IOTA's TangleID-Driven Digital Citizen Card Deploying This Year

The launch of the Digital Citizen Card will see IOTA's unique Tangle consensus method and platform used to establish an entirely new digital identification system.

The Digital Citizen Card emerged from a partnership established between the Germany-based IOTA foundation and the municipality of Taipei city in January 2018 as the first of a series of projects aiming to establish Taipei as a "Smart City Living Lab.".

Several other projects are currently underway that will see blockchain technology implemented in citizen identification - such as OmiseGo's collaboration with the Thai Government to create a blockchain-based national digital ID eKYC portal - but Taipei's Digital Citizen Card is set to become the world's first real-world implementation of DLT-based ID.Taipei May Become Blockchain-Powered Smart City.

IOTA's collaboration with the Taipei government includes assistance from BiiLabs, a Taipei-based distributed ledger technology development platform that currently works extensively with the IOTA project, creating TangleID based digital forensics systems and settlement services.

In addition to establishing a blockchain-based ID system, IOTA technology is also being used in Taipei to maintain air quality.

The Air Box project will see palm-sized air sensor complete with humidity, pollution, light, and temperature detectors installed in homes across Taipei, sharing air quality data via the Tangle and incentivizing participation via IOTA incentivization.

"IOTA is one of the innovative players in the cryptocurrency world because of its unique technology. With Taipei City always thinking ahead and with IOTA's technology, this partnership is a strategic move to usher in the era of smart cities to the citizens of Taipei. We welcome the IOTA Foundation to Taipei City and are excited to embark on the future together."

"We are so excited about teaming up with Taipei City. It proves that our next-generation technology is ready for real-world use cases and is more than just a theory. We're just beginning to scratch the surface of the effect IOTA can have on making the world of IoT ever-more connected and paving the way for not just smart cities, but a smart world."

BiiLabs co-founder Jim Huang's announcement of the imminent launch of Taipei's Tangle-based ID solution isn't the only incursion the IOTA project has made into the real world recently.

The IOTA project has even captured recognition from the UN, with the United Nations Office for Project Services recently signing a memorandum of understanding in New York and Berlin to explore how IOTA technology can be used to increased UNOPS operational efficiency.