Telegram Reveals Personal ID Verification Tool for Sharing Data with ‘Finance, ICOs’

The crypto and blockchain industry’s go-to encrypted messenger app Telegram has released a personal identification authorization tool, according to an official statement published July 26.

The tool, dubbed Telegram Passport, reportedly encrypts a user’s personal ID information and let’s users securely share their ID data with third parties, which the Telegram post elaborates on as “finance, ICOs, etc.”

According to the post, users’ ID data will currently be stored on the Telegram cloud, but “In the future, all Telegram Passport data will move to a decentralized cloud.”

The new tool is currently integrated with digital payment operator ePayments, which Telegram refers to in their post as the “first electronic payments system to support registration and verification” via the new tool. EPayments confirmed the integration on its Telegram channel, noting that “verification can be achieved in just a few clicks.”

Recently, CEO and founder of Telegram Pavel Durov was featured in Fortune’s “40 Under 40” annual rankings as one of the most prominent disruptors of global business. Before creating Telegram, Durov founded social media website VK.com.

This March, Telegram completed two $850 million closed funding rounds via the sale of the platform’s pending cryptocurrency TON, bringing its total funding to $1.7 billion. In late May Telegram’s plans to launch a public ICO were been reportedly disrupted due to the fact that the company had raised enough money via the two private ICO rounds.

Launched in 2011, ePayments says it provides payment services to more than 500,000 freelance customers and 1,000 companies worldwide. The London-based digital payment service supports transactions in cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Litecoin (LTC) and others.

This week Tokyo-headquartered tech conglomerate Hitachi and telecoms giant KDDI announced the trial of a retail coupon settlement system using blockchain technology to authenticate biometric data.