Rebuschain

October 28, 2022

NFTID (nifdy): A new take on identity with Rebus

Have you ever thought about your identity and why it came to be? When we’re born, our identity instantly becomes attached to the name given to us by our parents, the family name we were born into, and the country we were born in. This forms the basis of our nationality and often encompasses our entire identity. This is an identity we were given, not one we chose, and one we are expected to seamlessly slide into, regardless of how we feel about it.

With decades of traditional tech experience between us, we were fascinated when we stumbled upon NFT technology. When we started Rebus, we were aware of the potential Web3 had to reshape how we view identity; we just didn’t know how. The ability for NFTs to assign unique value and ownership to an object, image, or asset, meant that it must also be possible for your identity. How about instead of conforming to the identity you were assigned at birth, you curated your own identity based on the ideals that you resonate with the most now?

Introducing NFTID (nifdy), a decentralized identification system to be used worldwide by organizations to recognize its members. To show its potential, we have decided to test it within Rebus by creating a ‘Rebus Nation’ formed of die-hard fans wanting to help push the project forward.

Before we share more details about Rebus nation below, let us describe our vision for NFTID and how it will work from a technical perspective.

The NFTID Vision

On a high level, the first utility of a nifdy is not to replace legal documents but a chance to identify yourself as who you’ve always wanted to be within a community of people who respect that decision. Traditional documents capitalize your name as it represents your legal person but not you as a human being for that reason, NFTID v1 will not fully capitalize names.

To ensure credibility, your nifdy is directly linked to your wallet, meaning if you lose your wallet, you lose your nifdy. This is how we keep it decentralized and entirely yours. Unlike traditional documents, on your nifdy, you can choose to input your real name, date of birth, and nationality or decide to use an entirely fictitious set of details. The information available to others will be down to the NFTID holder and not public knowledge. On top of this, as it is not legal documentation, minors can own a nifdy without their parent’s consent since if they’re smart enough to operate within a DeFi protocol, they deserve their right to a unique identity.

Within the Rebus Nation, the only rule of nifdys will be that you must respect everyone else’s identity decisions and treat them how you would like to be treated. Rebus Nation and the community will not tolerate any level of disrespect.

Looking further down the road, entire communities can base their membership on nifdys, with an unlimited amount available. Any organization will be able to create its own set of nifdys. Still, as mentioned above, only the owner will have full access to their information, with a preview available to the public.

The total utility of nifdys will be realized once entire communities use NFTIDs to represent their members and documents such as loans, contracts, and diplomas are entirely NFTID based. For now, however, building a stronger Rebus community around non-fungible assets is our primary goal.

How Nifdy Works

On a technical level, the nifdy works through two core parts:

ID Storage System

The ID storage system uses a key-value pair logic to store data. Implemented as a custom application on the Rebus blockchain, the ID storage system will handle all information relative to your NFTID. It will use a composite key to store the following info:

Type: There will be different types of nifdy, the first version is just an identification badge, but each organization might create its type. There is no limit to the types of nifdys.
Organization: The organization that created the nifdy type
Address: The wallet address associated with the nifdy

The Value will store basic information about the nifdy, which includes:

ID: Unique identifier for the nifdy. It’s unique within a type and organization.
EncryptioKey: a clientside-generated encryption key unique to the wallet for that user. It is used to encrypt the content of the private files for the nifdy.
MetaDataURL: URL to a file stored in IPFS or other storage systems that holds any additional data needed by the nifdy.

The architecture, even for v1, will be implemented keeping in mind the future features of the NFTID.

Custom User Interface

The second part of the nifdy is a user interface with the logic to generate the NFT and associate the information with the nifdy.

When the user is done inputting the information about the nifdy, the client will generate two images:

Preview Image: A publicly available image stored in IPFS displaying information confirmed by the user.

Private Image: An encrypted image that only the owner of the nifdy can decrypt and view. It holds all the information on the nifdy. It is also stored on IPFS but is not publicly viewable.

Once the images are generated, they will be stored in a MetaData JSON file with the following info:

PreviewImageURL: The URL to the preview image
PrivateImageURL: The URL to the private image

The client application will then store the MetaData URL in the ID storage system.

Each organization that utilizes nifdy will have its custom UI interface to gather information for the nifdys. It requires a web browser to create the nifdy. The client is custom suited to each nifdy type, and the organization that created it is in charge of creating the client. The client doesn’t have to be hosted on the Rebus app, but Rebus will host nifdy clients.

Conclusion

The ultimate goal is to build an even stronger community around Rebus, one dedicated to improving the platform.