The world as we see it today has no doubts become digitized. Nearly almost all transactions are carried out online. From booking an airplane ticket, international money transfers to ordering for foods and even booking a taxi. The internet paved way for a virtual operation and has seemingly made life and operations easier.
To access many of these online services, users would have to create an online account with specific personal details required for the particular service filled out thus generating a username and password for smoother operation and convenient login on the next visit to the site or patronage. For instance to order for products on Amazon, Ebay, Aliexpress or other online marketplaces, buyers are required to create online accounts with usernames and passwords and other important details also filled out. These usernames and passwords created allow for easy login on the next visit to the sites and also forster personalized services on the platforms. The same goes for having an email with any of the online mail service providers i.e. gmail, yahoo, outlook etc.
Usernames and Passwords Saturation
The interesting situation here is, an average internet user could have accounts with the several service providers from shopping, email, to banking, social media and many others. What this translates to is, the user is required to have a username and password for all of the online platform or services he/she gets involved with. This would mean having several usernames and passwords for one person for different platforms. Some maintain a few usernames but have to constantly use several passwords for each platform for security reasons. Obviously, for security reasons and to prevent hacking, a user cannot use the same username and passwords for all platforms.
Based on a recent research, it was discovered that an average internet user has at least 90 online accounts with the expectation that by 2020, this number will reach 207. This appears quite a lot to deal with. Some users resort to writing down this online account details in secret journals to avoid forgetting them. However the number of forgotten passwords have drastically increased. In a study conducted by University of Oxford and Mastercard, it was discovered that nearly a third of online purchases are left uncompleted due to customers forgetting their passwords. This is only understandable as how many password detail can a person remember? The study also showed, over 20% of internet users forget their passwords two weeks after creating them and over 23% forget a password a day.
This situation clearly is no good for online businesses, as customers tend to abandon services after failing to remember passwords and not willing to go through the process of creating another. For instance, when a customer abandons goods already placed in the basket at the checkout point due to forgetting the password to their account, the business certainly loses that sale. It definitely is a lot of effort remembering login details to over 90 online accounts.
Enter the Universe of Digital Identity with Blockchain Technology
In an effort to address this problem, several blockchain companies have begun leveraging the blockchain technology in creating a decentralized identity system commonly referred to as digital identity, With this framework, blockchain will allow for interoperability- the universal use of a digital identity created. Also with the level of security and trust the technology provides, it suffices to say, this might be the best way to go. Users will be able to have full control of their information created on the blockchain given its DLT standards and free from any centralized control. Companies like Civic, Blockpass, Xenchain and several other blockchain startups are already making this a reality.
However while some of these companies are mostly focused on creating digital identities for the purpose of the KYC (Know Your Customer), others like Metaverse are focusing on addressing directly the problem of common internet users by creating a framework for a universal login. One of the key features of Metaverse is that it allows users to create a Metaverse Digital ID which can be linked to their real-life identity. Once this ID is set up, the user does not need additional login credentials. To login on any website or application, the user can use his/her private key associated with the unique Metaverse ID and all services can be linked to one single account. This directly benefits the common internet user. There will be no need to keep remembering several passwords to login to several sites, the private key on the blockchain will suffice.
Metaverse which currently ranks among the top 100 blockchain projects, aim to create a new reality with an open-source public blockchain providing digital assets and digital identities. Founded in 2016, the company boasts of an international team of 100 including experienced blockchain developers that believe in the ability of blockchain to be the catalyst for a better future. The company recently expressed its gratitude to its community in a release whilst also reaffirming their vision for the industry.
“At Metaverse, our main focus is to build valuable applications on our infrastructure. We believe our value lies in creating and working with projects that can positively impact both enterprises and end users.”
Decentralization seems the way to be the future of online operations. With solutions like digital identities, each of us could have avatars, digital reputations, digital passports, and life becomes much more easier for internet users in accessing services without having to go through processes of creating passwords or abandoning services due to forgotten passwords. This is a win-win scenario for the internet user and the online company. Blockchain is certainly on course of dominating the tech world, there certainly isn’t any reason to object to that.