Blockchain + Biometric Authentication
The Korea Financial Investment Association (KOFIA) is planning to have a system that allows investors to trade stocks via smartphones with biometric authentication technology alone, including fingerprint, in cooperation with Samsung Electronics Co.
The KOFIA signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Samsung Electronics on May 11 to combine Chain ID, which is a joint blockchain authentication of financial investment industry, and Samsung Pass. Chain ID is the system that 11 financial investment companies joined in October last year for online stock trading and funds transfer.
After the government announced in March to enact a revised electronics signature law, including the abolition of authorization certificate, a discussion about setting up a platform that can replace the electronic signature for financial transactions has been in progress. With the latest MOU, Samsung Pass users can authenticate their identity through smartphones using biometrics, such as fingerprint and iris, without installing a separate certificate system. The investment banking (IB) industry expects that the MOU will significantly increase the stock trading accessibility of investors via smartphones, keeping pace with the current trend of growing stock trading through smartphones.
“Chain ID, the world’s first blockchain-based joint authentication system that opened last year, is going to develop into a platform that will replace official certificates by combining with biometric authentication technology. We are going to continue digital innovations that financial consumers can feel,” said Department Head Kim Jung-ah of KOFIA’s Management Innovation Headquarters.
Meanwhile, the KOFIA is also planning to provide the Chain ID program for computers by the end of the first half of this year in order to enable users to authenticate their identity without installing additional programs, like Active X. It will also come up with standards for blockchain authentication in collaboration with the Financial Security Institute (FSI).