THE GLOBAL IDENTITY CRISIS AND DATA PROTECTION WITH BRUCE SILCOFF
By: Shannon Grinnell
Tags: United Nations, Blockchain Technology, Data Privacy, Blockchain, Identity Management

Bruce Silcoff on the Speaking of Crypto podcast

“We’re working with Bermuda right now to put the whole country onto eIDs or digital IDs so one of the first steps would be to do that. The second step will be to make it useful within Bermuda across business and government. And the next step is to enable Bermuda residents to take that ID and use it globally. That’s interoperability.”

SoC podcast 025. The Global Identity Crisis and Data Protection with Bruce Silcoff

Bruce Silcoff, CEO of Shyft Network

I talk to Bruce Silcoff at Shyft Network https://www.shyft.network/ about the global identity epidemic. He explains that there are over 1.1 billion people in the world with no official identification, which is a huge problem that is hard for those of us in developed countries to maybe fully understand. It means they have no right to own property, they have no way of being allowed to vote, they can’t access services like healthcare or schooling.

Shyft is hoping to do play a role in remedying this global issue by working with the United Nations on two of their initiatives: ID2020 https://id2020.org/ and Blockchain for Impact https://blockchaincommission.org/.

Also, where digital identity is concerned, in Bermuda, Shyft Network is working to make credible national digital identification a reality and then to continue to break new ground by making that digital identity accessible, usable, and interoperable across international borders.

And Bruce, with his entrepreneurial background and valuable experience during the dot com era shares what makes the blockchain revolution so different.

“Everywhere I go, no matter who I sit beside, whether it’s in a restaurant or whether it’s on an airplane, as soon as the word blockchain comes out, as soon as I open up my laptop and people see stickers on the top of it, people want to have a conversation.”

He talks about blockchain being a truly global movement on a huge scale and that the pace is way faster than the dot com boom was.

And he shares what it is that’s really key to building a successful company. And although he breaks it down into simple terms, I get the feeling that it’s experience that makes biggest difference and knowing just how to do what he suggest, which comes down to communication, having the right team, and collaboration with other companies.

We talk about data being an asset and a valuable one, and how companies need to validate not only someone’s ID but also information about what the risks are in doing business with them. Shyft Network is able to take KYC and AML data and make it useful by attaching a credibility layer to it.

We talk about the risks associated with centralized data, like centralized wealth, and how decentralization is a necessity when it comes to security.

And Bruce tells a really great story of how he got into blockchain. And the spoiler is that it has to do with Joseph Weinberg and that Bruce was impressed by his passion, vision and honesty and the rest I’ll leave for the podcast.

For more info about Shyft Network or to reach out to Bruce directly:

https://www.shyft.network/

bruce@shyft.network

Telegram group: https://t.me/joinchat/HhrB_hKGQDQKU7mhpzor_g