Onename, the startup that has been working for a while on creating a blockchain based digital identification for every internet user has decided to switch the engine that has been powering it so far. The company has been using NameCoin blockchain for its operations until now. But the emergence of fact that NameCoin is not decentralized as thought before has got Onename switching from NameCoin blockchain to bitcoin blockchain.
The new development was announced by Onename’s co-founder, Muneeb Ali while speaking at the Blockstack Summit 2015. According to Muneeb Ali, a majority of NameCoin’s hashing power, say somewhere around 60% to 70% of it is under the control of Discus Fish. Discus Fish is one of the largest mining pool, located in China. The mining pool also has a large stake in bitcoin mining as they control close to 25% of the total hashing power available on bitcoin network as well.
Muneeb Ali took pains to explain in detail the reason behind company’s decision to move the whole project to a different blockchain during his keynote presentation. Onename calls itself the decentralized identity protocol that plans to disrupt the way existing online authentication process works. Started by Muneeb Ali and Ryan Shea, the project has already received seed investment last year from Barry Silbert of Bitcoin Opportunity Fund and SecondMarket fame along with the co-founder of AngelList Naval Ravikant and SV Angel, a San Francisco based angel investment firm. Even Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures is one of the investors in Onename.
Earlier in May, Onename launched a new product called Passcard. Passcard is conceptualized as a digital key associated with the user’s identity which can be used as a replacement for current authentication protocols on the internet.
Onename’s move from NameCoin to Bitcoin also addresses the security concerns some people have with respect to NameCoin’s blockchain protocol.