Walt.id – User onboarding processes for identity verification, authentication and access for data marketplaces built on the Ocean Ecosystem

Part 1 - Proposal Submission (*Mandatory)

Name of Project:

walt.id – User onboarding processes for identity verification, authentication and access for data marketplaces built on the Ocean Ecosystem.

Proposal in one sentence:

New open source tools for developers that enable and facilitate the creation of user onboarding processes (incl. identity verification, risk and compliance checks, authentication and access control)for data marketplaces.

Description of the project and what problem is it solving: (You can give more details in “proposal details” section farther down.)

With this project we enable providers of data marketplaces - or other applications built on the OCEAN ecosystem - to introduce user onboarding processes by providing an onboarding framework based on Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) and aligned with latest global and european developments in the field of digital identity (e.g. OpenID Foundation, Decentralized Identity Foundation, GaiaX, EBSI/ESSIF)

The underlying idea is to introduce a process by which (1) users’ identities can be verified so that (2) users can receive identity credentials (Verifiable Credentials) which (3) they can re-use for (a) onboarding (sign up, data provision without online forms) (b) identity proofing and risk analysis (verification of core identity and other identity-related data e.g. financial data) © authentication and access (login, permissioned access to resources).

(Note: Users = businesses or individuals)

Grant Deliverables: (Target deliverables for the funding provided.)

(1) Wallet Extension: Implementation of an “onboarding framework” by which individuals and organisations can prove potentially any identity attribute about themselves and receive corresponding credentials (Verifiable Credentials). The onboarding process allows to incorporate (a) self-attested data (e.g. first name, last name, mail address)(b) self-attested and verified data (e.g. public keys, wallet addresses, domains). Moreover, the process can be extended with third party verified data (e.g. by integrating eIDAS-based authentication or KYC/KYB providers).

(2) Implementation and hosting of an “onboarding portal” that (1) verifies data provided by users (e.g. self-attested and verified data like keys, wallet addresses or domain ownership) via external trust registries (e.g. DNS, blockchains, …) and customizable verification policies and (2) issues corresponding Verifiable Credentials (e.g. user verification, membership) after a user went through the onboarding process (within the wallet; see Point 1). To facilitate the adoption and usage for web3 use cases, the onboarding portal will be able to link identity data to web3 handles like ethereum addresses based on the capability to connect metamask wallets.

(3) Trust registry implementation and hosting on the domain name services (DNS, via did:web), which is used to anchor and publish public keys, potentially including eDIAS keys.

(4) We will write and publish a technical documentation (via docs.walt.id)

Note that the project will utilise the results of our last grants (Rounds 10, 12).

Which category best describes your project? Pick one.

  • X Build / improve applications or integrations to Ocean

Are you applying for an earmark?

  • X General

What is the final product?

The project will result in three products:
(1) Identity wallet extension to support onboarding processes / functionality (from within the wallet)
(2) Onboarding service that verifies data provided by wallets (see “point 1”) and issues credentials as proof of identity-related information. Also, the onboarding service will be able to connect with web3 wallets in order to link identity data with web3 handles for web3 use cases.
(3) DNS-based trust registry for (a) self-hosting or (b) as a hosted services

All of these deliverables will be published under the permissive Apache 2 license in our GitHub library: https://github.com/walt-id. The implementations with GaiaX specific extensions can be found in this GitHub library: https://github.com/gaiax-waltid/gaiax-portal.

Here are possible “value add” criteria. A question will follow.

  1. Usage of Ocean — how well might the project drive usage of Ocean. Measure with e.g. Data Consume Volume, # assets published, TVL, Network Revenue, # active users, # funded projects.
  2. Viability — what is the chance of success of the project
  3. Community active-ness — how active is the team in the community
  4. Adding value to the overall community — how well does the outcome of the project add value to the Ocean community / ecosystem

**Question on “value add” criteria: which one or more of the criteria will your project focus on? Why do you believe your team will do well on those criteria? **

We wish to note that this project is closely aligned with the value created for the OCEAN ecosystem by our last two projects, i.e. to enable the use of Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) for developers within the OCEAN ecosystem. Following the idea underlying our last project, we will continue to provide more and more tools to facilitate the integration of SSI within the OCEAN ecosystem for developers.

