The citizens of South Korea is reportedly rolling out its blockchain-powered digital identification (ID) to replace physical cards as soon as 2024, with the country fast-tracking blockchain.

Specifically, a plan from the authority is reportedly having digital IDs embedded as an app within mobile devices in the long haul, functioning in the same manner as physical resident registration cards.

The digital IDs have expectations for releasing in 2024, with approximately 45 million citizens expected to adopt the technology within two years.

An economist at Korea’s Science and Technology Policy Institute Hwang Seogwon reportedly claimed that the digital IDs could be utilized in finance, healthcare, taxes and transportation, while the director-general of Korea’s Digital Government Bureau Suh Bo Ram revealing the technology could assist businesses that haven’t yet transitioned fully online.

The plan would further have the government adopt a decentralized identity network, meaning the authority will not be able to tap into data kept on phones, including the digital ID being used, the way they’re used and where, per Suh.

That kind of technology is not new to the tech-savvy country, which sits at first spot in the list of all countries regarding real-life technology application, business and government, according to the Portulans Institute, an American think-tank.

It also would not be the pioneering blockchain-powered digital ID solution put into effect in the nation either. In August two years ago, more than one million South Koreans completed the implementation of a blockchain-based driver’s licence, which runs via Korea’s PASS smartphone application.

Not long after, in September the same year, a South Korean government agency – Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) – started the trial phase on a similar system.