NEC has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with blockchain firm Ava Labs, to “promote the consideration of next-generation on-chain services,” including biometric Verifiable Credentials (VC), according to a release.
The companies have also collaborated on a white paper, “A Unified Framework Leveraging Biometric Decentralized Identity and Avalanche for Next-Generation On-Chain Services,” which “proposes a concept for building a new foundation of trust by combining a digital identity solution that leverages NEC’s biometric authentication technology with the Avalanche blockchain platform developed by Ava Labs.”
“With the spread of AI agents, it is expected that there will be an increase in situations where not only humans but also AI agents perform transactions, applications, and contracts based on the will and authority of the user, further increasing the importance of identity verification, authority verification, and fraud prevention in the digital space,” NEC says.
Per the release, the company provides “FaceVC” technology, a VC that utilizes biometric authentication technology in the decentralized identity (DID) and VC domain. Ava Labs, meanwhile, says its blockchain platform is characterized by high speed, scalability, and flexible network design that allows for easy adaptation or customization in the age of AI.
Stablecoins anchor biometric cashless payment scheme
Motivated by the growth of cross-border e-commerce and the growing relationship between identity verification and cashless payment, the white paper is rooted in the idea of instant settlement via stablecoins. It describes “use cases and an architecture for a safe and secure transaction infrastructure in which identity is verified through biometrics-based Verifiable Credentials, and in which it can be confirmed in real time that services are being provided to the correct party.”
In other words, instant cashless payment, with transaction details recorded on-chain but identity details kept private.
The selected use case is inbound tourists arriving in Japan. “In this use case,” it says, “we assume that, before arriving in Japan, an inbound tourist obtains a Verifiable Credential that links their identity verification information with their biometric information, in particular their facial information, through an identity verification process available in their home country or prior to departure.” Hosted in their wallet, the Face VC then enables identity verification and instant stablecoin payments.
Chain handles minimum transaction information
Goals on the privacy side align with the principles of data minimization and selective disclosure that underlie all VC projects. “Only the minimum transaction information, receipts, and attestations required for payment settlement, clearing, and reward issuance are recorded on-chain,” the paper says. “Privacy-sensitive information such as facial images, biometric feature data, the bodies of attribute VCs, and detailed purchase attributes is not recorded on-chain.”
“As generative AI and digitalization permeate society and the volume of customer (user) data that enterprises require increases, DID/VC is anticipated as a new method of identity management that reconciles privacy protection with personalization.”
In effect, the proposed system is a two-layer affair. NEC’s biometric identity layer handles user identity verification and the issuance and verification of Verifiable Credentials. The Avalanche layer handles payment execution, reward issuance and distribution, and “a registry function that stores the authenticity and revocation status of VCs.”
The two layers “coordinate through a VC verification flow via the NEC Verifier and through a payment and reward flow via the wallet and POS.”
To work, system must be regulated
The paper concludes by recognizing that “the key to real-world deployment is putting regulatory and governance arrangements in place in parallel with technical maturity.” And while the architecture lays out a map, “detailed design requires separate study.”
“Taking the concept presented in this paper as a starting point, NEC and Ava Labs will jointly advance the real-world deployment of a next-generation transaction infrastructure through co-creation with diverse stakeholders, including enterprises, municipalities, financial institutions, and public facilities,” say the companies. “By delivering the identity supported by biometric authentication, and the certainty of value transfer and rights supported by the blockchain, to every point of contact in society, we will work toward realizing a digital society that reconciles requirements that have often been treated as either-or, such as security and convenience, privacy and reliability, and global interoperability and local institutional conformance.”
Article Topics
biometric authentication | biometrics | decentralized identifiers (DIDs) | face biometrics | NEC | verifiable credentials