cheqd meta-analysis finds the Self-Sovereign Identity market is worth over $550 billion

SSI whitepaper preview-2-1-1-1

LONDON, March 9, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — cheqd, a technology company enabling individuals and organisations to take full control of their data, has conducted a meta-analysis, as part of a new whitepaper, estimating the potential of the Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) market to be over $550 billion annually. This staggering figure reflects the full value of people’s data and its usages. It is based upon areas of opportunity including finance, compliance (KYC), gaming, NFTs, the Metaverse, Official ID, and E-Commerce amongst others.  

The whitepaper, entitled ‘Self-Sovereign Identity; How big is the market opportunity?’ aims to address the lack of clarity on the total addressable market value for SSI, establishing a credible baseline that can then be iterated upon by the community.

SSI is an emerging user-centric concept for exchanging authentic and trusted data, including people and organisations, in a more secure manner. The estimated figure of $550 billion affirms cheqd’s belief in the scale and value of SSI technology, which has already seen an exponential increase in tangible use cases in 2021 and 2022, proving foundational to the implementation of NHS Staff Passports as well as the IATA Travel Pass.

The current identity model is controlled by third-party providers who generate the majority of the value from this data. This centralised structure brings with it a host of security threats, laying open the potential for hackers to target companies’ data siloes on mass scales or trick individuals into giving away their passwords. In the United States alone, identity theft losses cost $502.5 billion in 2019 and increased to $712.4 billion in 2020. In the UK, annual UK-issued debit and credit card identity thefts reached a value of £29.7 million in 2020.

cheqd aims to redress these structural markets issues by inverting data ownership, allowing individuals to create a single profile that they control and share with companies as and when they choose.

cheqd CEO, Fraser Edwards comments“When the Economist described data as the new oil, it was not wrong. This whitepaper confirms our sense of the increasing utility and relevance of SSI and digital identity, but also lays out, for the first time, the sheer scope and tangible value of the technology. It is undeniable that SSI can revolutionise the ways individuals and companies exchange data across industries as diverse as finance, gaming, and travel. We are proud to stand at the forefront of this transformation, giving people ownership of their digital lives and putting them in control for the first time.”

Click here to read the whitepaper in full; cheqd’s methodology has been published in detail so that all market participants are able to use the data for their own calculations.

For enquiries, please contact:

Alexandra Santos
[email protected]
07972 854508

cheqd expands partnership network with leading self-sovereign identity vendors

SSI vendors 2-1

London, 4th May 2022 – cheqd, a market-leading solution enabling individuals and organisations to take control of their data has expanded its partnership network to a total of 35 top self-sovereign identity (SSI) vendors, after announcing its second SSI cohort.

SSI or decentralised identity is an emerging disruptive technology for exchanging trusted (also referred to as authentic) data, between people and companies in a more secure manner, giving entities ownership and control over their own data. According to a meta-analysis by cheqd published on Bloomberg, the SSI market is projected to be worth over US$550 billion, which demonstrates the significant opportunity the technology poses.   

cheqd’s network is primarily built for SSI vendors to disrupt established identity paradigms and create new authentic data marketplaces. Each SSI vendor will utilise cheqd’s network tooling, functionality and native token, $CHEQ, for payment rails, never-seen-before commercial models and decentralised governance to advance their commercial strategies and technical roadmaps. The scale of distribution in the SSI space is unmatched – through its strong community of partners, cheqd engages with companies in various different industries, which further demonstrates the endless areas of opportunity for the application of SSI technology. 

The new SSI companies joining cheqd’s network are as follows:

Animo Solutionshttps://animo.id/

Animo Solutions works with developers and organisations to improve digital interaction using verifiable credentials. They create solutions where exchanging data is privacy-preserving and frictionless. Timo Glastra, co-founder of Animo Solutions, comments on building scalable SSI solutions on cheqd to handle the huge forthcoming growth in SSI:

“At Animo we build open-source digital identity infrastructure. Through our customers, we’ve experienced the need for a scalable network that is specifically suited to SSI implementation. We’re using cheqd to build SSI solutions that can handle the huge growth that is coming in the field.”

 

ID Lynxhttps://idlynx.com/

ID Lynx connects and empowers a global community that provides decentralised digital identity solution platforms for individuals, organisations, animals and IoT devices. Chris Raczkowski, CEO of ID Lynx, comments:

“By joining the cheqd network we’re looking forward to utilising the network’s core utility to support our existing customer use-cases and explore cheqd’s payment rails for SSI to bring entirely new use-cases and revenue streams to our business. We are also excited to join the partnership network and cooperate with diverse partners to fast-track not just our own growth, but also accelerate the global adoption of SSI – a long-held ambition of mine and our ID Lynx team.”

