Bitprime a founding member of Digital Identity NZ

BitPrime, New Zealand’s leading cryptocurrency retailer, recently became a founding member of Digital Identity New Zealand alongside other fintech and identity innovators such as Choice, Sylo, and Callaghan Innovation.

Digital Identity NZ is part of the New Zealand Tech Alliance, a group of independent organisations working to connect, promote and advance the technology industry throughout the country. Members are passionate about the socio-economic benefits that can result from proving identity while maintaining control of your own personal data.

Identity is who a person is, with digital identity referring to how that person is recognised online. It’s used anywhere from online banking, travelling, and enrolling to vote, to signing up for verified accounts with businesses such as BitPrime.

Many Kiwis are familiar with RealMe, a New Zealand Government initiative granting verified users access to over 120 online services using a single login and password. Currently, over 601,000 New Zealander’s (12% of the population) are verified through RealMe.

However, experts have expressed their concerns over one central agency controlling data of this sort.

“The problem with initiatives like RealMe is that they are only useful in their home jurisdiction” says BitPrime CEO, Ross Carter-Brown.

“Business is becoming increasingly globalised and borders are becoming less relevant other than creating entire compliance industries around them.

“The public and businesses need identity verification solutions that can be used internationally, have greater security for user data, speed up on-boarding times, and reduce compliance costs.

“For this to happen, the New Zealand Government and regulators need to work with other governments to develop universal standards for EIV (electronic identity verification),” he says.

A promising decentralised solution comes from SingleSource, another Digital Identity NZ member, who are developing a user-friendly identification app capable of performing KYC checks on identity documents from 190 countries.

“The technology is already here; the problem is that one solution can be compliant with the regulatory framework in one country, but not in others resulting in needless duplication.

“BitPrime is committed to working with regulators towards universal electronic ID verification standards” Carter-Brown says.

About BitPrime:

NZ owned, operated, and a registered financial service provider, BitPrime is the country’s most trusted cryptocurrency retailer. BitPrime differs from traditional exchanges and brokerages as you buy directly from their reserves. For more information, visit https://www.bitprime.co.nz

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