Government-Backed Firm to Launch Blockchain IDs in Luxembourg

A major digital identity firm backed by the government of Luxembourg is building a new platform alongside US startup Cambridge Blockchain.

The initiative, unveiled today, sees the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based startup partnering with LuxTrust – a company formed in 2005 as part of a big push toward digital identity solutions within Luxembourg that began in the early 2000s.

The state of Luxembourg owns two-thirds of LuxTrust, with the remainder held by a consortium of banks and financial institutions that utilize its services.

That firm is now moving to integrate blockchain, setting the stage for at least some of its 500,000-strong subscriber base to utilize the tech in some capacity.

According to Cambridge Blockchain CEO Matthew Commons, the partnership grew out of initial conversations around digital identity, building on what he described as a shared perspective on some of the pain points in offering such services.

"By combining LuxTrust's current certified services such as authentication, signature and document management with our innovative blockchain-based enterprise software, our collaboration will deliver the future of digital identity for Europe and beyond," he said.

The platform developed alongside LuxTrust will be rolled out over the coming months, in what Commons described as a kind of "soft launch". He pointed to data-centric regulations such as the European General Data Protection Regulation – due to come into force in mid-2018 – as a major motivating factor, a factor LuxTrust echoed in statements.

"Working with Cambridge Blockchain allows us to augment the scope of identities, including any attributes, and will enable users to share personal data fully respecting the increasingly stringent European regulatory framework," said Pascal Rogiest, LuxTrust's CEO.

The move comes months after Cambridge Blockchain finished raising $2m in a funding round, drawing support from VC firms Partech Ventures and Digital Currency Group. Commons told CoinDesk that the startup is looking to complete a Series A round later this year.

Disclosure: CoinDesk is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which has an ownership stake in Cambridge Blockchain.