PhotoChromic: Biometrically Managed Self Sovereign Identity on the Blockchain

PhotoChromic is an innovative platform that enables its users to create and manage their own identity to operate on software services, blockchain networks and Dapps.

If you are familiar with the concept of Non Fungible Tokens, then you’ll find PhotoChromic’s solution simply genius.

PhotoChromic allows users to securely create, own and verify their identity through a tokenized NFT. These NFTs are globally addressable, programmable and allows its owner to access additional opportunities in the crypto DeFi marketplace.

Download the Whitepaper here (PDF)

PhotoChromic ID for NFTs and More

PhotoChromic conceived their verification identity solution by aggregating biometric proof-of-life data with officially-backed identity info (government identity records) and personal attributes.

These components merge on an on-chain asset (NFT), that will consequently grant it’s owner access to blockchain platforms requiring identity verification and Web3 applications.

Users of PhotoChromic’s platform can independently manage their online identity with robust security. Users’ physical and digital assets will be allocated to a unique biometric identity, attested by PhotoCromic’s immutable protocol.

Initially, the multi-chain PhotoChromic protocol is running on Ethereum, Polygon (MATIC) and Cardano, but value-added benefits and business opportunities will multiply after the PhotoChromic protocol deploys over more key blockchains.

PhotoChromic’s Founders, Origins & Notable Milestones

Both founders at PhotoChromic’s share a profound experience in online identification and verification processes. The two gentlemen have different technological backgrounds and careers yet both have in common a deep knowledge in the identity platforms specialization.

A Closer Look to the TEAM:

Murray Legg

Ph.D (Biomed Eng); B.Eng (Hons) (Mech Eng); Power30Under30; Investment Banker; VC funded Entrepreneur; TEDx presenter; Ironman finisher.

Murray executed a variety of projects for companies of a wide range of industries, gaining experience and personal recognition in his specialization.

His working experience includes being involved with investment banking, digital communication systems, biomedical engineering and even education and biz-training in China’s, Middle East’s and India’s finance systems.

The three main projects Murray co-founded are Penguin Tutoring, an education and training organization with franchises in the USA and across South Africa; Retroviral Digital Communications, which won in 2013 the PRISM’s Best PR Agency award; and Webfluential, a successful influencer sales & marketing platform.

Gur Geva

With a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Witwatersrand in Cape Town, South Africa, Gur is also the founder and CEO of iiDENTIFii, which gave him a personal recognition of expert in digital identity, biometric authentication, AI (artificial intelligence) and ML (machine learning).

In South Africa, iiDentifii has enabled Tier 1 banks like Standard, Investec and ABSA banks to initiate their Digital Identity adoption.

So providence brought these two entrepreneurs to co-develop PhotoChromic as their current challenge.

Gur, having created a centralised identity software for the finance universe, and Murray, creator of a leading digital platform for influencers and brands, both agreed on the need of diving into the blockchain metarverse to create value, and visioned the opportunity with the NFT concept.

PhotoChromic’s Vision

At its origins, the team behind the PhotoChromic project understood that some users in the blockchain universe crucially need to prove their identity for validation purposes, like sports stars, artists, celebrities, etc.

These people enjoy a large amount of value tethered to their personal brand, their identity, so any hacking or malicious impersonation is synonymous to great loss.

The challenge was to create a verifiable utility that would allow the user to be identifiable on the blockchain. The dev team also found this utility also suitable for adding provenance to all assets these users create and commercialize with their fans and followers.

Of course millions of users on a daily basis interact on the blockchain prefering to keep their identities invisible. Yet all of us need to feel a degree of comfort and trust when we are trading with crypto assets.

Here is where the PhotoChromic protocol can fit in with its unique value proposition. Users will be able to mint a personal biometric NFT which is non-transferable, which sits in their crypto wallet like any other holding of NFTs or tokens.

This personal NFT includes generative artwork based on the user’s recognizable unique facial features.

The identity NFT owner can license this generative art to third parties they trust, with the signature of a contract for a period of time. Hereby users will always retain the full control and ownership over their identity NFT by fully managing how it is distributed and utilized.

This unique generative art can both be unidentifiable to a person’s identity if the user prefers to remain pseudonymous, or can be identifiable to the figure of the holder like with sportsmen, artists or celebrities.

