Canadian startup SecureKey has revealed it will soon launch a blockchain-based system providing identity verification across the country.

Expected to go live in early 2018, the new digital identity platform utilizes IBM’s blockchain technology, enabling consumers to prove their identity using cellphones and Windows devices to governments, banks and telecom providers, said Greg Wolfond, CEO of SecureKey.

According to Bloomberg, Wolfond said the blockchain ID system enables consumers to control and share their personal information without going through centralized systems that create “honeypots” of valuable information that are vulnerable to hackers.

Wolfond added:

“This is transformational for identity. It makes it easier for me to prove it’s me and harder for the ‘bad guy’ to masquerade as me.”

Bloomberg said that Toronto-Dominion Bank, the Royal Bank of Canada, and a number of other major financial firms have invested $30 million Canadian dollars ($23.5 million) in the scheme.

The ID system was first announced back in in March 2017, where the company explained that the IBM Blockchain tech is built on top of the open-source Hyperledger Fabric v1.0 platform.

The new system “will help tackle the toughest challenges surrounding identity,” said Marie Wieck, general manager of IBM Blockchain, at the time.

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