Many have heard about ICON, and its ambitious goals for the blockchain ecosystem. In today’s introduction, we’ll be explaining what their innovation ‘Broof’ is all about.

But first, let me give you a quick recap of ICON 👩‍💻.

ICON was established to create a network where existing blockchains can communicate with each other, and aims to become the core of an integrated ecosystem of blockchains. In May 2019, they introduced the beta version of ‘Broof,’ a blockchain-based certificate issuance service.

According to their developers, Broof is the easiest way to issue a blockchain certificate. The platform facilitates the issuances of certificates, certificate storage, and prevents misrepresentation in the blockchain-ecosystem. It is a straightforward and fast way of issuing licenses that lower the issuing authorities’ costs and eliminates the need to construct a separate data system — no more hauling around with large Excel files.

For those receiving a certificate, it is easier to view your document anywhere and anytime you want. Broof operates directly on the ICON system, meaning, any transactions executed benefit the public chain.

🧐 How ‘Broof’ works

Broof enables you to track the digital fingerprint of a certificate. This fingerprint contains things such as to whom or when the certificate is issued on the blockchain. Any changes made after the release can be tracked as well. The authenticity and trustworthiness of the certificates are kept by a system that assures the data of the issuing company is a confirmed match with the requestor’s input data.

Once confirmed, Broof allows for the certificates to be released. The issuing company or authority then approves the URL, issuance period, and recipient list. After this, the recipient can access the URL with his or her name and password and collect their certificate. By working this way, Broof makes it very easy to verify the authenticity of the document.

👉 Details of all Broofs currently issued (over 2,500) are visible in the ICON blockchain. Some of the Broofs are issued by leading universities such as Postech.

🤓 The abilities of ‘Broof.’

Now that you know how it works, take a look at the many great things that Broof provides to simplify and promote the production of your certificate.

You can customize your certificate by uploading images, changing logos, adjusting the location, size, and color of the given information. Even after the license is issued, you can modify the contents, or also remove sections that you don’t think are significant.

Projects can also be generated and controlled by any entity, such as a class or subject. The receivers’ data is pre-logged, making it easier for you to release a certificate. All that remains to do is to double-check the content, and you’re ready to go. Once you have released the certificates, you will be directed to the recipient by email, which makes communication easier.

By entering the bf-ID, you can check the original recorded on the blockchain and verify the contents. Even more so, what’s excellent about Broof is that you can browse through all the issued certificate details on the ICON Tracker.

After a trial period of the beta Broof version starting in May 2019, the official Broof 1.0 launched in January this year. The 1.0 version has newly implemented possibilities for recipients. Broof now stores all the certificates you’ve received in an easily accessible space and enables printing in one click. Controlling the privacy of your certificates, making them visible only to whom you want, is also included in the new version. Furthermore, institutions can now check the validity of a submitted certificate.

🧑‍🎓 Overall, Broof will be a much-needed solution for academic fraud in the age of blockchain.

Get to know more about ICON