Shiba Inu Levels Up Decentralization Efforts With Self-Sovereign Identity Integration Into All Its Apps

The Shiba Inu ecosystem is ramping up its decentralization efforts with a new plan to integrate Self-sovereign Identity (SSI) into all of its platform apps to give users more control over their digital identities and to boost the security of the network further.

Shytoshi Kusama, the pseudonymous lead developer of the Shiba ecosystem, earlier this week informed the Shib Army that the community is now "sprinting toward the next paradigm shift toward a new era," seemingly hinting at the SSI integration initiative.

The planned SSI integration is anticipated to be a crucial component of all the initiatives of the ecosystem, particularly of the highly awaited Layer-2 scalability solution Shibarium, which is expected to officially go live sometime this month.

Shiba Ecosystem and Shibarium Tech Marketing Specialist Lucie said SSI integration "is aimed at enhancing the security of the Shibarium, where "users will have more control over their digital identities" and have the freedom "to manage and share their personal information securely."

The latest development is a part of the Shiba Inu development team's bold attempt to move away from its meme coin image and become a recognized decentralized finance community in the broader blockchain and cryptocurrency industry.

SSI technology uses blockchain and is a new approach to handling digital identities where individuals have the power to control how their personal data and private information are managed, allowing them to totally own their data without the need to depend on other systems that might share sensitive information about them for personal gain.

The decentralized identity verification protocol has the potential to extenuate the many risks surrounding identity theft and data breaches, which are rampant these days.

"As a Shiba team member, I can't stress enough how crucial innovation is in the face of frequent blockchain attacks," Lucie told International Business Times.

"That's why I'm thrilled to see Shibarium integrate Self-sovereign Identity. It enhances security and empowers users to protect their data like never before. A significant step toward a safer blockchain ecosystem," she added.

One of the strong features of SSI is the use of verifiable credentials, which helps bypass traditional identity documents like paper certificates or physical IDs and uses digital credentials issued by trusted entities like governments that can be cryptographically signed to ensure their genuineness or authenticity.

SSI is not only designed to be interoperable that it works across various services and platforms but also portable, which allows users to easily use their digital identity in a wide range of online interactions, all while managing the control over their data.

Jeff Mei, chief operations officer of the digital asset exchange BTSE, told IBT that he found the latest development in the Shiba ecosystem "incredibly inspiring" as the "project that started out as a memecoin is now pushing the boundaries of DeFi innovation. It just goes to show that building really does continue during the bear market."

The executive, however, advised the crypto community that "while SHIB is looking to throw off its mantle as a memecoin, and be taken more seriously as a blockchain innovator," it is crucial to still exercise "caution when trading with speculative assets."

Shiba Inu's announcement seemingly underlined that "the narrative of ownership and self-determination has not lost ground in the recent crypto winter," Mei, who leads the global expansion and strategic operations of BTSE, told IBT. "SSIs are generally implemented to improve privacy online, while simultaneously improving ease of use due to greater interoperability across platforms and systems."

"The developers must be expecting this to be a popular move among the SHIB community," the COO, who has a proven track record of driving growth and development in both the blockchain and traditional finance industries, noted. "It'll be interesting to see how Shiba Inu developers plan to overcome the usually cumbersome onboarding process, which is often a major barrier to adoption for SSIs. And no doubt there will be ongoing compliance discussions should this system scale as widely as planned, given the potential back doors such systems can offer to bad actors."

SHIB was trading at $0.000008292 Thursday afternoon, with a 24-hour trading volume up by 10.39% at $0.000008292, representing a 1.37% increase in the last 24 hours and a 6.36% gain over the past seven days.

SHIB's total circulating supply stands at 589.35 trillion SHIB, with its value up by 1.41% at a 4.89 billion market cap, according to data from CoinMarketCap.