Switzerland’s pilot of an Ethereum-based ID - A few months in
Zug - "Crypto Valley"
Located beautifully in central Switzerland, canton Zug is home to roughly 123.000 residents and several large multinational corporations. Zug’s architecture and landscape give the canton a somewhat traditional and sleepy appearance, and in recent decades it has mostly become known for its low taxation. However, the canton’s administration has long been actively involved in drawing the attention of tech companies and startups to headquarter themselves in the Swiss canton as well as its capital, Zug (city).
When Blockchain and cryptocurrencies started to boom a few years ago, Zug’s administration was pushing towards becoming Europe’s crypto hub. And they succeeded. Nowadays, Zug is often referred to as crypto valley.
Besides being home to multiple high profile Blockchain projects such as Ethereum, cryptocurrencies are genuinely incorporated in Zug’s identity: as the first government in the world to do so, Zug started to accept Bitcoin as tax payments in 2016.
In July 2017, Zug’s mayor announced the city’s intention to issue Ethereum-based IDs to its residents. Once again, Zug outpaced all other governments in the world. In this pilot project, residents are using their Smartphone to register themselves and enjoy many government e-services including proof of residency, parking fee payments and even for voting!
Mayor of Zug, Dolfi Müller, explains the reason behind this revolutionary move: “We want a single electronic identity – a kind of digital passport – for all possible applications. And we do not want this digital ID to be centralized but on the blockchain. Our role is not to store personal information, we only examine the identity of a person.”
Other benefits are the following:
Pilot project – further roll-outs to come?
The first official registration of a Zug citizen on the Ethereum Blockchain occurred in November 2017. One month later, 50 people had already signed up for the service, more people signing up from then on until now. The current number of residents with Ethereum-based IDs hasn’t been disclosed yet.
The project has been considered as a pilot from day one. The first voting on Zug’s Ethereum Blockchain is scheduled to take place in spring 2018 and is currently seen as a major milestone for the entire project. Will it work as expected?
For now, we can conclude that the project is certainly revolutionary and innovative. A roll-out for Switzerland and markets beyond is highly dependent on the success of the project.
Either way, we will keep you up to date about the development of Zug’s eID!
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Very interesting!
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