2020: The year in review
By: Seema Khinda Johnson
Tags: Identity, Blockchain, Payments, Fintech, Privacy

Firstly, I hope you’re keeping well and looking forward to the holiday season. This has been a difficult year for many, but I’m pleased to say progress has continued unabated here at Nuggets. In fact, we’ve made some significant strides forward.

We’ve all been working remotely for the past 10 months, with no in-person events since early March. But everyone has adapted well, and the pandemic restrictions haven’t held us back.

Looking back at some of the highlights from the last 12 months, I’m extremely proud of what we’ve been able to achieve — and enormously excited for 2021.

Here’s a quick recap…

Product

Our big product news this year was the iOS and Android releases across Europe in May, and shortly after in Australia. This was a huge step for us: making Nuggets available to any business that wants to protect its customer data. Now, anyone can enjoy the privacy, security and simplicity of Nuggets.

across Europe in May, and shortly after in Australia. This was a huge step for us: making Nuggets available to any business that wants to protect its customer data. Now, anyone can enjoy the privacy, security and simplicity of Nuggets. We also launched our own demo store , which allows businesses to test the platform in a live environment. Any business can download Nuggets and experience the onboarding, log in and payment flows — without sharing or storing their data. It gives potential partners a full overview of exactly how the platform works, and allows them to run through the user experience.

, which allows businesses to test the platform in a live environment. Any business can download Nuggets and experience the onboarding, log in and payment flows — without sharing or storing their data. It gives potential partners a full overview of exactly how the platform works, and allows them to run through the user experience. Our engineering team grew this year — and will again in 2021. As always, there’s been a huge amount of work going on behind the scenes.The team has been hard at work on UI/UX, infrastructure and architecture updates, continually improving the platform’s resilience, robustness and functionality. This puts us in a great position for the exciting things we have lined up for 2021.

this year — and will again in 2021. As always, there’s been a huge amount of work going on behind the scenes.The team has been hard at work on UI/UX, infrastructure and architecture updates, continually improving the platform’s resilience, robustness and functionality. This puts us in a great position for the exciting things we have lined up for 2021. In June we created a liquidity pool for NUG on Uniswap, meaning NUG is now available to swap with any other ERC20 token available on the platform.

Partnerships and memberships

We announced our commercial partnership with LexisNexis Risk Solutions in November, after working with them for some time. This is a big one. LexisNexis is one of the world’s largest protectors of private and confidential data, and one of the biggest risk and fraud companies in the world. And this partnership has huge, positive implications for us. Specifically, we’re working together to deliver self-sovereign digital identity (SSI) solutions for existing and prospective customers. There’s more on this on Alastair’s blog.

in November, after working with them for some time. This is a big one. LexisNexis is one of the world’s largest protectors of private and confidential data, and one of the biggest risk and fraud companies in the world. And this partnership has huge, positive implications for us. Specifically, we’re working together to deliver self-sovereign digital identity (SSI) solutions for existing and prospective customers. There’s more on this on Alastair’s blog. We joined the Open Identity Exchange (OIX) earlier this year, complementing our existing membership of the Decentralized Identity Foundation. Formed in 2010 to address the increasing challenges of building trust in online identity, OIX is uniquely dedicated to ID Trust. As a member, we’re collaborating on thought leadership initiatives and getting involved in sector-specific working groups. Fellow members include companies such as Barclays, Microsoft, LexisNexis and HSBC. We’ll also be able to support pilot projects, working alongside other members. For more on OIX, read my blog from September.

Awards and recognition

We’ve done well on this score in the past, and thought last year would be hard to beat. Little did we know! We don’t celebrate these accolades just to show off — they’re important evidence of the impact we’re making.

Let’s start with the awards:

We were nominated for other awards too:

We were named as one of the 10 Best Payments Startups globally in Efma-Capgemini’s Financial NewTech Challenge 2020

globally in Efma-Capgemini’s Financial NewTech Challenge 2020 We were nominated for ‘Best Enterprise Security Product’ at Computing.co.uk’s Technology Product Awards, and were up for a Financial Services Forum’s Product and Service Innovation Award, in the Security category

There was plenty of high-profile recognition for Nuggets too:

Team

Our sales team grew this year, and we were delighted to welcome Ben Geleit as Director of Partnerships and Alliances. Ben’s been driving all the end-to-end go-to-market activity and commercialisation. We’re now working through a number of great opportunities, and hope to reveal more in the new year.

Events and media

We haven’t been to as many events as previous years — for obvious reasons! But we did manage to get to a few at the start of the year.

I took part in a fireside chat as part of the European Women Payments Network Meetup, held at legal firm Allen and Overy’s offices in London in February.

Meetup, held at legal firm Allen and Overy’s offices in London in February. In January, I was invited by MasterCard to speak at Paris FinTech Forum . I showcased Nuggets during a session entitled ‘Building trust in the future with…Data’.

. I showcased Nuggets during a session entitled ‘Building trust in the future with…Data’. I was also involved in a panel discussion at February’s Women in Identity Meetup, where the discussion focussed on ‘Diversity and Identity’.

Meetup, where the discussion focussed on ‘Diversity and Identity’. Our last event before the lockdown was in March, when Alastair took to the stage at London Blockchain Week — twice! On Day One he was on a panel on Decentralised Finance. Day Two saw him discussing data sovereignty on the Decentralised Data Marketplace panel.

Once again, there’s been a huge amount of media coverage throughout the year. We’ve been in titles like CoinDesk, RetailWeek, Cointelegraph (here and here), TechRadar, The Fintech Times, Ledger Insights and Biometric Update, to name but a few. Visit the Media page on our website for a full list of this year’s coverage.

Alastair continued to publish his influential thought leadership articles on Forbes. This year’s highlights included:

What’s next…

With positive news on vaccines, we’re all hoping for a return to some form of normality in 2021. What that will look like is still uncertain, but we’re more sure than ever of the need for Nuggets.

Millions of people have moved large parts of their lives online this year. And this accelerated switch from physical to digital is unlikely to be reversed.

Unfortunately, if unsurprisingly, this has led to an increase in various types of fraud across sectors like banking, payments and logistics. The need for Nuggets is more pressing than ever. We’re in a fantastic position to help businesses and consumers transact safely online, protect their privacy, and take control of their data.

Nuggets has gained real momentum in 2020, and we’re incredibly excited about 2021. We’ll be enabling more partners and customers, and expanding the team. As consumers’ demand to take back control of their data grows, we’ll be able to offer our platform to new customers in more territories.

Thanks again for your continued support, and here’s to a healthier, happier, and even more successful new year.