Polygon Introduces Decentralized Identity Solution Leveraging Zero-Knowledge Proofs

Polygon Labs has released a new zero-knowledge decentralized identity solution, Polygon ID, to the public. The service uses zero-knowledge proofs (ZK proofs) to allow users to verify their identity online without having their sensitive information passed or stored with a third party.

The launch of Polygon ID comes nearly a year after the project was first announced in a closed-environment to a select group of developers. The Polygon team says Polygon ID was built to “solve the issue of digital trust.”

The public release introduces four new tools to the Polygon ID toolset — Verifier SDK, Issuer Node, Wallet SDK and Wallet App — that will allow Polygon developers to integrate decentralized identity into their applications.

Users will be able to produce zero-knowledge proofs using off-chain credentials — such as their passport, national ID or a bachelor's degree — to interact with smart contracts and verify information on-chain. This means that off-chain data can now be used for trustless on-chain verifications in the widely-supported Verified Credential format.

David Schwartz, co-founder of Polygon ID, said in a March 1 tweet that the product was built “on the latest decentralized identity standards” which will help protect developers and users against unauthorized access from third parties.

“Passwordless logins exchange encrypted verifiable credentials by simply scanning a QR code or connecting to a desktop wallet. Organizations can benefit from improved security, a better user experience, and productivity of their system administrators whose time is not taken up by password resets,” Schwartz said.

Multiple projects have already committed to integrating Polygon ID upon launch, such as Web3 infrastructure provider Kaleido, ID verification solution Fractal and Web3 community management system Collab.Land. Together they have a user base of over 4 million, according to Polygon.

The news of the launch caused the price of Polygon’s native token, MATIC (MATIC), to increase 2.5% from $1.22 to $1.25 in a matter of hours before falling back to $1.23.

The launch of Polygon ID is a major step forward in the development of decentralized identity solutions. The technology has the potential to revolutionize the way users interact with digital services, and could provide a more secure and private way to verify identity online.