Q&A With Kev Silk, Senior Product Manager at Ankr

The tide of centralized id verification is receding. In Web2, it’s typically characterised by customers surrendering their private information to highly effective platforms, blind to the way it’s utilized, secured, or became revenue.

Nonetheless, Web3 is ushering in a brand new paradigm with revolutionary options like Ankr Confirm that not solely empower customers with management over their information but in addition streamline compliance processes for Web3 tasks.

On this unique interview with Kev Silk, Senior Product Supervisor at Ankr, we dove into the intricacies of Ankr Confirm and the way it’s paving the way in which for a safer and user-centric way forward for Web3.

Are you able to inform us about your self and the way your journey with Ankr began?

Reply: I’ve been concerned with blockchain expertise since I stumbled upon the Bitcoin white paper in faculty. The idea of a decentralized forex intrigued me, however it was the underlying expertise that actually resonated. As our world turns into more and more digital, with most transactions occurring on-line, it was clear to me how blockchain might rework crucial industries like finance, actual property and healthcare, but in addition revolutionize the essence of social contracts.

Kev Silk, Senior Product Supervisor at Ankr

My skilled profession started at Gartner. Whereas there, I gained insights into the enterprise advantages of blockchain. Nonetheless, the extra I realized, the extra I desired I needed to transfer past analysis and into constructing throughout the trade. I wished to be a part of the foundational layer of blockchain, working throughout varied chains and contributing to the event of blockchain infrastructure, which introduced me to Ankr. It represented a possibility to transition from the web2 world to the forefront of blockchain innovation.

In case you have been requested to explain Ankr rapidly, what would you say that encapsulates what Ankr does?

Reply: To completely respect Ankr’s position and the worth we deliver to builders, it’s essential to grasp the core want in blockchain improvement for reliable, high-quality endpoints and connections throughout various chains. That is exactly the place Ankr’s experience lies.

As a globally distributed blockchain infrastructure firm, Ankr is devoted to offering builders with an unmatched constructing expertise. Our quick and safe blockchain infrastructure is the muse that permits the creation of superior blockchain purposes.

We stand as one of many largest suppliers of RPC node blockchain infrastructure, with our endpoints serving over 50 million distinctive IPs every month. Our platform helps greater than 45 EVM and non-EVM chains and presents a wide selection of developer instruments, making us a complete useful resource within the blockchain area.

Central to our enterprise mannequin is the ANKR token, which capabilities as the first technique of transaction for our clients. Primarily, Ankr isn’t just a service supplier; we’re a dynamic hub of instruments for builders, enjoying an instrumental position in driving the expansion and evolution of the web3 trade.

Ankr not too long ago introduced the discharge of its latest product, “Ankr Confirm.” Are you able to share extra perception on it?

Reply: Ankr Confirm represents our newest innovation, a blockchain privateness authenticator device that merges conventional web2 KYC protocols with zero-knowledge consumer id verification. Put merely, Ankr Confirm empowers blockchain purposes to determine particular entry insurance policies that customers should fulfill. These insurance policies can vary from fundamental standards like age and citizenship to extra nuanced, tailor-made necessities equivalent to investor {qualifications}, academic standing, particular certifications, and even proof of exercise throughout the chain the applying operates on.

The standout characteristic of Ankr Confirm is its functionality to allow customers to show compliance with these insurance policies with out revealing extraneous private data. For instance, a consumer can affirm they meet a minimal age requirement, say being over 18, with out having to reveal their actual age to the blockchain utility they want to entry. This methodology prioritizes privateness and safety, permitting customers to interact with blockchain purposes whereas retaining management over their private information.

How does Ankr confirm work?

Reply: Ankr Confirm capabilities by two distinct system flows, catering to each blockchain purposes and customers.

For Blockchain purposes:

1. Apps entry the Ankr Confirm dashboard utilizing their pockets.
2. They fill out a kind with important details about themselves, equivalent to title and URL.
3. Apps then set up particular KYC/AML necessities for his or her customers by creating a number of insurance policies.]
4. They specify which insurance policies apply to which blockchain networks.
5. The Ankr Confirm dashboard calculates a periodic price for these companies.
6. Apps fulfil this price periodically by deposits.
7. As soon as this setup is full, apps are able to onboard their customers.

For customers:

• Shoppers start by making a Digital Identification (DID) by Synaps.
• On the Synaps UI, they hyperlink their pockets deal with.
• They enter private data usually required in conventional Web2 KYC protocols, like title, gender, age, and citizenship.
• This course of creates their DID, linked to their pockets deal with, with the digital id’s state saved on a sensible contract managed by Synaps.
• With their DID established, customers can log into the Ankr Confirm dashboard utilizing their pockets deal with, the place they will view all credentials forming their present DID state.
• To show compliance with a particular app or chain coverage, customers submit a “proof request” by way of the Ankr Confirm Server. For instance:
  1. If an utility requires customers to be over 18, customers can submit a proof request verifying their age.
  2. Ankr Confirm Servers then confirm this proof and validate the general public inputs by Synaps’ good contract.
  3. Upon profitable verification and validation, the proof is recorded on IPFS for public verifiability, and the account deal with, coverage ID, and CID of the proof are logged on-chain.
  4. As soon as a pockets deal with has verified a particular coverage for one utility, it doesn’t must repeat this course of for a similar coverage.

What position does digital id and authentication play within the Web3 ecosystem

Reply: Digital id and authentication are foundational Within the Web3 ecosystem. With the fixed use of telephones and laptops for web entry, our world more and more shifts on-line. Within the Web2 setting, each on-line motion contributes to a number of digital profiles. Every platform we work together with compiles its personal set of knowledge factors, leading to every particular person having a number of distinct digital profiles. These are managed and infrequently monetized by the respective platforms, resulting in a fragmented and externally-managed digital id panorama.