 

Gravityhttps://www.gravity.earth/

Gravity believes in data sharing for anyone, anywhere and has created products where individuals and organisations can create and manage portable and verifiable digital identities, issue and share credentials securely and easily verify and authenticate users. Johannes Ebert, CEO of Gravity, explains why joining cheqd is critical to their business:

“For companies like us, focusing on building applications based on SSI that enable users to access services, the payment rail component is critical in ensuring that we offer customers a seamless payment experience. Gravity’s business model is based on “pay per data”, such that customers pay for the data exchanged based on the number of credentials and the types of claims contained within them. Leveraging cheqd’s payment rail infrastructure is therefore vital for Gravity as our customer base expands and the number of credential exchanges grows.” 

 

AyanWorks: https://www.ayanworks.com/  

AyanWorks builds the foundations of SSI for individuals, enterprises, applications, and devices based on open standards. CEO of AyanWorks, Kalyan Kulkarni, comments on how cheqd’s incentivisation of verifiable credentials could lead to widespread adoption:

“AyanWorks is a fast-growing Blockchain Tech consulting company with a focus on decentralised identity and verifiable credentials. We share the vision of ‘identity for all’ by means of bringing solutions that emphasise privacy by design and privacy by default. We are keen to see how incentivising the verifiable credentials that cheqd is evangelising, can contribute to the adoption of this technology and are excited to have joined this network to leverage it and accelerate SSI solutions.”

 

Gayadeedhttps://www.gayadeed.it/it/ 

Gayadeed is an application that helps companies and professionals to securely sign agreements instantly from anywhere in the world. Co-founder of Gayadeed, Egidio Casati, sees cheqd as a crucial evolution in incentivised networks to bridge traditional eIDAS trust services:

“As a smart agreement platform, we are committed to bridge traditional eIDAS trust services with SSI protocols, focusing on interoperability, sustainability and UIX. We fully embrace cheqd’s crucial evolution towards a sustainable, properly incentivised and interoperable SSI ecosystem and we are glad to join the network to build and deliver SSI-powered applications ready for mass adoption.”

 

Monokeehttps://monokee.com/

Monokee permits organisations to manage identities and embrace the new identity paradigm of SSI, where people and companies take control of their digital identity. Roberto Griggio, CEO of Monokee comments on the cheqd partnership:

“Monokee is a technology enabler that integrates identity management with disruptive and decentralised technologies to provide enterprise-grade security and compliance. Thanks to the partnership with cheqd, Monokee aims at establishing a virtuous cycle where verifiable credentials and distributed ledgers can sustain themselves, through cheqd’s payment rails, network utility and commitment to interoperability and open standards.”

 

Umazi: https://www.umazi.io/

Umazi are pioneers of global cross-industry due diligence and one of the most exciting start-ups in the space. Co-founder and CEO Cindy van Nierkirk on the collaboration with cheqd to increase revenue on all sides of the trust triangle: 

“Umazi is carving out a new market to enable continuous enterprise identity verification for business due diligence. We’re ready to explore the utility of cheqd’s payment rails to incentivise users of our due diligence trust network. This collaborative partnership will allow both of us to grow the next level of revenue generation across all sides of the trust triangle using cheqd’s Web3 SSI technology.”

 

Soveriohttps://soverio.com/

Soverio is committed to helping our clients improve their online business security, implement digital transformation, and boost operational efficiency with the help of innovative technologies like Decentralised Identity and Verifiable Credentials. Audrius Ramoska, Soverio CEO and co-founder, shares on cheqd providing the missing payment rails for Soverio’s customers:

“As the physical and digital worlds merge, finding secure and trusted ways of verifying the identity or securely exchanging data is becoming essential. Our new partnership with cheqd enables new possibilities for our Soverio customers, not only in a traditional business environment as we know it now but in the near future too (CeDeFi, Web3, Metaverse, CBDC, SSI, etc.). cheqd’s payment rails for SSI are what we missed in our portfolio.”

 

Verio: https://verio.id/

Verio is a full-stack verifiable credential platform and digital wallet with use-cases ranging from user authentication, customer onboarding to complex multi-party interactions. Cristian Talle, Verio CEO, notes on the cheqd partnership:

“Verio is proud to join the cheqd network to bring payment utility to our verifiable credentials, a much needed innovation in the SSI space. We’re also excited to leverage cheqd’s network, which we can utilise for our customers, partners and to enter new verticals to expand our business.”

 

Mavennet: https://www.mavennet.com/

Mavennet, creators of leading trusted-data exchange platforms, builds and launches blockchain-enabled SSI products, with a focus on large enterprise implementations. Yevgen Malyshev, Chief Product Officer, expands on working with cheqd to create new business models around verifiable credentials:

“Mavennet is excited to join the cheqd network for digital credentials and self-sovereign identity. Mavennet builds enterprise digital products with blockchain at its core. Therefore, we’re particularly pleased to also become part of the partnership network and work with cheqd to bring applications and services to new customers in the verticals we serve as well as create new business models around verifiable credentials.”

 

Tobias Halloran, cheqd’s Head of Partnerships, adds: 

“We’re excited to announce our second cohort of self-sovereign identity vendors, bringing our total to 35 strong partners, who will build with us, develop cheqd’s ecosystem and enter new partnership models to augment growth for their businesses. Each cheqd partner is as valuable to us as the next, and we look forward to scaling with our SSI vendors through our cheqd’s partnership network, and building their businesses through leveraging the network’s core utility.”

