Earlier this year, ReCheck together with other peers – Lime Chain, Aeternity and The Edge, led by INDUSTRIA, started a journey that will reshape how the Bulgarian business and government share data. It exciting to share that Bulgaria has its first EBSI node up and running.
Becoming part of the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI) is a great opportunity to foster secure delivery of cross-border public services, backed by open-source blockchain technology. Furthermore, EBSI will improve the way citizens, government and businesses exchange sensitive data, making it more affordable and secure.
The Journey So Far
A consortium of five companies attached itself to the EBSI initiative in order to make available all advancements in the underlying technology to all citizens and companies in the Bulgarian e-services community.
Two use cases were selected as initial projects to be deployed:
- Self-Sovereign Identity
SSI allows people to manage their data and also provide governments with validated statements from organisations, such as banks, utility companies, or telecom operators. Citizens will no longer have to physically visit places to collect credentials and verified statements (e.g. to a medical specialist or a municipality office).
- Document Traceability
The Document Traceability use case supports the registration of documents and transactions using digital signatures and evidence in a GDPR-safe way. This service allows users to:
- Register digital documents, verify their authenticity and create historical trails.
- Record and link together digital evidence of files, including their metadata.
- Create time-stamped audit trails for bi-directional exchange of digital footprints with third parties.
A live EBSI Node – what it means for the Bulgarian IT community?
Bulgarian organizations can now actively participate in a EU cross-border initiative that involves state-of-the-art technology, which can accelerate business processes and improve citizen cybersecurity. Bulgarian organizations can benefit from a local presence of an EBSI node and develop their solutions on top of a test environment.
How to use it?
- Efficient and secure way to communicate document authenticity;
- Quick flow for validation of citizens or companies claims such as certifications, attestations and other achievements;
- Great interoperability between e-services used in Bulgaria and services in the EU;
- Accelerated business transactions when it comes to document validation and claim verifications (such as diplomas or other credentials);
Benefits beyond
While the EBSI node in Bulgaria is meant to improve and enhance exchange of data for businesses, it will significantly improve daily operations for the citizens.
Citizens will have a secure way to store and share their digital certifications, digital identity documents within the European Union. Then, documents issued in Bulgaria can be accepted without extra paperwork and efforts in other EU members and vice versa. For example, it will be much easier to verify and confirm foreign diplomas at home and in the European Union.
Privacy By Design as a core principle
EBSI applications are preserving the privacy of people and their personal, sensitive data. All data is shared and verified via strong cryptography method. The traceability of documents use case, through utilising hashed (encrypted) data, protects personal information to the highest level possible.
The citizen’s e-wallet is implemented with and protected by Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) components and principles that give superior security of the digital identity of the wallet holder.
Now that Bulgaria has its first EBSI node up and running, there is onboarding process upcoming, first with the public sector and then for the business and the citizens.
Stay tuned for the new opportunities coming soon!
