Decentralized identity project "ION" on Bitcoin is now live, Microsoft project lead: The most secure chain
For us, Bitcoin is a necessary condition for the success of the project. When we started crunching the numbers, we realized that Bitcoin is the only blockchain network where the cost of attack might be prohibitively high - Project Lead Daniel Buchner.
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What is ION?
ION, the Identity Overlay Network created by Microsoft, is one of its projects for decentralized identifiers (DIDs), built as a second-layer solution on the Bitcoin blockchain, independent of any third-party institutions.
The purpose of ION is to identify identities and access online accounts, providing users with a secure alternative to account names and passwords. Daniel Buchner, the project lead, has indicated that for end-users, the experience may be similar to a decentralized version of Google Authenticator.
Deploying a Decentralized Network
Microsoft stated in the announcement of ION v1 that:
Over the past few years, we have realized the security issues and that achieving scalable DIDs is a prerequisite for providing various applications and services, so we started building it in 2019.
ION was launched in June 2020 for testing and relies on node operation, thus increasing its security as participants grow.
According to the information provided by the project, ION is built on an existing protocol called Sidetree, which has involvement from Microsoft, enterprise Ethereum ConsenSys, Bitcoin wallet company Casa, payment service provider BitPay, and cryptocurrency exchange Gemini. IPFS and Cloudflare also assist in this project.
Bitcoin is a system more secure than any blockchain and has withstood the test of time in highly adversarial environments. ION does not require complex smart contract functionality, so when choosing a network, we prioritize network strength, security, and the likelihood of being attacked.