To join cheqd’s network please email: [email protected] or [email protected]

For enquiries, please contact:

Alexandra Santos, Associate Partner

[email protected] 

cheqd to offset its carbon footprint with Regen Network

cheqd regen network
London, 22 April 2022 – To celebrate Earth Day today, cheqd, a market-leading technology company enabling individuals and organisations to take full control of their data, joins the Cosmos ZERO Carbon Commitment, led by Regen Network – an open-source working framework for carbon footprint calculations for Cosmos Blockchains. Having explored all the suitable carbon calculation methodologies and offset options, cheqd decided to use the ZERO Carbon Commitment, an Interchain Foundation Earth Programme initiative for Cosmos chains to achieve net-zero emissions for their networks. As a Web3 company, cheqd requires a solution that is Web3 native itself and fully integratable with the company’s core offering. Importantly, the programme is specifically designed for the Cosmos-wide ecosystem. cheqd will offset its carbon footprint through the use of Nature Carbon Ton (NCT) developed by Regen Network, Toucan ProtocolMoss, and BICOWG in cooperation with the Osmosis decentralised exchange. NCT is a premium digital carbon basket token of nature-based projects in the Cosmos ecosystem, which brings the first digital carbon to the Interchain economy. NCT follows the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) – the world’s most widely used voluntary GHG programme by the Verra. Real-world environmental credits from the VCS programme are tokenised on Regen Ledger as eco credits. This enables an introduction of high-quality nature-based digital carbon to blockchain markets. Through the use of Regen Network’s infrastructure, cheqd will become part of the collective regenerative finance solutions to the climate crisis. With a focus on sustainability, cheqd’s blockchain energy consumption is minimal as the company uses a Proof of Stake validating system to verify new transactions and then add them to the blockchain. Unlike Proof of Work, which requires a significant amount of computer power, Proof of Stake does not require mining.   Fraser Edwards, CEO at cheqd said: “The general idea of a blockchain climate solution may seem controversial, as many of us are aware of the impact that some cryptocurrencies can have on climate. However, while it is true that some cryptocurrencies are carbon-intensive, we place the utmost importance on sustainability; by using a Proof of Stake system our carbon footprint is almost nonexistent. But a low footprint is not neutral and that is why we decided to join the Cosmos Zero Carbon commitment, led by Regen Network, which further demonstrates our commitment to the environment.” Gregory Landua, CEO at Regen Network said: “Partnering with proof of stake protocols like cheqd is what gives the Cosmos ZERO campaign wings. We celebrate the community effort to offset the carbon footprint of the Cosmos ecosystem, and congratulate cheqd on their leadership.”

Ends

www.cheqd.io/

For enquiries, please contact:

Alexandra Santos, Associate Partner, Yellow Jersey PR

Ammaarah Hafezi, Senior Account Manager, Yellow Jersey PR

[email protected]

BitMart to List CHEQ, Native Token for the cheqd network

BitMart listing cheqd-1

BitMart, the premier global digital asset trading platform, will list the CHEQ token (CHEQ) on April 4, 2022, and the CHEQ/USDT trading pair will be available at 11:00 AM (EDT).

cheqd is a market-leading solution enabling individuals and organizations to take control of their data.

$CHEQ is the token governing the cheqd network that allows issuers/receivers/holders/node operators to pay each other for digital credentials without compromising the privacy and security of users.

The platform delivers first-of-its-kind payment rails, customizable commercial models, and governance structures for trusted* (also referred to as authentic) data, including self-sovereign identity (SSI). SSI is a user-centric methodology for exchanging trusted data more securely. It is also widely believed to be the next generation of digital identities across open networks.

BitMart is thrilled to add the CHEQ token cheqd network ($CHEQ) to our portfolio of offerings. We are excited by the promise of a secure network that enables individuals and organizations to take complete control of their data and allows anyone to verify identities quickly and securely.

About BitMart

BitMart Exchange is the premier global digital assets trading platform with more than nine million users worldwide and ranked among the top crypto exchanges on CoinGecko. Currently offering 850+ trading pairs with one of the lowest trading fees in the industry, we are a constantly evolving and growing platform. To learn more about BitMart, visit our website, follow our Twitter, or join our Telegram for updates, news, and promotions. Make sure to download the BitMart App to easily trade your favorite crypto anytime, anywhere.

cheqd partners with Australian Data Exchange to accelerate new business models for Verifiable Credentials

Australian Data Exchange cheqd

cheqd is delighted to announce a partnership with ID Exchange, trading as Australian Data Exchange (ADX), which will support cheqd’s expansion into the Australian and Pacific (APAC) region as a local expert in digital identity, with an excellent network, and a first-in-class range of supported technologies and software focussed on user-controlled data and consent management. 

Joanne Cooper, Australian Data Exchange CEO, has stated the following:

“Australian Data Exchange has an appetite to bring together world leading technology approaches, integrated or standalone, to offer Government and Enterprise seamless data exchange services necessary to onboard new decentralised models to enable elements of Data Utility, Privacy, Consent, AI and Verifiable Credentials in a powerful customer centric manner. 