For the current project proposal, we wish to offer the following practical examples and elaborations to illustrate the value of the project for the Ocean ecosystem and anyone who is building services and application in it:

To unlock the free and economically viable exchange of data - especially in decentralized data marketplaces / ecosystems - it is important to know who offers data or data sources (let’s call them “suppliers”) and it can be advantageous to know who is buying data (lets call them “consumers”). Self-sovereign identity is important because it allows individuals and companies to bring their own identity. Moreover, this data can easily be verified (validity, integrity, provance, …) in a secure and privacy-preserving fashion.

For suppliers this means that they can prove identity attributes relevant for consumers. Such attributes can range from core identity information such as their legal name, status or incorporation to any type of certification about their organisations or data to reviews about the data offerings (e.g. quality) from former clients.

For consumers this means that they can prove certain identity attributes which may be relevant for suppliers (or other stakeholders like brokers), such as for customer due diligence processes which ensure that data is only being provided to entities that meet certain regulatory or ethical requirements or financial information (e.g. proof of liquidity, proof of bank account) which can facilitate flexible payment options.

The proposed project will enable a future where this is possible.

More concretely, it will result in a reusable (1) onboarding framework (2) onboarding portal and (3) trust registry that will allow developers to build and customize their own user onboarding processes for the sake of providing users with relevant credentials (e.g. wallet addresses, certifications, financial information) to improve user experience and success of their own services and applications within the OCEAN ecosystem. (Note that the creation of custom onboarding services would then require the integration with trusted data providers (e.g. KYC/KYB providers for core identity attributes,…).

In addition, the project will be highly relevant for the Ocean ecosystem in the context of GaiaX:

  • An SSI-based onboarding process is an essential requirement for Gaia-X and our implementation will strengthen Ocean Protocol within the Gaia-X architecture.
  • The project will also facilitate adoption of Ocean Protocol for enterprises and organizations by providing the foundation for equipping projects with user verification processes.
  • Our open source software and the (hosted) project will enable new projects to build on top of OCEAN.

Funding Requested: (Amount of USD your team is requesting - see the available funding levels here)

20.000 (twenty thousand)

Proposal Wallet Address: (must have minimum 500 OCEAN in wallet to be eligible. This wallet is where you will receive the grant amount if selected).

0xa4c6c2013810661a6750443aEF86cFeAc983e07f

Have you previously received an OceanDAO Grant? If yes, please specify what round(s) and how much was granted each round.

Y (Rounds 10, 12)

Team Website (if applicable):

Twitter Handle (if applicable):

@walt_id

Project lead email:

dominik@walt.id

Country of Residence:

Austria

Part 2 - Team

IMPORTANT: See Criterion (4). One Project/One proposal on communicating “Core Team” versus “Advisor”. You may be ineligible if not correctly updated.

2.1 Core Team

For each team member, give their name, role and background. An example is below.

Dominik Beron

Role: CEO

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominikberon

Email: dominik@walt.id

Background: Serial entrepreneur with business and legal backgrounds.

Identity expert to the EU Commission and co-author of new EU identity standards (EBSI, ESSIF).

Philipp Potisk

Role: CTO

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philipp-potisk

GitHub: https://github.com/philpotisk

Email: phil@walt.id

Background: Serial entrepreneur and experienced technical leader.

Over 15 years of experience in security and identity including biometric passports.

Severin Stampler

Role: Chief Architect & Engineer | Technical leader and developer.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/severin-stampler-714605140

GitHub: https://github.com/severinstampler

Email: severin@walt.id

Background: Over 15 years of experience in computer science, software design and development (security, big data, AI/ML, …).

Fatima Beron

Role: People and Operations

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fatima-beron-122a035b

Email: fatima@walt.id

Background: Serial entrepreneur, Ex-Deloitte Consultant, Former start-up COO, Forbes 30 under 30 (US, DACH).

