Polygon ID, a novel zk-proof Web3 identity solution, is examined

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Zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) self-sovereign identification is now available from Polygon. User credentials and identity can be verified with Polygon ID, which does not require any personal information to be provided.

The method tries to circumvent the know-your-customer (KYC) regulation, which will place enormous strain on bitcoin enterprises worldwide.

A decentralized KYC solution

Privacy and anonymity are intrinsic to Web3 culture, encapsulating everything that its users value. However, the Web3 market's explosive growth, fueled by the DeFi and NFT businesses, has made it a target for authorities.

Globally, market regulators have been racing to regulate the developing business and wrest some kind of control over its rapidly expanding market. This regulatory drive results in more strict KYC requirements for businesses working in the Web3 space.

KYC entails asking users to supply personally identifying information such as passports, government-issued identification, and biometric data. And, while this alleviates regulators' pressure, it introduces a plethora of additional issues, including privacy violations and data leak threats.

Polygon set out to solve this growing worry with its new ID solution. Polygon ID is one of the first of its kind to be enabled by zero-knowledge (ZK) cryptography, and it marks the start of Polygon's ambitious 2022 plan.

The scalable blockchain platform has committed $1 billion to finance initiatives studying and implementing zero-knowledge cryptography over the next couple of years. Polygon ID is the newest addition to the firm's rapidly expanding portfolio, the company told CryptoSlate.

The ID solution will combine the Iden3 protocol and the Circom ZK toolset to give organizations, corporations, and people with a decentralized and self-sovereign platform. It can be used to build a range of identity and trust services, such as dAccess-as-a-Service, KYC and KYB attestation, and distribution channels.

For end users, Polygon ID enables a decentralized approach to KYC by allowing them to construct a digital identity that can verify their access privileges without disclosing any personal information. According to Polygon, this is a significant advancement over previous forms of digital identification because it eliminates all redundancy and middlemen.

“Polygon ID is private by default, offers on-chain verification and permissionless attestation. There is nothing in the digital identity space now that ticks all these boxes,” said Mihailo Bjelic, Polygon’s co-founder. “It is also a great showcase for how zero knowledge proofs can help us create a better world.”

Additionally, it enables the development of new forms of reputation, hence expanding business opportunities in the Web3 arena. Polygon claims that their new ID solution can be used to give decentralized credit scores for financial primitives and social payments in DeFi, as well as provide a decentralized Sybil score that could enable new decision-making and governance models in DAOs. Polygon ID might also be used to construct player reputation profiles for Web3 games and to enable private peer-to-peer communication and interactions on social media platforms.

This year, Polygon will give its easy privacy set.

Polygon ID, which is based on the expressible claim standard, has a number of advantages over other methods of digital verification, such as non-falsifiable tokens and verifiable credentials (VCs).

While NFTs have become widespread in the Web3 environment, they lack the necessary privacy and cost-effectiveness to be an effective verification option. Verifiable credentials, on the other hand, provide a better level of privacy due to their ability to allow selective disclosure and ZK cryptography. They are, however, constrained in terms of expressibility and composability—both of which are necessary characteristics when creating verification solutions for complicated systems.

And, while identification solutions based on zk-proofs offer substantially more benefits and applications, their complexity frequently prevents widespread use. Polygon ID significantly decreased the complexity associated with Circom 2.0 implementation and offered a far more streamlined solution.

This enables developers and partners to be onboarded through the ID client toolset, which includes native apps, SDKs, and white label solutions. On-chain private verification is accomplished via the zkProof Request Language, while identities can submit claims via the relayer, a novel architecture that significantly reduces the cost of user claims.

Polygon ID will be designed as a collection of tools and platform services to support all of these functionalities. The Polygon ID Wallet app, the Polygon ID platform, and the Polygon ID Connect, a public service platform that enables access integration across user wallets and apps, will comprise the product portfolio.

Polygon is on track to release a proof of concept for the Polygon DAO by the end of the week. The ID Wallet app and the Polygon ID SDK should be available to the public next quarter, while the Polygon ID platform and SDK for bespoke use cases should be available this fall.

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