To recover from COVID-19 tourism losses, South Korea has introduced a blockchain-powered digital app for visitors of Jeju Island to ensure safe travels.
Even among South Koreans, Jeju Island is a hot spot for tourism and boasts of approximately 15 million visitors per year.
In order to stimulate the tourism industry during COVID-19 and to ensure safe traveling for all, a decentralized identity (DID) blockchain-fueled digital app was presented by South Korean Blockchain company ICONLOOP Inc. to ensure that COVID-19 contact tracing is secured. The mobile application, dubbed “Zzeung,” will be used to verify visitors’ identities when they arrive on the island. Through a verified credential on the application that will be emitted via a public blockchain network, users’ private information is guaranteed to be secured and safe from tampering.
Through Zzeung mobile app, visitors will be required to set up a personal fingerprint authentication or a PIN code to secure their profile. The information will be stored in a private blockchain network. Each visitor’s logs of visited places and identity-related information will be stored separately on the chain. All information is kept private unless there is confirmation of a COVID-19 case.
Blockchain Is the Future
CEO of ICONLOOP Jonh-hyup Kim, a firm blockchain advocate, thinks that with the adoption of a digital blockchain-fueled app like Zzeung, this may create new ventures for the industry and blockchain may be further adopted after COVID-19 has passed. He said:
“This cooperation with Jeju Island is opening new possibilities for real-life application of blockchain DID authentication in the post-COVID-19 era, As more users directly experience safe and convenient DID service at scale, we will realize many more new ways that blockchain technology can be applied to their daily lives.”
With the issuance of Zzeung mobile app, Korea’s Financial Services Commission has also publicly stood by the “innovative financial service” and advocated for its security and efficiency.
Blockchain Digitizes Driving Licenses
Jeju Island will not be the first to leverage blockchain technology to improve and enhance its public services.
Earlier this year, blockchain-powered driving licenses were made available to the South Korean population, replacing the traditional physical driver’s card. The blockchain-based driving license is reported to have already one million South Korean drivers subscribed to the innovative application. This translates to more than 3% of the entire driving population in South Korea.
With blockchain being increasingly leveraged for its security, transparency, decentralized features, and more, Asian countries are increasingly adopting the distributed ledger technology in their day-to-day business life to offer more efficient transactions.
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