Primer

“In layperson’s terms, blockchains can be defined as a public spreadsheet that sequentially records transactions among users operating within a decentralized peer-to-peer network. Every network node stores an up-to date copy of the data and updates automatically diffuse among all nodes.”

International Development Research Centre

“A distributed ledger is essentially an asset database that can be shared across a network of multiple sites, geographies or institutions. All participants within a network can have their own identical copy of the ledger. Any changes to the ledger are reflected in all copies in minutes, or in some cases, seconds.”

United Kingdom Government Chief Scientific Advisor

“Social change is the significant alteration of social structure and cultural patterns through time.”

Oxford Bibliographies

Identity is “an attribute or set of attributes that uniquely describe a subject within a given context.”

“Digital identity is the unique representation of a subject engaged in an online transaction. A digital identity is always unique in the context of a digital service, but does not necessarily need to uniquely identify the subject in all contexts.”

National Institute of Standards and Technology

“Identity and access management (IAM) is the security discipline that enables the right individuals to access the right resources at the right times for the right reasons.”

Gartner

Identities that “evolve out of a single use case, such as voter ID, health records, or bank cards, and have potential for use across sectors.”

World Bank

“Foundational systems…are intended primarily to provide identity as a public good, not to supply a specific service. Foundational systems are typically owned and operated by government institutions, aim for national coverage of their population, and provide credentials that function as an official ID. Foundational ID systems can also underlie multiple functional purposes.”

United States Agency for International Development