Blockchain Could Solve the Problem of Digital Identity

Wait what?

> put down a returnable deposit of .157 ETH (about $400)

and

> Users receive $50-$100 a month worth of the token

Isn’t that the definition of a pyramid scheme?

Also

> Extremely high transaction fees—sometimes higher than a month’s worth of UBI—also make it hard for UBI users to take money out.

Oh so your initial deposit is refundable but you have to pay a quarter in fees if you want to take money out.

And

> We want to use the wealth and incredible power of the blockchain to to really address social problems like poverty or marginalization

But isn’t taking $400 upfront (when 2.6 billion people live on less than $2 a day) the very definition of exploitation?

No, it won't. There will always be the problem that the digital identity cannot be linked with 100% certainty to an actual human.

You don't know if the person creating a digital identity (or authenticating as one):

- is actually a specific individual

- is the same person as last time

- was telling the truth when setting up the identity

- doesn't have many other identities

This is already happening: wash-trading scams are rife in crypto because a single person can create many wallets and trade between them, making those assets appear more valuable and liquid than they are.

Some time in the next decade or two, a global interoperable online ID system will be created. The properties of that system will reflect, and be reflected in, the global political and power structures that develop alongside it.

We have a limited window in which to get right the important design decisions, like privacy and self-sovereignty, otherwise we will find ourselves with a system that is too much of a Schelling point to ever escape.