A big shortcoming of the present Web2 setting is the way it fragments and externalizes management over these digital profiles. Our information factors, unfold throughout varied platforms, are used and monetized by these entities. This ends in people having a number of digital profiles, every managed and exploited by completely different platforms for revenue.

In distinction, take into account the bodily world, the place every particular person has one id that they personally management and handle. Web3 seeks to reflect this within the digital realm, empowering customers with a consolidated digital id that they absolutely management. This digital id isn’t managed by any specific platform. As an alternative, it belongs to the person, empowering them with full authority over information entry and utilization.

Authentication is essential because it ensures that people can confirm their id and entry companies whereas sustaining management over their private data. Ankr Confirm performs a significant position on this course of. It presents a safe, clear, and tamper-proof methodology for customers to handle their digital identities. Due to this fact, Ankr Confirm not solely enhances consumer privateness and utility safety but in addition empowers customers with full management over their digital identities, reshaping our interplay and administration of our digital presence.

It’s typically mentioned that Web3 mass adoption might not occur except we make the area safer. What’s your opinion on this?

Reply: I might agree that security is essential in Web3, and it’s a time period that encompasses a number of very important areas.

Firstly, there’s the necessity to defend customers from apparent risks like hacks or misleading schemes equivalent to rug pulls. To handle this, we developed Ankr Confirm, a device particularly designed to reinforce consumer security and construct belief within the blockchain setting. It’s crafted to protect customers from these dangers, guaranteeing a safer and extra dependable expertise.

Nonetheless, security in Web3 extends past simply shielding in opposition to exterior threats. A big problem with the present web, Web2, revolves round how firms use and monetize consumer information. Web3 guarantees to vary this dynamic, providing a framework the place customers have management over their private data. However with larger management comes larger accountability. Ankr Confirm steps in right here, easing this accountability whereas preserving consumer management. The product allows customers to adjust to crucial blockchain utility entry necessities with out giving up data that’s not related to the coverage, guaranteeing they don’t must sacrifice private particulars for participation.

One other facet of security is defending blockchain purposes from malicious customers. With Web3 granting extra freedom to customers, it additionally poses challenges for blockchain purposes in defending themselves. Ankr Confirm allows these purposes to determine strong insurance policies which defend them and guarantee solely professional, moral customers are on the platform.

Lastly, the significance of regulatory compliance is paramount. For Web3 to realize broad acceptance, blockchain builders should adjust to authorized necessities like KYC and AML, which fluctuate primarily based on their operational jurisdictions. Ankr Confirm is tailor-made to simplify this compliance course of, aiding blockchain purposes in effectively assembly these regulatory wants. This not solely ensures a safer Web3 ecosystem but in addition fosters a extra compliant and reliable setting for all customers.

For privateness causes, some DeFi customers are inclined to oppose KYC. How does Ankr Confirm the stability between privateness and compliance?

There’ll all the time be DeFi protocols that provide an ungated expertise to buying and selling crypto belongings, so customers will all the time have these choices out there to them. Nonetheless, now customers can have the selection of safer DeFi platforms that confirm all consumer identities to stop rug pulls, hacks, and different vulnerabilities which have separated hundreds of customers from their belongings previously. Decentralized apps can select whether or not they wish to make use of the advantages of consumer authentication for his or her tasks. Ankr Confirm allows these customers who need enhanced safety and security within the DeFi expertise whereas nonetheless reaching the permissionless and personal expertise that’s distinctive to crypto.

May you elaborate on the collaboration with Synaps for KYC processes and the way this partnership enhances Ankr Confirm’s method to consumer privateness and compliance?

Reply: Our collaboration with Synaps is a cornerstone of Ankr Confirm’s dedication to consumer privateness and compliance. Within the absence of a KYC supplier like Synaps, Ankr can be compelled to retailer buyer information immediately. This could contradict our core mission to attenuate the publicity of delicate buyer data and scale back the variety of entities with entry to it.

By partnering with Synaps, and planning to combine extra KYC suppliers sooner or later, we make sure that these specialised, trusted, and controlled entities are the one ones to see, confirm, or maintain consumer information. This method considerably enhances consumer privateness, because the multitude of decentralized apps using Ankr Confirm for buyer id verification won’t ever must immediately entry or retailer customers’ non-public data.

Primarily, our partnership with Synaps and different KYC suppliers implies that solely organizations devoted to and controlled for the safe dealing with of buyer information are chargeable for its storage. This technique not solely aligns with our dedication to safeguarding consumer privateness but in addition ensures strict compliance with information safety rules, offering a safe and reliable setting for each customers and builders throughout the Ankr ecosystem.

How does Ankr Confirm allow customizable coverage enforcement for companies and builders inside its ecosystem?

Reply: Ankr Confirm empowers blockchains and utility builders inside their ecosystems with extremely customizable coverage enforcement capabilities. Leveraging our KYC partnerships, they’ve the liberty to pick particular standards about their clients that should be verified. This will vary from fundamental attributes like age and nationality to extra detailed data equivalent to earnings stage or different verifiable private particulars.

The flexibility of Ankr Confirm lies in its means to adapt to the distinctive necessities of every chain or utility. Blockchains and builders have full autonomy in figuring out the kind and variety of attributes crucial for customers to entry their purposes. This flexibility ensures that every app can tailor its entry necessities to align with its particular wants and regulatory obligations, offering a safe, compliant, and user-friendly setting throughout the Ankr ecosystem.