Ethereum Foundation Launches Site for Public-Sector Ethereum Uses

The Ethereum Foundation launched a public-sector website Tuesday, Nov. 3, presenting Ethereum as shared infrastructure for governments, international organizations and NGOs exploring digital identity, public services and humanitarian programs. The site describes the network as something public institutions can use alongside government databases and services, including when multiple organizations need to coordinate.

Bhutan’s National Digital Identity (NDI) system is one example of the credential use case. The NDI system uses information registered on Ethereum to verify the authenticity of digital credentials, while personal profiles remain in users’ digital wallets instead of being published on the blockchain. In this arrangement, blockchain information supports verification while the underlying personal profiles stay in wallets.

The foundation has also developed a proof of concept for coordinating humanitarian aid with decentralized identity and privacy-focused payments. The approach is intended to help organizations coordinate without sharing sensitive personal information. The concept joins identity verification and payments in a single coordination proposal.