Several leading banks and corporations in Spain are launching a cross-industry development platform called Red Lyra, leveraging blockchain technology to streamline the creation of services that use digital identities.
The concept unites a consortium of providers in financial services, utilities and infrastructure that have agreed to support a shared secure digital identification process to validate basic services and develop applications in compliance with Spain’s legal and regulatory requirements, the nonprofit organization said in a Wednesday press release.
Founding partners for the venture, which will go live this year, include Banco Santander, BBVA, Banco Sabadell, Caja Rural and the mobile payments provider Momopocket, along with Gas Natural Fenosa, the telecom provider MásMóvil and the domestic postal operator Correos, Red Lyra said.
Blockchain distributed ledger technology was originally developed to support bitcoin transactions, and has more recently been adapted as a tool for other financial services.
The Red Lyra network can certify and validate digital identities of individuals and companies, giving a diverse range of users access to relevant data to speed the enrollment of customers for banking and other services, Alex Puig, Red Lyra’s director, said in the release.
Emphasizing neutrality and flexibility, Red Lyra envisions the network as a public resource that will eventually see broad industry participation across Spain, funded by contributions from partners and users, according to Puig.
“All of the partners and users act in ‘coopetition,’ i.e. they cooperate with each other but they also compete, using the network with the assurance that they will never be able to control it without the approval of all participants,” Puig said.