2.2 Advisors

For each Advisor, give their name, role and background. Use the same format as in “Core Team”.

deltaDAO AG

Website: https://delta-dao.com

LinkedIn: https://de.linkedin.com/company/deltadao

GitHub: https://github.com/deltaDAO

deltaDAO AG will assist with onboarding into the Ocean and Gaia-X communities as well as any questions regarding the Ocean Tech Stack. deltaDAO AG will not receive any of the fundings raised within this proposal.

Part 3 - Proposal Details (*Recommended)

3.1 Details

Details of the proposal:

3.2 If in Category “Build / improve applications or integration to Ocean”:

Is the software open-source?

Y

**If open-source, please specify the license. If no, please specify why not open-source. **

Apache 2

Project software can be found at:

3.7 If the project includes software:

Are there any mockups or designs to date? If yes, please share details / links.

N

**Please given an overview of the technology stack. **

For details on the technology stack, please consult our knowledge base and documentation: https://docs.walt.id/

3.9 Project Deliverables - Roadmap

Any prior work completed thus far? Details?

Yes. See deliverables of our last proposal (Round 10)

What is the project roadmap? That is: what are key milestones, and the target date for each milestone. Please make sure that one milestone is about publishing your results, e.g. as a medium blog post.

02/2021:

  • Implementation of “Onboarding Framework” (Wallet Extension)
  • Implementation of “Trust Registry”

03/2021:

  • Implementation of “Onboarding Service”
  • Publication of documentation

What is the team’s future plans and intentions? Is there maintenance? Possible extensions to the work?

This project extends our core open source product suite: the SSI Kit and recently launched Wallet. Our products are already used by governments across Europe and businesses across industries. Also, we are constantly growing our developer community. Consequently, we will continue to maintain our open source software / libs and continue to add features as well as new products.

Thank you for submitting your proposal @walt_id, it has now been registered and accepted into R14.

All the best!

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Welcome back @walt_id

To the Ocean DAO voting rounds. Congrats on completing previous deliverables successfully.

Would also like to commend your team with a short note on the following project evaluation factors

  • Usage of Ocean & Viability:

Given the track record of the project with diligent usage of Ocean in terms of providing solutions to digital identity & SSI, we hope to see continued progress from the project expressing further viability from Walt.id.

  • Community activeness & contribution:

We would also like to see more community activeness in our Discord Working groups and possible deep-shares on Ocean Townhall as a leading project so the community could also be part of the active project updates

Cheers and Thanks

Prakash | Project Guiding WG | Discord

prk-sig-3
^ Want a cool Sigil like this for yourself? Join the PG-WG Discord

Hi Prakash,

thanks for your feedback!

Happy to give (more) updates in Townhall meetings and give more insights to the community.

Also, just tried to join the discord group but could not. Would you be so kind as to invite me? (You can contact us also directly via office@walt.id or dominik@walt.id)

Best
Dominik

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Give it a try again, let me know if that works

Thanks, for me it actually worked already. Phil (from walt.id)

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Deliverable Checklist

Since we only received partial funding (1/3 of the requested amount), we delivered a corresponding amount of the deliverables (see below).

Note that, we will re-submit the open deliverables (e.g. extension of the onboarding service to link verified identity data with web3 handles; wallet extension/onboarding framework) via a new proposal for Round 15 and will implement them if we are granted the requested amount.

Build / improve applications or integrations to Ocean

[X] Onboarding service that verifies data provided by wallets and issues credentials as proof of identity-related information.
[X] DNS-based trust registry for (a) self-hosting or (b) as a hosted services

All of these deliverables are published under the permissive Apache 2 license in our GitHub library: walt.id · GitHub.

Outreach / community / spread awareness

[X] Calls with members of the Gaia-X Community
[X] Calls with potential users of the proposed implementation (incl. a former OCEAN DAO subgrantee)

Thank you @walt_id for updating your deliverables. I have briefly reviewed them, updated your R14 proposal, and you are now in good standing for R15.

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