The Chamber of Industry and Commerce of Munich and Upper Bavaria, Germany, will issue its first blockchain-enabled training certificates next spring in cooperation with the Digital Ministry. In the future, employers will be able to determine whether the certificates are genuine with the help of an electronic key.

Authentication Stamp “Made in Bavaria”

According to a press release from Nov. 20 from the Minister of State for Digital Affairs, employers will use an electronic key to verify the authenticity of certificates using blockchain technology.

The Digital Ministry will create a web application that enables companies to verify the authenticity of certificates using blockchain-based hash values. Applicants can send the key with a PDF file to the companies, after which a file upload of the key on the web application will purportedly allow immediate verification.

Digital Minister of the Free State Bavaria Judith Gerlach said, “This offers a huge advantage for both applicants and companies. The authenticity of certificates can be checked in just a few clicks. This is a kind of digital quality seal — Blockchain, Made in Bavaria.”

According to Gerlach, if blockchain technology proves itself reliable, the Free State of Bavaria could also issue blockchain-secured school and university certificates in the future, adding:

"The certificates are a first step for the concrete use of blockchain in administration and can theoretically be extended to any type of document, whether a certificate, deed or contract. We want to launch more practical applications soon.”

Blockchain-based certificates are becoming popular

In June, Cointelegraph reported that a Canadian tech institute issued blockchain-based diplomas to the graduating class of 2019. More than 4,800 graduating students of the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology received blockchain-based degrees along with their traditional parchments.

Similarly, this September, the Swiss University of St. Gallen partnered with Swiss blockchain startup BlockFactory and will use its certification solution to create immutable diplomas that are registered on the Ethereum blockchain.

Additional reporting by Veronika Rinecker