One year after the launch of the Polygon L2 protocol in a closed environment, the blockchain presented its decentralized ID solution that?uses zero-knowledge proofs (ZK proofs)

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Polygon, a popular layer-2 scaling protocol for Ethereum, has launched the Polygon ID service that uses cryptographic techniques to verify users’ identities online without having their sensitive information exposed.

Polygon ID was built to “solve the issue of digital trust.” Thus, dApps which integrate the solution can require users to either show their verifiable credentials or generate Zero-Knowledge (ZK) proofs using these credentials without actually disclosing personal information.

Moreover, the newly-introduced ID verification product enables the?creation of elaborated queries, such as proofs of a certain age or citizenship, using Polygon’s unique ZK-Query language.

The public release introduces four new tools to the Polygon ID toolset:

• Verifier SDK – a set of customizable and privacy-based tools that allow any dApp to verify user information based on their credentials both on-chain via a smart contract or off-chain;
• Issuer Node – a self-hosted Node that exposes all the functionalities necessary to issue Verifiable Credentials;
• Wallet SDK – a set of tools for developers to either create their own wallet apps or integrate the functionalities seamlessly with their existing apps;
• Wallet App – ?a privacy-by-default?wallet that helps protect a user’s identity (and other metadata) by using zero-knowledge proofs.

These tools will allow Polygon developers to seamlessly integrate decentralized identity authentication into their applications. Customer credentials can be checked either via smart contracts using zero-knowledge proof cryptography or by?generating a QR code (or deeplink) on the client side to request ZK proof from the user.

Users, in their turn, will be able to produce zero-knowledge proofs using off-chain credentials — e.g. passports, national IDs, driver’s licences or a bachelor’s degree — to interact with smart contracts and verify information on-chain.

Last year, Polygon?partnered with Wirex to?launch a new payment method in India on a mass-market wallet.