Microsoft's Project Ion - it's like Bitcoin, but for Identity

Microsoft is finally jumping on the Bitcoin bandwagon with Project Ion,  a decentralized Identity infrastructure built on Bitcoin.

Microsoft believes every person needs a decentralized, digital identity they own and control, backed by self-owned identifiers that enable secure, privacy-preserving interactions. This self-owned identity must seamlessly integrate into their lives and put them at the centre of everything they do in the digital world.

To help forward this vision Microsoft developed Identity Hubs. Identity Hubs provide secure, encrypted storage of personal data and they rely on decentralized systems (blockchains and distributed ledgers) to anchor their identifiers.

Today Microsoft announced an upgrade to that service with an early preview of a Sidetree-based DID network, called ION (Identity Overlay Network).

ION runs atop the Bitcoin blockchain based on an emerging set of open standards that Microsoft developed working with many of their partners in the Decentralized Identity Foundation. This approach greatly improves the throughput of DID systems to achieve tens-of-thousands of operations per second.

The adoption of the Bitcoin Blockchain for the protocol is expected to have a far-reaching impact on the industry.

Read more about the technology at Microsoft here.