Everything You Need To Know About Self Sovereign Identity in Metaverse

Self-Sovereign Identity in Metaverse

Metaverse is a limitless world of digital spaces and networks that foster social interaction, collaboration, transaction, and communication in virtual environments. While it is the tech buzzword that has been doing all the rounds in every possible industry and business sector, what does it imply and how will it change our everyday lives?

Well, besides an exhilarating side of virtual reality elements that people and companies are somehow relating the metaverse to, there are many other exciting innovations and developments that also play a pivotal role in defining the metaverse. Moreover, while it extends innumerable benefits to enterprises such as offering intuitive and engaging 3D spaces to replicate real-life activities and nurture a socially-responsible, transparent, secure, and reliable digital environment, metaverse means so much more than just that.

In particular, we are referring to the colossal digital economy around blockchain, NFTs, AR/VR app development, edge computing, 3D modeling, etc as well as trusted interactions enabled through digital and self-sovereign identities (SSI).

To understand the concept of the metaverse and how it is empowering different businesses across a plethora of industries, we recommend checking out our video related to metaverse implementation and development services that we offer.

In this blog, we will discuss the symbiosis of two powerful technologies – the metaverse and self-sovereign identity and how are they carving their way into the construction of immersive, hyper-real, and a digitally-secure virtual worlds. However, let us first begin with understanding what is the role of identity in the metaverse and what SSI actually is.

The Importance of Identity in The Metaverse

The metaverse is undoubtedly a futuristic concept that extends beyond the current paradigms of social media and game-tech. It is preeminently about stimulating the physical ecosystem in the digital realm and enabling interactions and activities that are identical to what we do in our day-to-day lives.

Not so long ago, metaverse projects were mostly related to building virtual gaming platforms. However, with recent innovations, projects such as virtual classrooms, shops, real estate, and even 3D working spaces have even taking to take concrete shapes. These metaverses are highly immersive and provide users with a feeling of presence through hyper-realistic 3D animation and modeling. Even functionality-wise, they furnish a higher level of interactivity, collaboration, and engagement with elements such as community building, sophisticated UX, NFT asset trading, and P2E opportunities. Moreover, metaverse can be either centralized or decentralized platforms. In this blog, we will focus on the decentralized metaverse wherein SSIs have vital roles to play.

Within the metaverse landscape, users can explore an entirely new set of digital experiences that are beyond the general perception of our internet-led encounters. However, for the true success of any metaverse project, one crucial requisite is identity verification. Here, we have listed why identity in the metaverse is so elemental.

• Metaverse platforms stringently focus on interoperability because it makes the virtual realm more accessible, purposeful, and meaningful for users. 
   
• For a unified experience, users should be able to traverse seamlessly between different metaverses. However, for doing so, users will require identity authentication in order to retain the same individuality and avatar across different platforms.
   
• Any identity system customized to metaverse assures that a personal 3D avatar is truly who it claims to be.

What is Self-Sovereign Identity?

Self-sovereign identities or SSIs are digital identities that are managed by individuals themselves without having to depend or heavily rely on third-party service providers. In SSI systems, users create and manage their unique identities with digital wallets. These identities are authenticated and verified using public-key cryptography which is anchored on the distributed ledger or blockchain technology. Moreover, SSIs are not verified by any centralized third-party but instead, it is done by public identifiers of decentralized networks. 

Altogether, this truncates the need for maintaining personal information on any central database. Therefore, SSI offers the ability to address privacy and data security issues. This level of decentralized, transparent, immutable, and verified trust is critical for merging data elements for building an open and cohesive metaverse.

Self-Sovereign Identity and The Metaverse

Interoperable and verifiable data are fundamental in the metaverse across multiple levels, whether it is related to identity verification at the profile creation stage or verification at the transaction time. The inculcation of verifiable credentials in the metaverse toolbox also aids in establishing trust in user profiles, avatars, or any digital assets. Here, Self-Sovereign Identities are more desirable and needed in comparison to other types of verifiable credentials since SSIs are themselves controlled by users and can only be used upon users’ consent. This altogether aids in controlling the unintentional sharing of sensitive data.

Also Read: Here Is Why The Metaverse Cannot Exist Without Blockchain

How Does SSI Work Within The Metaverse?

In general, the concept of self-sovereign identity was applied to certificates, diplomas, identity cards, driver’s licenses, and more. However, in the context of the metaverse, SSI verifiable credentials can take the form of loyalty cards, coupons, vouchers, and other types of membership cards. SSIs are also responsible for increasing metaverse traffic, boosting new user onboarding, and reinforcing user loyalty.

The self-Sovereign Identity system applies to the metaverse just as it applies to DeFi, P2E games, decentralized real-time video streaming, NFT galleries, etc. 

Here, we have enlisted a few pointers that depict how SSI verifiable credentials can be seamlessly applied to the metaverse.

• Just like NFTs, SSI verifiable credentials aid in facilitating interoperable identities within metaverses.
   
• SSI credentials enable the metaverse-as-a-platform to have access to users’ information only upon their consent.
   
• SSIs help generate business opportunities and traffic on the metaverse by making it simpler and easier to rely on real-world brands without having to compromise on users’ data sovereignty, privacy, and security. 

Summing Up

The metaverse requires serious attention and it is vital to understand its origin as well as what it essentially represents. While it furnishes infinite possibilities for businesses, it is mainly about privacy, openness, control, security, accessibility, transparency, and interoperability. 

SSI is steadily gaining traction and it essentially centers on users managing their information, thereby making it more desirable than the current verifiable credentials or any other way of storing data in the metaverse. In the existing times, metaverses are being designed on open standards where SSI and verifiable credentials play powerful roles.

As a trusted metaverse development company, we offer intuitive and feature-rich metaverse platform development solutions to businesses across a plethora of industries such as retail, media & entertainment, real estate, education, healthcare, and more. If you are looking for metaverse development services or any assistance in accordance with related technologies like AR/VR, block, NFTs, or edge computing, feel free to request a quote. Our experts will get back to you within 24 hours.