, as we look forward to integrating the decentralized network with SnapCert for certificate issuance, authentication, and verification. With data breaches and privacy becoming key priorities, there’s a need for SnapCert and Sovrin.”
Streetcred ID partners with innovators around the world to help them easily and rapidly integrate decentralized identity into any application. Run by a team of experts in self-sovereign digital identity, Streetcred’s unique combination of developer tools and advisory is trusted by industries from rural farming to global banks alike. Streetcred has been an active open-source contributor for almost two years now, having contributed heavily to the Hyperledger Aries project.
“The Streetcred ID team have each been passionately working to drive adoption of SSI by contributing to the community for a couple of years now,” explained Riley Hughes, CEO of Streetcred ID. “Whether that contribution came in the form of code contributions or developing the first Sovrin mobile wallet that supports the Aries protocols, empowering the community is in our DNA. Becoming a Steward is a natural next step in the progression of our contributions to the Sovrin ecosystem.”
To see the list of all Sovrin Stewards or to receive more information on how to become one, please visit https://sovrin.org/stewards/.
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About the Sovrin Foundation
The Sovrin Foundation is a nonprofit organization established to administer the Governance Framework governing the Sovrin Network, a decentralized global public network enabling self-sovereign identity on the internet. The Sovrin Network is an open source project operated by independent Stewards and uses the power of a distributed ledger to give every person, organization, and thing the ability to own and control their own permanent digital identity.