Working together with cheqd, we can begin to piece together an entire digital identity and data sharing ecosystem – from infrastructure layer, to data exchange layer, to customer consent management.”

This latest partnership between cheqd also leverages ADX’s A/NZ agency with digi.me, a leading business to business to consumer (B2B2C) personal data grid platform, designed to maximise decentralised aggregation and interoperability offering mobility with data agency actioned via the consumer.  Digi.me enables individuals to control and consent to when their personal data is used, and have direct management over their GDPR data subject rights as a default setting. 

Cooper continues, “the digi.me product fits fantastically into the Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) stack on top of cheqd, as a specialised identity agent and data sharing intermediary, as defined by the latest European Data Governance Act. 

We are impressed with cheqd’s professionalism and extensive partnership network and look forward to collaborating on joint and seamless solutions for enterprises and governments going forward.”

Alex Tweeddale, cheqd’s Product Manager and Governance Lead, currently residing in Australia, concludes: 

“It has been excellent to work with ADX so far; they possess an expert level of knowledge on emerging identity technologies, including SSI, on top of an extensive contact list of industry connections in the APAC region. 

cheqd looks forward to helping expand the uptake of decentralised identity into APAC, and by working together with ADX, we can really begin to piece together a full technical stack for a user-centric, interoperable, commercially viable identity ecosystem.” 

Ends

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About Australian Data Exchange & ID Exchange

Australian Data Exchange is a brand and Australian Business Name registered and operated by ID Exchange Pty. Limited. 

The brand has been designed to accommodate comprehensive data exchange services in the Australian marketplace with the aim to assist Australian Government and Business to leverage enabling technologies designed to underpin the emerging personal data economy.

CEO Joanne Cooper is a 2020 Telstra Businesswoman of the Year Finalist 2020, a One World Identity – Top 100 Identity Influencer 2018 and a 2017/8 Delegate to the Australian British Chamber of Commerce FinTech/Cyber trade delegation to London.

cheqd-Logo-email

cheqd.io

Contact:  Australian Data Exchange is business name operated by ID Exchange Pty. Ltd.

Joanne Cooper CEO, ID Exchange

T: 1300 002 678

[email protected]

www.idexchange.me

Photo available on request.

Indacoin Announces Strategic Partnership with cheqd

cheqd_Indacoin-1-2

March 11, 2022 /Indacoin/ — Indacoin, a leading fiat-to-crypto exchange company, has announced a strategic partnership with cheqd.io, a high-tech company seeking to become the de-facto payment mechanism for trusted data. As part of the collaboration, both companies will cooperate to drive mass adoption of the $CHEQ token and make it available to millions of credit and debit cardholders in more than 180 countries to accelerate the adoption of SSI.

Data ownership and digital identity are crucial for a decentralized world to become a reality. cheqd offers a powerful cross-industry, global and web3 solution via an incentivized network that enables payment rails in its #CHEQ token for enterprises, individuals, consortiums, and government organizations. To achieve this, cheqd’s innovative payment rails allow businesses to create new commercial models for authentic/trusted data and self-sovereign identity (SSI). Their network provides the means of payment between organizations and individuals — that issue, hold and receive trusted data globally. Thus, data and identity issuers, verifiers, and holders can pay each other for data and digital credentials without compromising users’ security creating new data marketplaces powered by cheqd and the CHEQ token.

To enable the mass adoption of $CHEQ, the cheqd team has decided to work with Indacoin. As such, every owner of Visa and MasterCard will be able to purchase native $CHEQ with ease in a safe space within minutes.

This provides easy access to the $CHEQ token for building SSI solutions atop the public-permissionless network, as well as for staking and liquidity mining rewards.

Anvar Sidorov, Partnerships Director at Indacoin, commented on the news:

“cheqd is an exciting project designed to make it easier for individuals and organizations to trust each other, so we are pleased to support them on their mission. We, at Indacoin, will do our best to facilitate the mass adoption of $CHEQ as decentralized identity and data sovereignty becomes a major concern.”

About cheqd.io:

cheqd is a technology company enabling individuals and organizations to take full control of their data. It provides payment rails, customizable commercial models, and governance structures for authentic data, including self-sovereign identity (SSI). Based on blockchain technology, cheqd is built upon a public permissionless network with a dedicated token — $CHEQ.

Founded in 2021 by CEO Fraser Edwards and CTO Ankur Banerjee, cheqd is a driver for innovation backed by Outlier Ventures, Evernym, TitanBlock, 3GR, Cosmos’ Tendermint Ventures, and private investors, receiving a total raise of just over £2.4 million in its Seed investment round.

For more:
WebsiteTwitterTelegramMediumGithubLinkedIn

About INDACOIN:
Indacoin is a pioneer fiat-to-crypto gateway with Visa and Mastercard processing globally. The company has been operating since 2014 and its primary focus lies in developing anti-fraud software, which has enabled millions of users worldwide to quickly and safely buy cryptocurrencies. Indacoin is one of the most prominent players in the crypto community that provides risk-free transactions for more than 100 partners.

