Blockchain has endless benefits, says Ontology’s Gloria Wu

Following the recent opening of its German office – a move designed to “increase data privacy and protection through legislation” by using blockchain – Ontology chiefs are keen to showcase how decentralised identity solutions can be applied to any aspect of life.

Coin Rivet spoke with Ontology’s head of ecosystem partnerships – Gloria Wu – who explained “the EU’s efforts to increase data privacy and protection through legislation such as GDPR and the European Commission’s recent endorsement of Digital Identity, position the region as a key hub for privacy and innovation, therefore making it a core focus for Ontology”.

“Europe is a global leader in tech, and Berlin sits at the forefront of the landscape, having received over $13 billion investment since 2016,” she said.

When talking about the blockchain, Wu believes there are “endless benefits”.

“Blockchain can solve key issues like trust in a network and, with it, an organisation can become completely decentralised, meaning there is no need for a centralised authority, thus improving the system’s transparency,” she explained.

“Blockchain ensures advanced security compared to other platforms, meaning that data is encrypted and much harder to breach.

“This can be applied to everyday life in healthcare, in government legacy systems, and in digital finance.”

Wu added blockchain could also contribute significantly to protecting citizens’ personal information.

“As we have seen in recent years, there has been an influx of data breaches; user IDs and passwords are notoriously vulnerable to theft and hacking,” she said.

“For example, in 2021 alone the global average cost of data breaches was $3.86m.

“By using blockchain technology and secure identity solutions built on blockchain, we can combat data breaches and place the control back in the hands of self-sovereign individuals.

“Educating citizens on the benefits and how you can leverage blockchain technology through different solutions is going to be very important.”

Like any new technology, there comes the potential for abuse, and rather than trying to fight new innovations, Wu proposed safeguarding against their misuse.

She reiterated the company recently announced its 2022 roadmap with the goal to make Ontology’s high-speed, low-cost, public blockchain, the blockchain of choice for Web3 applications.

“Ontology is building the infrastructure necessary for a cross-chain, interoperable Web3,” she said.

“A huge part of our focus will be to make efforts to create interoperability between the different public chains.”

Ontology’s identity solutions to be applied in education

Wu added the ONTO Wallet was also another focus for the company this year.

“We want it to become the access point of choice for Web3 in 2022,” she confirmed.

“ONTO Wallet simply provides access to Web3 for users whilst allowing them to own their identity and data.

“We have no doubt this year will bring exciting advancements in terms of tech, as well as ecosystem growth.”

Wu also commented that, over the last few years, the world has increasingly embraced decentralised identity solutions as a result of increasing privacy issues associated to Web2 technology.

“Ontology’s decentralised identity solutions can be applied to any aspect of life including education, finance and transport,” she explained.

“For example, in the educational arena decentralised identity solutions could be used to help protect students’ data in universities.

“When students are submitting assignments to their university portal, they could connect them to a personal decentralised digital identity that would verify their identity and keep their work and grades safe and secure.”

Wu mentioned Wing – a credit-based, cross-chain decentralised lending platform run on the Ontology blockchain – as an example of what the company was doing “to make a difference in the finance sector”.

“As a DeFi platform dedicated to the digital asset lending market, Wing supports cross-chain interactions between a variety of DeFi products,” she said.

She added the company also recently partnered with bloXmove, a business-to-business mobility blockchain platform designed to simplify travel across multiple forms of transportation by connecting mobility apps.

“We are integrating our decentralised digital identity protocol into its platform,” she explained.

“By doing so, we ensure that those using a variety of different transport apps can share their verifiable credentials, like driving licenses and passports, just once in a way that is totally private, secure and encrypted.”