Two United Nations Entities Pair Up with Sierra Leone for Blockchain Identity System

Two United Nations Entities are Pairing Up with Others for Blockchain Identification System, a new project meant to “modernize the credit bureau” was announced as a combined effort between U.N. Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), the U.N. Development Program (UNDP), Sierra Leone president Julius Maada Bio, and non-profit Kiva.

This project is meant to setup an identification system that is entirely based on the blockchain. The project was announced at the 73^rd session of the U.N. General Assembly.

Based on information provided by Kiva, the reason that Sierra Leone was choses was due to the single credit bureau that reaches about 1% of the population, which is about 2,000 people. Right now, there is about 80% of the citizens locally that have absolutely no banked funds.

A statement from the U.N. Capital Development Fund’s deputy executive secretary Xavier Michon believes that this effort will help the nation surpass others in their banking options. He said,

“Through this implementation, Sierra Leone is setting out to build one of the most advanced, secure credit bureaus. It could serve as a model for both developing and developed nations in the future and has the potential to radically change the landscape of financial inclusion.”

With this project, the group will hopefully be able to support banking needs for Sierra Leone citizens, applying the new identification tools and offering access to a personal digital wallet. The protocol, which is known as the Kiva Protocol, gives users complete control of their data, and will let any user to record their transactions on the blockchain specifically.

Both non-Kiva and government partners will even have access to a credit score, which is usable for those who request loans. Citizens will have the choice of who they reveal this score to, rather than allowing anyone to access it during a credit check.