Blockchain a digital ledger of transactions that is duplicated and distributed across the entire network of interlinked computer system
The blockchain market in India is slowly maturing and it has now got the boost of government acceptance also—when Prime Minister Modi launched the blockchain-based digital degrees at the IIT Kanpur convocation last year.
Mr. Pawan Khurana Co-Founder COO, CertOnce.
What is unique about CertOnce?
Certonce is a Blockchain-secured Digital Records Management platform that converts paper-based certifications and documents to tamper-proof and instantly verifiable Digital Records. These records include (but are not limited to) Academic Certificates, Birth Certificates, Employment Certificates, land records etc. that can be shared and authenticated by the third parties through blockchain technology. As the digital certificates are time stamped and immutable, they are globally accepted without any time loss to the client. This helps organisations, businesses, and individuals save considerable time, efforts, and money spent on the manual verification and management of important records.
How do you think blockchain can impact the education sector?
With the entire world witnessing an accelerating digital transformation, it has now become a necessity to ensure trust in all digital transactions and records. Blockchain is essentially a digital ledger of transactions that is duplicated and distributed across the entire network of interlinked computer systems. It has a digital system of recording information that makes it impossible to change, hack, or cheat the system. In the digital age of development blockchain is not only a basic requirement—but an infallible need in most sectors.
If we talk about only the education sector, the first things that come up are the student certificates and degrees. These paper-based degrees have a lifetime value and need to be stored securely for access and sharing whenever required. Not just the educational records, but students’ intellectual properties such as research papers and thesis..
With paper-based documents, there are cases where these documents get lost or destroyed, wherein it becomes a long-drawn process to get them re-issued from universities or the board offices. Blockchain technology in education not only helps the students save the documents securely on blockchain, it also helps the administrators cut down on cost and man-hours spent on managing and verifying these documents manually. Additionally, blockchain-secured records also protect the institutions from reputational damages caused by fake or tampered degrees.
Which are the other sectors where you think Blockchain can make an impact.
The idea behind the technology is to establish trust during digital interactions, and CertOnce does just that! As I mentioned earlier, blockchain is a digital ledger that cannot be messed with easily and thus it has far-flung implications on almost all major industries if rightly leveraged. Apart from educational institutes, Certonce’s technology finds high value in sectors such as corporates, banking, healthcare, government, real estate, insurance, supply chain and others. The technology empowers these sectors with tamper-proof credentials that protect them from losses, frauds, data leaks, and lawsuits.
Similarly, the technology can empower government offices that maintain land records, offer social IDs or driving licences. It is true for hospitals also, where they need to capture and save patient records long term. Blockchain is important for banking systems where frauds can lead to serious breaches and regulatory and compliance certificates are essential for business cases.
Can you talk about how blockchain market in India and trends you think can see in the next 5 years
The blockchain market in India is slowly maturing and it has now got the boost of government acceptance also—when Prime Minister Modi launched the blockchain-based digital degrees at the IIT Kanpur convocation last year. The ‘National Strategy on Blockchain’ as prepared by the Ministry of Information Technology (MeitY) also shows the way forward. Various Government organisations and associated stakeholders are working in harmony to harness the advantage of the blockchain technology in terms of enhanced security, trust, and its ability to ensure tamper-evident transactions.
The MeitY document has projected a roadmap that includes the assessment of the value proposition of blockchain technology, running pilot deployments, and prototypes, evaluating these for specific platforms and in the future, adopting them for other applications and areas and also identified five areas of weakness in the technology – scalability, security, interoperability, data localization, and disposal of records. As planned progress happens in these areas and technology gets adapted, there will be a whole new world of blockchain enabled services that will make India one of the most transparent markets.
The opportunities may not have been fully exploited, but the digital ecosystem and regulatory system is fully aware of the next steps. According to Analytics Insight, 56% of Indian businesses are moving towards blockchain technology, making it a part of their core business. In keeping with the plans, The National Informatics Centre has established a Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Blockchain Technology which operates as a coordinated, interoperable blockchain ecosystem around the nation.
How many markets are you in and what are some recent milestones you’d like to share?
A self-funded venture, CertOnce has presence in 3 continents and 7 countries, including India, US, Vietnam, Malaysia & Singapore.
CertOnce has also been recognized as one of the finalists in the Wells Fargo Innovation challenge 2022, USA – “Designing the Multi-X Future” for its innovative blockchain-secured workforce solutions for corporates to automate the management and verification of important employee records.
What distinguishes your business from the competition?
CertOnce has the unique advantage of being aligned and compliant with W3C Verifiable Credentials standards while also having a unique patent pending process that makes it even more secure. Additionally, our solution operates without accessing the issuer’s database for verification of the issued records/documents, thus offering complete control over the privacy of all stakeholders involved.
CertOnce is distinguished by three key points:
- Technology reinforcement- With MIT Media Labs’ incubated open standards credentialing model, CertOnce boasts of its own tech platform that is independent of influence and undergoes upgradation as and when required.
- Customizability —The platform is such that it can be tailored to the needs of clients from various fields, be it educational institutes, healthcare, or the government. .
- Continuous Evolution—CertOnce understands that technology is not stagnant and it will need a full backup of analysis and adaptation., if it has to survive in the market. Not only it imbibes the requirements of the projects and clients but has a talent pool to keep itself abreast of all tech upgrades happening around the ecosystem.
What does the future look like for blockchain?
As per a report by Digital Asset Exchange Cross Tower and US-India Strategic Par Partnership Forum, blockchain technology, and Web 3.0 innovations will propel the digital asset economy’s value from $5 billion in 2021 to $262 billion over an 11-year period, resulting in a $1.1 trillion contribution to India’s GDP. CertOnce offers solutions ahead of this technology curve by creating a global platform that is already aligned with the global standards and is open and accessible to all. Our mission is to provide solutions for real-world use cases; solutions that can be implemented and scaled efficiently to revolutionise how the industry records and verifies digital interactions.