The time is ripe for digital identity and SSI: Necker Ventures

The time is ripe for digital identity and SSI Necker Ventures

We’ve recently spoken with our friends and investors at Necker Ventures Juan Lugo and Makda Kassahun, co-managing partners — a rising angel firm in the blockchain industry. They have a diverse portfolio of investments spanning crypto, agriculture, gaming, and other sectors. To date, Necker Ventures has an average growth rate per company of 100x and $100M assets under management. They are only getting started, and we are proud to have them support our efforts towards making self-sovereign identity (SSI) a reality.

What’s your story and tell us more about your fund

Juan: At Necker, we banded together as individuals from all across the globe, and when we had a little bit of success with Bitcoin, we put our heads together and dove headfirst into all the different opportunities within the industry. Within Necker Ventures, we have folks from all walks of life. My background is in data security, my colleagues have engineering and capital management backgrounds, so we each brought our unique expertise to the table and followed what was out there.

Why did Necker Ventures invest in cheqd?

Juan: In my opinion, individuals didn’t understand how valuable their data was until recently. We saw this in the early millennium with the emergence of social media giants and how they capitalise on users’ data. The problem surfaces when we realise that they profit from individuals’ data by targeting specific demographic groups. The tech giants walk a thin line between morality and profitability. As we go along, the speed of digitalisation will increase (Facebook turning itself into a metaverse is just another proof), and COVID-19 was certainly its catalyst. Individuals will be more conscious about where their data is going, who stores it, and how they themselves can use it, i.e. to make a profit. That’s exactly what drew me to the cheqd’s solution.

What we collectively liked at cheqd is giving individuals back the ownership of their data through enabling digital identity. In our opinion, cheqd is far ahead of the curve, creating a self-sovereign identity (SSI) ecosystem and developing a product and service that’s going to come at a perfect time.

Makda: To expand on Juan’s point, there are other reasons to invest in the startup, such as inefficiency, that make a business case for cheqd even stronger. As an example, I used to work at health care consulting supporting the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the US on verifying personally identifiable information (PII). The bureaucracy was ridiculous — often, it would take months for simple identification processes to be completed as everything had to be approved by a solicitor. Having those painful experiences, I found cheqd’s solution fascinating and urgently needed. The startup is creating this permissionless system cutting out all the bureaucracy while improving data privacy and security.

What are your most anticipated features in cheqd?

Makda: I’m excited about the core product itself and that it serves both individuals and organisations. I also think that having payment rails and a token is essential for the adoption of SSI. So having those two components coming together in a single product is a brilliant idea.

What’re your final thoughts on the current development of the SSI industry?

Juan: The likes of data leaks and hacks serve as a good vector exposing the security gaps, which, I believe, will be a catalyst for the mass adoption of digital identity and SSI. cheqd’s a very collaborative approach to building a trusted/ authentic data economy is game-changing. We’ll see their impacts on the macro level in 5–10 years.

We saw many positive developments from a wider crypto regulatory perspective — take El Salvador, Tanzania, Argentina, and Mexico. Chinese crypto ban seems to be an attempt to manipulate market assumptions. I think those that have been around long enough seeing the Chinese ban know that they’re going to unban it. They’re just trying to play the long game making sure they capitalise on crypto as much as possible before the mass adoption.

The overall trend is positive on all levels — individuals’ appreciation and desire to own their own data, regulatory developments both in data privacy and crypto, and technological developments that can support those demands ensure the need for SSI. And while some may see self-sovereign identity as a niche concept, we’re confident it will hit mass adoption reasonably soon.

For more on cheqd, make sure to join our rapidly growing Telegram community to stay updated with our latest news. We’re also on Twitter or LinkedIn, make sure to cheq in!

cheqd launches mainnet network

cheqd mainnet launch release

The tech start-up is set to disrupt the digital identity space with its blockchain-based network built on the Cosmos ecosystem

London, 23 November 2021 – cheqd, a technology company enabling individuals and organisations to take full control of their data, has launched its highly anticipated mainnet network.

cheqd’s mainnet network is built for self-sovereign identity (SSI) vendors to disrupt established identity paradigms and create new authentic data marketplaces. SSI is an emerging user-centric concept for exchanging authentic and trusted data, including people and organisations, in a more secure manner. 

With over 20 market-leading SSI vendors already joined, including cheqd’s first three partners DIDx, Spherity and DanubeTech, each SSI vendor will utilise cheqd’s network and native token, $CHEQ, for its payment rails and decentralised governance to build never-seen-before commercial models. 

Working to become the de-facto payment mechanism for authentic and trusted data regardless of country, industry or underlying technology, the start-up aims to give people and organisations back their privacy and control of their data. This is achieved by turbocharging the adoption of SSI through the implementation of sustainable payment systems and other economic incentives.

As stated in research by Juniper, the SSI market is set to reach annual revenues of $1.1 billion by 2024, up from $100 million by the end of 2020. This demonstrates the appeal to institutions that value secure and verifiable identities.  

