More than a million South Koreans have exchanged their plastic driver’s licenses in favor of a blockchain-powered, police-issued smartphone-based digital choice.
As per Daily Kyungjae, the drive provides drivers to classify themselves with police using barcodes or QR codes and the blockchain-powered PASS smartphone app.
The design won permission from the nation’s Ministry of Science and ICT in September last year, but the uptake this year was promoted after a rollout in May.
The nation’s Korea Road Traffic Authority has also taken part in the plan, as have all three of South Korea’s biggest mobile carriers: SK, KT, and LG U+.
The very media outlet announced that the PASS operators are set to extend the blockchain-powered project’s reach, with 27 regional driver’s license test centers last month beginning to renew and reissue driver’s licenses using the paper- and plastic-free alternative. English-language blockchain driver’s licenses have also been rolled out for non-Korean residents.
Transportation authorities will also begin making further use of the ID solution “in the second half of the year.”
While numerous convenience stores and retail chains have begun honoring PASS as a digital proof-of-age, discussions are now ongoing about its use “for identification purposes in financial transactions and mobile communication services.”
Rental car services are also looking into ways to use PASS to check drivers’ eligibility digitally to prevent unlicensed rentals – doing away with existing face-to-face protocols.
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