Blockchain is moving from banking to the refugee crisis to provide a legal form of identification for 1.1 billion people worldwide. The tech tool uses a person's biometric data, such as a fingerprint or iris scan, to unlock the record-keeping blockchain technology and create a legal ID. This will allow refugees to have a personal identity record they can access from an app on a smartphone to receive assistance at border crossings, or to access basic services such as healthcare, according to a press release. The prototype is designed so that personally identifiable information (PII) always exists "off chain," and is not stored in a centralized system. Citizens use their biometric data to access their information, and chose when to share it—preventing the system from being accessed by tyrannical governments that refugees are fleeing from.
