Sovrin Foundation Community Newsletter April 2021

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April 2021

Dear Sovrin Community,

This April is a busy month! Much of our community will be gathering at the 32nd Internet Identity Workshop (IIW) during April 20 - 22. Also, many of our members are rolling out major projects related to COVID-19 vaccination credentials to open up global travel - which is generating international news headlines. These successes stem from tremendous efforts across the global SSI community during the last 12 months.

In step with digital identity and SSI becoming a hot topic in 2020, Sovrin’s new, market-driven directions as a social enterprise are building strong momentum in early 2021. Clear signs of that progress are covered in this month’s newsletter. Moving beyond the sphere of the SSI community, Sovrin is spreading its wings in the global blockchain community with GBBC, forming partnerships with new technology leaders for biometrics with Applied Recognition, and attracting new members based on their commercial development plans that leverage SSI with Loop Insights.

This progress is only the beginning. We’re looking forward to sharing continued progress with you during the rest of 2021 and beyond. So stay tuned!

Chris Raczkowski,
Executive Director

WHAT'S NEWS?

Sovrin Guardianship Working Group to unveil two new guardianship credentials papers at IIW #32

After months of hard work, the Sovrin Guardianship Working Group (SGWG) is proud to present two new papers on guardianship credentials, which will be officially released during a Sovrin presentation at the upcoming IIW #32 from April 20-22. The first one is the Guardianship Credentials Implementation Guidelines and the second is the Guardianship Credentials Technical Requirements. These two papers were written and reviewed by guardianship experts in our SGWG in Asia Pacific as well as in EMEA-Americas. The working groups convene monthly to discuss the technical and implementation of guardianship and SSI. Join us at IIW to learn more.

An open letter to Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) advocating for financial inclusion in its regulations

Recently, the FinCen of the US Treasury Department published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding “Requirements for banks and money services businesses'' related to certain transactions involving convertible virtual currency or digital assets with legal tender status (“legal tender digital assets” or LTDA). The Sovrin Compliance and Inclusive Finance Working Group (CIFWG) took the opportunity to submit a formal response to FinCen, focusing on how the proposed rules will impact financial inclusion and their recommendation.

GROWING THE DIGITAL TRUST ECOSYSTEM

Sovrin and the Global Blockchain Business Council (GBBC) collaborate to advance decentralized digital identity globally

By collaborating with GBBC, Sovrin advances the adoption of digital identity for all by expanding the digital trust ecosystem that adheres to the Principles of SSI. It provides opportunity for organizations and their members to participate in broader global business networks and accelerate digital identity adoption. Find out more here.

Applied Recognition and Sovrin collaborate on biometric binding for digital credentials

To advance the privacy and security of digital identity credentials for consumers, Sovrin is proud to partner with Applied Recognition Corp. to deliver biometric binding for digital credentials. This will be a standard feature of a new Sovrin digital wallet with extensive interoperability across identity ecosystems. We will keep updating the progress in our future newsletters as it becomes available.

Loop Insights appointed Sovrin Steward to offer fully verifiable credentials leveraging the Sovrin Ledger

After joining the Sovrin Foundation, credentials that Loop Insights issues will be enhanced to be fully verifiable by any third party on Sovrin Ledger, Sovrin’s public identity blockchain. This integration is expected to greatly enhance the existing security and privacy of personal information that is encrypted and secured on Loop’s wallet pass platform. Read more here.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Sovrin to present announcements and progress at Internet Identity Workshop (IIW) #32, April 20-22

Sovrin is excited to participate in IIW #32 and hosting the breakout sessions M-P. Our presentation topics will include:

New Guardianship technical papers,
Introduction to biometric binding for credentials,
Insights into the SSI growth explosion in Europe, and many more...

Join us and find out more. See you there!

Sovrin Community Meeting Calendar

You can find all Sovrin community meetings together with their Eventbrite registration links here. All meetings are open to the public and you are welcome to join any of the working groups to start contributing to the community.

Sovrin Calendar

Behind the Sovrin Foundation is an infrastructure designed to enable true digital self-sovereign identity (SSI). In accordance with the decentralized nature of blockchain technology, Sovrin infrastructure is open-source and open-standards, receiving contributions from people around the world. A first step to working with the Sovrin community is to become a member by visiting our website.

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