The current identity model is built and controlled by third-party providers. This means that individuals often have to pay to access their own data. In addition, the user experience can be tiresome as, on average, people have to manage over 100 different accounts tied to their email addresses. In many ways, this makes a paradise for threat actors, as they can target organisations’ data silos and use phishing and social engineering techniques to trick individuals into giving away their passwords. 

According to IBM’s Data Breach Report 2021, the average total cost of a data breach has increased by 10% year on year, from $3.86 million to $4.24 million – the largest single-year cost increase in the last seven years. Naturally, companies with more robust security measures have been less impacted, and organisations that lagged in areas such as security, AI and automation have been hit the hardest. 

Fraser Edwards, CEO and co-founder, has said: “The concerns around data privacy have been around for some time, and as we continue to transition to a digital economy, it has become apparent that we must take it more seriously. Trust, in both the physical and digital worlds, is too important to leave it in the hands of big-tech, that is why at cheqd we believe that introducing our mainnet network and the subsequent payments and commercial incentives for self-sovereign identity ramps up the adoption of the technology and puts users truly at the centre with full ownership. There are a number of industries adopting the use of SSI tech, such as finance, travel, and healthcare – these sectors are ahead of the game when it comes to understanding the relevance of decentralised data storage and the importance of effective credential verification to increase transactional security and prevent fraud. ”

Ankur Banerjee, CTO and co-founder, added“cheqd’s mainnet release marks a new milestone in how personal and organisational data can be shared privately and securely. Fundamentally, we believe no single company – including cheqd itself – should control how critical Web infrastructure works, and we’ve spent significant effort to ensure our technology can be controlled by the people it’s meant to serve. Our network is public for anyone to join, and unlike proof-of-work blockchains like Bitcoin, it is designed to be orders of magnitude more energy-efficient. We are excited to be building this on the Cosmos blockchain framework ecosystem, which is used by some of the largest blockchain networks.”

cheqd’s mainnet is a public permissionless network built on interoperable and open standards anyone can start utilising the network to develop solutions, either individually or with one of cheqd’s partners, to issue and receive data from their customers.

Backed by significant investors such as CMCC Global, Outlier Ventures and Tendermint Ventures – a core contributor to the Cosmos network, cheqd is guided by a unique governance framework, enabling staking and voting among owners of its dedicated token $CHEQ.

ENDS

https://www.cheqd.io/

For enquiries, please contact:

Alexandra Santos, Account Director

[email protected]

cheqd announces multiple partnerships with market-leading self-sovereign identity vendors ahead of mainnet launch

SSI partnership release cheqd v2

London, 17 November 2021 – cheqd, a technology company building a decentralised network to enable individuals and organisations to take full control of their data, has partnered with market-leading self-sovereign identity (SSI) vendors ahead of its mainnet launch in the coming days.

SSI or decentralised identity, is an emerging disruptive technology for the exchange of authentic and trusted data, including people and companies in a more secure manner, giving individuals ownership and control over their own data. Gartner recognises SSI’s disruption of identity: “Decentralised identity (DI) and privacy-enhanced verifiable claims/credentials will disrupt identity… They reinvent business processes to enable new business models and the creation of new data marketplaces.”

cheqd’s network is built for SSI vendors to disrupt established identity paradigms and create new authentic data marketplaces. Each SSI vendor will utilise cheqd’s network and native token, $CHEQ, for payment rails, never-seen-before commercial models and decentralised governance, built on interoperable and open standards, to advance their commercial strategies and technical roadmaps. 

The companies partnering with cheqd are as follows:

DanubeTechhttps://danubetech.com/

DanubeTech is a leader in the field of digital identity, including decentralised identifiers (DID), verifiable credentials, and related technologies. Markus Sabadello, DanubeTech’s CEO and founder, on cheqd as the next step in the evolution of SSI networks:

DanubeTech has been a pioneer in DID technologies, and we see cheqd as a promising next step in the evolution of SSI networks. Operating a cheqd node will add value to our mission of enabling global interoperability of decentralised identity infrastructures.”

Spherityhttps://spherity.com/

Spherity builds decentralised identity management solutions to power the 4th industrial revolution. Carsten Stöcker, Spherity’s CEO, commented on cheqd’s payment rails and identity functionality:

As decentralised identity and data sovereignty become more prominent, our clients are asking how the underlying ledgers and payments for transactions can work. Joining cheqd as a node operator allows us to explore the current and emerging ways that decentralised identity and authentic data are changing how information moves and where new commercial opportunities lie.”

DIDxhttps://www.didx.co.za/

DIDx is a leading self-sovereign identity and verifiable credentials exchange based in South Africa. Lohan Spies, DIDx CEO, and early partner of cheqd explains why DIDx joined the cheqd network early:

DIDx is delighted to be part of the mainnet launch of the cheqd network as a founding validator. The cheqd network unlocks the business models of SSI with integrated payments and is a crucial step towards decentralisation and providing new capabilities.