Over the crypto metaverse, the number of platforms and projects needing to verify their users in some way is growing. The team at PhotoChromic launched their identity validation protocol with the objective of addressing this growing need.

Currently, users need to operate within the decentralized crypto universe easily and safely, and for certain, identity processes designed for traditional finance doesn’t really help.

Notable Achievements so Far

The PhotoChromic team completed a private token sale initially followed by a DEX offering shortly ago (November 15th) of their $PHCR native token obtaining 125x oversubscriptions.

The IDO (Initial DEX Offering) event was successfully organized by CardStarter launchpad to generate awareness and as a decentralized and permissionless crowdfunding process.

With a total supply of 15 billion, their proprietary asset $PHCR is PhotoChromatic’s Identity Bonding Token. From this total supply, 21% was offered in the private initial sale and IDO.

PhotoChromic’s $PHCR digital currency is an ERC-20 token currently running on the native Ethereum blockchain. The token has multiple use cases like governance rights, bonding identities and staking.

PhotoChromic is implementing two kinds of standard Ethereum tokens:

• Identity NFT uniquely tethered to a single personal identity. This Non Fungible Token is ERC-721-compatible.
• $PHCR native token, as the platform’s currency with multichain utility. PhotoChromic’s $PHCR is ERC-20-compatible.

PhotoChromic’s B2B Value Proposition:

For those huge, centralized user-service corporations seeking to enter the Web3 internet, PhotoChromic provides the ability to login ‘via Ethereum’ validated by certain credentials (like age, home address or other KYC information).

The process of identity validation runs automatically and on-chain, freeing the organization from any internal administration and costs related.

At the same time, being PhotoChromic a decentralized solution, these large corporations don’t need to store and safeguard the bulk of a user’s identity information (a logistical nightmare in terms of risk and costs).

How it Works:

As it happens with internet domain names, users will need to renew their enrollment on a yearly basis. The NFT is minted after the user signs up through an IDV and KYC online enrollment to get a username in the format of username.photochromatic.eth.

The enrollment has an upfront fee plus the annual maintenance fee. PhotoChromic also charges a fee when the users need to verify themselves to perform an online transaction.

Next Steps

Currently, the PhotoChromic platform runs on the Ethereum, Polygon (MATIC) and Cardano blockchains, but later will be expanded to Solana and other Layer 2 chains.

PhotoChromic’s NFT (ERC-721-compatible token) is simply a smart contract that links a specific identity with a number of attributes.

The identifier NFT is a single, unique, lifeline address that comprises all the user’s data. The attributes that conform this identifier are assets that contain KYC documents like ID, birth date, address etc, as well as the generative artwork based on the users’ features.

What is PhotoChronic Generative Art?

The main distinctive feature of PhotoChronic is the user’s generative artwork automatically created by algorithms. These algorithms take the passport photo of the individual and other variables as the base to create thoroughly designed, unique, expressive images as output.

The beauty is that the Users control the algorithms by choosing the variables and making personal adjustments based on their aesthetics needs and personal taste.

This creative process can even be shared by the user with its fan base or followers within the PhotoChromic platform.

Nevertheless, the creative achievement is not the actual creation of the image but the definition of the algorithms that better reflect their own personality expressed in the output artwork.

It is a shift of paradigms, technology helped to democratize art reaching the masses, but with personalized algorithms, artwork remains unique and thus with collectible value. The assets artist’s retain as intellectual property are the actual algorithms.

PhotoChromic is Well Placed to Grow

It is a growing concern, enhanced by the civil-rights restrictions experienced after the Covid-19 lockdowns, to keep our identity verification, storage and use completely decentralized.

The PhotoChromic platform permits self-sovereign identity biometrically managed by a unique owner on the blockchain. PhotoChromic then tokenizes these identities into digitally safe, verifiable, programmable, and universally addressable NFTs.

This innovative protocol while deploying onto key blockchains is generating an array of added value features and business opportunities for PhotoChromic themselves but also for third parties detecting the opportunities ahead.

PhotoChromic launched a blockchain-powered solution for self-sovereign identity management. The ultimate goal is to keep the control of the users’ data in the users hands.

To learn more about PhotoChromic, you can visit its website right here!

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