R3, a bespoke distributed ledger technology (DLT) provider that is working with over 100 financial institutions, has formed a partnership with Evernym to apply self-sovereign identity to financial services. R3 seeks to create a standardized financial service focused DLT. R3 was the genesis of frustration amongst banks with multiple generations of legacy technology platforms that hinder growth and innovation.
Evernym and R3 have concluded a study to determine the interoperability of R3’s Corda platform with Sovrin, a DLT purpose-built for self-sovereign identity. Originally developed by Evernym and later turned over to the international non-profit Sovrin Foundation. Evernym’s identity solutions are built upon the Sovrin network. Corda records, manages and executes institutions’ financial agreements in perfect synchrony with their peers, creating frictionless commerce.
As part of the initiative, four R3 member banks have tested the ability of Evernym’s technology to add self-sovereign identity to the Corda platform. Such self-sovereign identity is only achievable on cryptographically protected, distributed ledgers.
“R3 has unquestionably led the way in the application of distributed ledger technology to financial services,” commented Timothy Ruff, CEO of Evernym. “We’re excited about our relationship with R3 and, given the positive outcome of these tests, the chance to bring a privacy-enhancing, truly self-sovereign identity solution to their community.”
Sovrin technology is said to facilitate the exchange of verifiable claims, which in this context refers to those provable attestations which entities make about themselves like their age, address, certifications earned, etc. Evernym builds applications upon the Sovrin network which specialize in identity-based claims, for example, to establish a user’s authority to exert control over the funds in a particular financial account.
“Identity is a key consideration in the application of distributed ledger technology to financial services, and Sovrin offers a true self-sovereign identity solution,” said R3 co-founder and Head of Partnerships Todd McDonald. “Between Corda and Sovrin, we have two of the best of breed ledgers in the market, and we look forward to working together on more use cases to enhance privacy and scalability for our banks on Corda.”
The demo code developed to prove basic interoperability between Corda and Sovrin during the study will be available for testing through the R3 Partner Team.