Block Partners With US Department of Commerce’s NIST to Accelerate Development and Adoption of Digital Identity

Today, proving your identity online is more important than ever with the rise of AI-generated images and content. Many of the credentials that we use to prove who we are online — like photos of our physical drivers’ licenses — were not designed for a digital world. More recently, the public and private sectors have begun work to establish common standards for digital credentials that are credible, secure, and privacy-preserving.

Block is working with the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE), a part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), to help organizations accelerate the adoption of mobile driver’s license standards and best practices.

As one of the United States’ longest-standing scientific standards organizations, NIST has produced scientific standards that are used today for everything from fire hydrants and hose fittings to LED lights. Now, they’re employing the NCCoE and a consortium of industry partners including Block to identify standards for mobile driver’s licenses (mDLs).

Bill Fisher, co-lead of the NIST mDL project, NIST National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence, said, “Whether boarding a plane, creating a bank account, or making an online purchase, mobile driver’s licenses and other digital credentials have the potential to improve the way we conduct transactions, both in person and online. To help realize this potential, the NCCoE is collaborating with more than a dozen partners from across the mDL ecosystem to build out reference implementations and to accelerate the adoption of mDL standards and best practices.”

In this consortium, Block will advocate for implementing established, open standards from organizations like the W3C alongside other emerging digital identity schemes like ISO mDLs. Open standards allow for more transparency and security while reducing the risk that consumers will be “locked in” to proprietary systems from individual vendors.

Digital identity is a major focus for TBD, a part of Block that is building decentralized technologies. Building on open standards from the W3C, the OpenID Foundation, the Decentralized Identity Foundation, and others, TBD and its partners are developing digital identity technology that will give individuals greater control over their online identity and data while making the financial system more efficient, secure, and accessible.