A number of top-tier, South Korea-based companies have formed partnerships, and will jointly introduce a blockchain-powered mobile identification system in 2020.

Reported by the Korea Times on July 14, the consortium consists of major financial sector companies KEB Hana Bank, Woori Bank, KOSCOM, mobile services provider SK Telecom, KT, LG UPlus, with the tech giant Samsung Electronics. 

The partnership looks to specifically design a self-sovereign identity platform, which is intermediaries-free, and would grant businesses and individuals the ability to take charge of their identity information in online transactions.

The system will serve as a storage space for users, providing safekeeping for personal data such as resident registration numbers, bank account numbers, and use them as the clients’ disposals. The financial services companies would be responsible for developing certification services, telecom firms would provide stable mobile services, and Samsung would be in charge of security for the stored information management.

Particularly, Samsung will be using its tool Samsung Knox – an enterprise mobile security solution that is available on a majority of its smartphones, tablets, and wearables – to handle the task. The consortium aims to include more establishments into the partnership, including large businesses, universities, hospitals, insurers, entertainment facilities, resorts, and country clubs.