Northern Block: https://northernblock.io/ 

Northern Block is a technology provider enabling global organisations to build digital trust. CEO, Mathieu Glaude, on partnering with cheqd:

Northern Block is a digital trust ecosystem enabler, working with governments, enterprises and small businesses. We’re excited to see the momentum in the self-sovereign identity space, with both top-down and bottom-up use-cases being commercialised. We’re happy to be partnered with cheqd to support the growing community that’s working on innovative Web 3 solutions for identity.”

Finemahttps://finema.co/ 

Finema empowers users and enterprises to control their own identities and data, where identities will become enablers for future data exchange. Pakorn Leesakul, Finema’s CEO, will stand up a cheqd node in Thailand:

“Together with cheqd, we are looking forward to building a trust fabric that serves as a feasible and solid foundation for as many use cases of verifiable credentials as possible. The future of SSI hinges upon convincing the public of its market viability. The partnership is part of that effort.”

Truuhttps://www.truu.id/

Truu creates trusted digital passports for healthcare professionals, for smarter identities, simpler relationships, and better care. Manreet Nijjar, Truu’s CEO, on the flexibility cheqd’s tokenised solutions offer:

We believe to achieve digital trust we need work in an open and collaborative manner. We are therefore very excited to join the cheqd network. Fraser and the team’s work will allows us to build for the future, giving us the flexibility to create token and non-tokenised solutions while sticking to our core principles around data ownership, privacy and consent.”

Tykn: https://tykn.tech/

Tykn envision a world where identities are portable, private and secure so that no one has to lose access to their identity ever again. Khalid Maliki, Tykn’s COO, believes a partnership with cheqd will support Tykn’s goals:

We’re happy to support cheqd as we’re aligned in the vision that identity data must be private and secure. Tykn has spent the past 5 years helping people access services faster while being in control of how their data is used. We believe that cheqd’s network infrastructure can help Tykn’s SSI dev tools pave the way for global self-sovereign identity adoption.”

Anonyome Labshttps://anonyome.com/

Anonyome, a well-known creator of the Sudo platform, provides enterprise software developers with capabilities to add identity, privacy and cyber safety features to their applications. Paul Ashley, Anonyome’s Co-CEO, see’s cheqd’s strategic value for both payment rails and DI use-cases:

Decentralised identity is a core foundational technology of the Sudo Platform allowing transition from current privacy invasive to new privacy-preserving models. To support enterprise DI use cases a scalable distributed ledger with a strong token based financial model is a necessity – and cheqd is the first ledger to provide both of these capabilities.”

RANDA Solutions: https://randasolutions.com/

RANDA’s tools acquire, manage, and utilise many types of education intelligence and is a pioneer in education technology. Marty Reed, CEO, sees partnering with cheqd as joining the next generation of credential networks:

RANDA is excited to participate in this next generation credential network with true considerations for interoperability. We see the cheqd network as a great addition to the overall credential ecosystem and look forward to its future on a solid foundation of partners and technologies.”

Domi Labs: https://domilabs.io/

Domi’s technology is built using self-sovereign identity technology to protect the holder’s data and streamline the rental process, Domi Labs is based out of Berlin. Katrie Lowe, Domi Lab’s CEO, on joining cheqd’s network:

“Domi Labs is a digital identity startup leading implementation of self-sovereign identity within the real estate sector. Verifiable credentials present an enormous opportunity to reshape the way business and customers establish trust. Domi Labs is excited to be an early partner of cheqd as innovative financial pathways will be key to ensuring the development of a robust verifiable credential ecosystem.”

esatus: https://esatus.com/

esatus, the creator of the SOWL platform, uses self-sovereign identity for login and access rights. André Kudra, CIO of esatus, comments on the cheqd partnership:

esatus is interested in gaining first hand experience with cheqd’s payment rails. esatus built its SSI experience since 2015 and now has a huge technology base at hand. esatus’ SOWL suite enables enterprise SSI and can be made workable on cheqd’s network and stack quickly. This presents exciting future opportunities in our partnership.”

Serto: https://www.serto.id/

Serto provides easy-to-use decentralised identity and connected data solutions for enterprises. Serto and cheqd are entering a partnership where cheqd will integrate into Serto Search and Serto Schemas, and Serto will validate the cheqd network to expand Web 3’s trustless data ecosystems. Evin McMullen, Serto’s co-founder, remarks:

“Serto is excited to partner with cheqd to expand Web 3’s trustless data ecosystem. Broader adoption of decentralised identifiers and verifiable credentials is the key to unlocking the future metaverse, and together we are leveraging these actions to scale crosschain interoperability.”

Evernym: https://www.evernym.com/

Evernym, cheqd’s lead investor and go-to-market partner, is the world’s leading platform for verifiable credentials. Drummond Reed, Chief Trust Officer of Evernym; co-Chair, ToIP Governance Stack Working Group; co-author, “Self-Sovereign Identity” believes cheqd’s governance framework and focus on interoperability as central to the networks success:

“As SSI matures we’re seeing innovation at every layer of the Trust Over IP stack. cheqd is the only ToIP Layer 1 public utility I’ve seen with a governance framework designed explicitly to evolve from permissioned to permissionless. Add to that cheqd’s commitment to interoperability across all SSI ecosystems and its unique focus on SSI-based value exchange and you have one of the most exciting projects in SSI today.”

cheqd’s will also be launching its mainnet with key SSI start-ups Doshy, KnownPrivacy, AML First, Crucible, WOPLLI who will be announced in the second SSI cohort announcement along with other key SSI vendors in the forthcoming weeks. 

