Bhutan has successfully integrated its National Digital Identity (NDI) platform with Ethereum and plans to fully migrate to Ethereum from its current Polygon-based system by early next year.
On October 13, the Himalayan nation’s public broadcaster, the Bhutan Broadcasting Service (BBS), reported that Druk Holding and Investments (DHI), the commercial and investment arm of the Royal Government of Bhutan, had decided to move to Ethereum because it needs a strong blockchain network to make the NDI safe and quick.
“So far, we have been using a blockchain provided by Polygon. By moving to Ethereum, we are further strengthening the security of our digital identity,” said Jigme Tenzing, the Secretary of the GovTech Agency, according to the BBS report. “This transition cements both the security and stability of our digital identity.”
Bhutan’s NDI was launched nationwide on October 13, 2023, as a “cutting-edge digital identity solution,” to provide secure and verifiable identity-related credentials to its over 727,000 citizens.
The NDI ecosystem was designed based on the principles of self-sovereign identity (SSI), a digital identity approach that allows individuals control over the information they use to prove their identity to websites, services, and applications across the web.
Commenting on the NDI’s latest update, Ethereum Foundation President Aya Miyaguchi said on X that “Bhutan celebrates a historic milestone, becoming the first nation to anchor its national digital identity system on Ethereum.”
Miyaguchi and Ethereum Co-Founder Vitalik Buterin attended the launch ceremony in Bhutan, which was also graced by the country’s nine-year-old crown prince, Jigme Namgyel Wangchuck, who became Bhutan’s first digital citizen in 2023.
“It’s deeply inspiring to see a nation commit to empowering its citizens with self-sovereign identity,” said Miyaguchi on X. “This milestone marks not only a national achievement but a global step toward a more open and secure digital future for the long term.”
Bhutan upgrading it ID
On August 19, ‘Bhutan NDI’—the organization behind the digital ID program—announced a strategic partnership with United States-based digital identity platform provider iDen2 to launch an end-to-end digital identity solution to meet all industry standards and future regulatory requirements.
The solution, known as “Phenix,” provides a modular digital ID architecture aimed at governments and enterprises, encompassing identity enrollment, verification, authentication, and lifecycle management.
Bhutan also recently rolled out a new suite of advanced value-added features for its NDI wallet to reduce fraud, streamline identity verification, and enhance the delivery of high-value public and private services.
A notable feature was “Biometric Liveness Verification,” which detects if the person in front of the camera is real, increasing trust in important digital activities such as high-value transactions, voting, property transfers, and pension disbursements.
Bhutan’s blockchain gambit
The small South Asian nation has been increasingly turning to blockchain technology to provide innovative solutions and boost its economy.
On the macroeconomic level, Bhutan is stacking digital assets via state-powered BTC mining activities and currently holds over 12,000 BTC from its mining operations. This has also naturally led to discussions about establishing a national digital asset reserve—particularly in light of United States President Donald Trump’s March executive order establishing a U.S. bitcoin reserve.
In January, the Gelephu Mindfulness City (GMC), a special economic zone in Bhutan that has yet to be constructed, announced its intention to hold certain popular digital assets as part of a strategic reserve to “enhance the [city’s] economic resilience.”
GMC will hold over half a dozen of high market capitalizations and deep liquidity digital assets. It will also explore “digital assets that are issued on more mature, secure blockchains that support monitoring of on-chain transactions.”
Last December, the planned city also enacted the ‘Application of Laws Act 2024’, which recognized virtual asset service providers (VASPs) and digital assets in GMC.
On a nationwide scale, in May, Binance Pay partnered with Bhutan’s DK Bank to enable Binance users to pay in digital assets for a range of goods and services in the country, including hospitality, travel, taxes, and even roadside snacks.
Since the partnership, DK Bank President Ugyen Tenzin disclosed that more than 1,000 merchants in Bhutan are now accepting digital assets.
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Source: https://coingeek.com/bhutan-integrates-its-national-digital-identity-with-ethereum/
