Breaking the Mold: How Concordium ID Changes the Identity Game

Identity verification is broken, trapped between data grabs and weak checkboxes. Concordium ID is being developed to end the vicious cycle with decentralized protocol-level verification that unites privacy, compliance and trust.

In 2024 alone, over 5.5 billion user accounts were breached, nearly 180 per second. This is a direct result of broken verification systems: Web2’s data-hoarding KYC uploads on the one side, and flimsy, “Yes, I’m over 18” clicks on the other. No matter which way you look at it, neither approach offers meaningful privacy, compliance or credible security to users and businesses alike.    

The newly launched Concordium ID app has the potential to shatter that impasse, and the secret ingredient is zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) identity. ZKPs enable verification that’s cryptographically secure and privacy-preserving, so users can prove attributes like age or eligibility without ever storing or exposing personal data.

Portable ZKP: An Industry First

In the evolving identity landscape, several projects — Polygon ID, Dock, Trinsic,  Lissi Wallet, and even tech giants like Google — are exploring zero-knowledge proof technologies to boost digital identity frameworks. Yet, all of them operate at the application layer and rely on separate ledgers or registries. Concordium changes that dynamic entirely, weaving the identity layer directly into the protocol layer of the blockchain.

And now with the Concordium ID App, three main elements are being brought together that have never before coexisted in a single product. With Concordium ID, identity is embedded at the protocol level, which sets the foundation to enable interoperable ZK proofs in the future that can be used across Web2 and Web3 ecosystems. Plus, a lightweight SDK will make third-party wallet integrations fast and cost-effective.

No other system combines these elements. Zero-knowledge proofs have long been held back by heavy computation, steep developer hurdles, poor interoperability, and few real-world uses. Concordium ID will not only extend the utility of ZKPs, it will make the tech practical, interoperable, and scalable in ways the industry has yet to see.

Practical Paths: Concordium ID Use Cases

While the first release of Concordium ID focuses on wallet integrations, its architecture points to a much bigger horizon. Future rollouts will address real pain points in today’s digital economy, areas where current identity systems fall short and where interoperable, privacy-preserving features can unlock change. Here’s a list of possibilities:

Age Verification for Social Media and Online Services

TikTok and Instagram have been fined for failing to keep minors safe, and in the EU and UK, new legislation is demanding stricter age checks for adult content and online communities. With Verify & Access features, Concordium ID will be able to offer a secure cryptographic path for age checks that satisfies regulators while protecting user privacy.

Payments and Merchant Onboarding

Merchants, fintechs, and payment processors face another catch-22: verify customers to meet KYC / AML obligation without scaring them off with cumbersome onboarding processes. Concordium ID Verify & Pay features will remove these burdens, allowing merchants to accept cryptographically secure proofs of identity instead of raw documents. This will enable age or sanction checks to run silently in the background without disrupting the user journey.

dApps and Regulated DeFi Services

While decentralized finance has exploded in popularity, it has also drawn fire from regulators who argue that it lacks proper safeguards. Current solutions often bolt centralized KYC providers onto decentralized platforms, undermining the ethos of DeFi and alienating users. Concordium ID will create a seamless Verify & Pay flow where users can prove they meet jurisdiction requirements in a lending dApp, for example, and execute a transaction in a single step.

Agentic E-Commerce

Picture an AI travel agent booking flights, a smart appliance ordering its own replacement parts or an autonomous car paying a toll. This all sounds great, but as AI-driven systems begin to negotiate and transact autonomously on behalf of users, the question of trust will become increasingly existential. Existing identity systems, built for humans, are too rigid and revealing for this new world. Concordium ID could potentially fill the gap by offering verifiable proofs that AI agents can exchange autonomously, allowing machine-to-machine commerce to unfold with trust and compliance built in.

From Centralized Flaws to Decentralized Standards

Every use case reinforces Concordium’s broader business strategy to move beyond the centralized, breach-prone identity systems of today toward a decentralized, compliance-ready, privacy-preserving standard for a fast-moving digital economy. Where today’s models hoard sensitive data and expose users to risk, Concordium ID aims to distribute trust through protocol-level identity and interoperable ZKPs, addressing current failures while anticipating tomorrow’s demands.

Breaking the mold, it could very well be that it evolves as the trust backbone of finance and payment systems, bridging Web2, Web3 and everything in between. Coin98, with its 10M+ global user, is already integrating Concordium ID directly into its wallet ecosystem as an early adopter. Upcoming releases will introduce enhanced 2FA recovery, stronger SDK security, drive backups, WalletConnect support, and ZKP powered Verify & Access for privacy-first verification.

Learn more from Concordium ID product experts in this Discord Talk.