Tobias Halloran, cheqd’s Head of of Partnerships, adds: 

“It is our collective ambition to create a network that accelerates SSI’s future, therefore it is a key priority for cheqd to fulfil our commitment to our SSI partners and work from them backwards. With our focus on payment rails, commercial models, decentralised governance, interoperability and open standards we can provide our partners with the tools and network to accelerate SSI adoption globally.” 

To join cheqd’s network please email: [email protected] or [email protected] 

About cheqd

cheqd is a technology company building a decentralised network to enable individuals and organisations to take full control of their data. By providing payment rails, customisable commercial models and governance structures for authentic data, including Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI), cheqd gives individuals and organisations privacy and full control of their data. Based on blockchain technology, cheqd is built upon a public permissionless network with a dedicated token for payment – $CHEQ. 

Founded in 2021 by CEO Fraser Edwards and CTO Ankur Banerjee, cheqd is a driver for innovation backed by Outlier Ventures, Evernym, TitanBlock, 3GR, Cosmos’ Tendermint Ventures and private investors, receiving a total raise of just over £2.4 million in its Seed investment round.

https://www.cheqd.io/ 

 

For enquiries, please contact:

Alexandra Santos, Account Director 

[email protected]

press release: cheqd raises $2.6 million to drive the uptake of digital IDs

cheqd secured $2.6m investment press release

London, 22 September 2021 – cheqd – a start-up whose technology could drive widespread uptake of digital IDs – has secured a $2.6m (£1.9m) investment to support the launch of its product later this year. 

The latest funding round was backed by Outlier Ventures, Evernym, TitanBlock, Torque, 3GR and a consortium of private investors. It follows their initial investment in March this year and brings the total raised by the company to $3.3m (£2.4m).

cheqd’s software enables individuals to have their own digital ID that they can store on their mobile phone and use to verify their identity or information such as their qualifications, vaccine status or credit history. Like a passport or driving licence, it would be ‘signed’ by a trusted authority and accepted as proof of status by other organisations without the need to check the individual’s details on a central database.

The technology, which is based on blockchain, has been developed by a team led by Fraser Edwards and Ankur Banerjee. It is unique in that it not only enables organisations to create a digital ID, but also incorporates a payment system so they can charge users a fee to cover the cost, encouraging wider uptake. So for example, a bank that had carried out background checks on a new customer could provide him or her with a digital ID that they could use at other banks to avoid repeating the process.

Self-sovereign identity (SSI), as the concept is known, could be key to unlocking access to banking, government benefits or other services and research suggests it could boost economic growth by 3% in the UK in 2030. It also safeguards privacy by removing the need to store personal information on a central database and giving the individual control over what information they share.

Founders Fraser and Ankur – who met while working as analysts at Accenture in London – have spent the past seven years managing emerging technology projects and were selected to take part in Outlier Ventures’ Base Camp in spring 2021. The business currently employs a team of eight and is on course to launch its first product later this year. It will be aimed at tech firms developing digital ID solutions, as well banks, universities, hospitals or other bodies that issue credentials and may want to offer them in digital ID format.

 

Ankur Banerjee, the CTO, says digital IDs could save the time and cost involved in carrying out repeated background checks: “Covid accelerated uptake of digital technology but the question is, how do you prove your identity and build trust in an online world? Digital IDs give people control over their credentials which makes it easier and cheaper to verify their identity which makes banking and other services more accessible. 

“However until now uptake of digital IDs has been limited because there is no business model that allows providers to charge for creating them. cheqd makes this possible for the first time and could act as a catalyst to encourage wider uptake.”

 

Fraser Edwards, CEO at cheqd, added: “cheqd aims to build the trusted data economy to give people and organisations back their privacy and control of their data. We would like to thank all the investors who share our vision and brought us this far. The strong interest we have had from investors signals that the market is ripe and there is a big demand to address the data security, privacy and trust issues linked to our identities.”

 

Jamie Burke, CEO at Outlier Ventures, added: “You can’t have Web 3.0 without a form of decentralised identity that works at scale and has a business model for network participants hardcoded into it. That’s why we firmly believe in cheqd’s mission as they enable SSI.”  

ENDS

About cheqd

cheqd is a software company that is building a secure network to enable individuals and organisations to take full control of their personal data using blockchain technology. Through the network, anyone can verify identities quickly and securely.

The company helps organisations monetise self-sovereign identity. It enables new business models, where verifiable credentials are exchanged in a trusted, reusable, safer, and cheaper way. 

cheqd makes it easier to create authentic data* ecosystems through customisable commercial models and governance structures, all built upon a public permissionless network with a dedicated token for payment. 

*authentic data is data, which source can be proved.

https://www.cheqd.io/