What is KILT Protocol (KILT)?

The KILT Protocol is a standard for verifying digital identity in Web3 applications, not only on the Polkadot network, but also on other networks that may interconnect to it.

Une of the projects being built on top of Polkadot (DOT) is the KILT Protocol, a verifiable digital identity system that aims to facilitate our way of interacting with Web3 services. The intention of its creators is to make the KILT Protocol a standard for identity verification in Web3 applications, not just in Polkadot, but also in other networks thanks to the unique capabilities of its protocol. In this way, KILT aims to become the "OAuth for Web3", with OAuth being one of the largest authentication standards currently on the Web.

To do this, the KILT Protocol offers services that facilitate this task, allowing you to manage your identity privately and securely. For example, SocialKYC is an identity verification service built on top of KILT where your data and identity will always be under your control.

Origin of KILT Protocol

KILT Protocol was started by Ingo Rübe, who is the founder of the project and CEO of BOTLabs GmbH, a blockchain consulting company in Berlin, Germany. He founded BOTLabs together with minority shareholder Hubert Burda Media, a publishing company for which he served as CTO from 2012 to 2017. Recognizing the potential of blockchain to address the problems of the current system, where users have lost control over their own data, he set out to create solutions built on top of KILT that could be standardized and implemented by corporations, governments and entrepreneurs around the world.

Ingo served on the Board of Directors of the Drupal Association from 2017 to 2020 and is a founding member of the International Association for Trusted Blockchain Applications (INATBA).

The idea for KILT Protocol was born in the spring of 2018, after an intense period of research and creative exchange. KILT secured a slot on the Kusama parachain in September 2021, then moved to Polkadot in October 2022 to take advantage of the bank-grade security required by companies that will integrate KILT in early 2023.

Project objectives

The goal of the KILT Protocol is simple: to enable the creation, claiming, issuance, submission and verification of digital credentials, using a decentralized blockchain network and technology to protect the privacy of your data and keep you in control of it at all times. This makes KILTa self-sovereign digital identity system with multiple uses.

Most importantly, however, KILT is built to make this whole system work in a simple way, allowing anyone to create their own digital identity, and applications and software to implement this identity system without major technical difficulties. With that goal in mind, the developers of KILT Protocol have designed this system so that it can be used via a JavaScript SDK, making it easy to implement on Web3. In particular, KILT proposes:

• A universal blockchain protocol for individuals, organizations, objects and artificial intelligences to claim arbitrary attributes about themselves and get them attested by trusted entities.
• A trusted marketplace for attesters of such claims, allowing trusted entities to assign prices to their valuable attestation work.
• Mechanisms to put claim holders in control of their data, storing the information in their repository and giving them the ability to choose what information they want to disclose.

What are DIDs?

KILT Protocol is a system for maintaining digital identities. Identity starts with an identifier (like a person’s name), which is what credentials like passports are linked to.

Identity is built by adding more and more credentials to an identifier, like a driver’s license or a university diploma. If you want to build a digital identity you need both an identifier – for people or things – and then you need different types of credentials which are linked to the identifier. Then step by step you produce a digital identity.

This can also be done for machines. The identifier of the device could be a very long number for example. This device can be identified by this number because this number is unique to it. And then, step by step you add more and more credentials to it, like an IOT device that is compatible with a certain standard, for example. Then the device gets an identity. And if the identifier is registered on the blockchain it becomes decentralized, because the blockchain doesn’t store information in any one location; it’s spread across a network of computers.

So Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) uniquely describe an identity (similar to how a fingerprint identifies a person) in a verifiable, decentralized way. A DID can be used for people, machines, services and anything that identities can be built on.

KILT Protocol Use Cases

Historically, trust is something that existed primarily in the physical universe. Personal data is upgraded with credentials (passports, driver’s licenses, educational certificates) that are typically managed and monetized by centralized Web2 institutions and systems.

Building on KILT brings trust to the digital world by creating a framework for self-sovereign online identities. KILT allows users to represent their identity without revealing unnecessary information. And developers can use KILT to create identifiers and credentials for humans, machines, services, IoT use cases, and anything that needs identity. Use cases for KILT Protocol include gaming, health care, media, IoT, academia, energy and sustainability.

KILT is also being implemented by government entities. BOTLabs GmbH, the initial developer of the KILT Protocol, is working with "dena" - the German Ministry of Energy - to develop a decentralized digital ledger. This registry will integrate energy generating and consuming devices, such as energy meters, heat pumps and solar energy systems. BOTLabs is also a member of GAIA-X, a project initiated by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy, to create an infrastructure that is an alternative to the centralized cloud system we currently use. BOTLabs will bring a decentralized approach to identity and access management based on KILT.

Tokenomics of KILT Protocol

For the proper functioning of the KILT Protocol parachain, a tokenomics system has been created that revolves around the KILT token. This token has the objective of protecting the network and encouraging its good use and decentralization. For example, KILT is necessary for the staking system of the network, in which the collators or collators, which is the name given to the KILT Protocol nodes, can start their operation in order to verify all the operations that are carried out. on the parachain.

Because the KILT protocol is built on top of a Polkadot parachain, this project inherits all security and cross-chain development capabilities. Initially, all KILT tokens, regardless of whether they are unvested, vested, or locked, can be used in the governance, voting, and staking processes. That first Token Generation Event (TGE) is divided as follows:

• Initial supply in circulation: 34 million.
• The remaining pre-issued coins will be gradually unlocked over a period of 6 to 60 months.
• Initial inflation will be around 5% per annum, dropping to 1% per annum over 6 years and slowly approaching 0% thereafter.
• KILT moved its entire chain from Kusama to Polkadot in October 2022 and was the first parachain to do so. As a result, there will only be one KILT network and one KILT coin.

Additionally, the KILT tokenomics states that:

• There will be 150 million previously minted KILT coins in the TGE
• 100 million of these coins are earmarked for the community.
• An amount of 4,5 million of these coins is reserved for participants in crowdloan voting.
• Fifty million coins are allocated to BOTLabs with a 60-month linear vesting.
• After the initial issuance, the newly minted tokens will be used to pay the checkers, delegates and the Treasury.
• The rate of newly minted tokens will decrease over time.
• Therefore, the distribution converges to an asymptotic maximum of about 290 million KILT coins (290.560.000).

Project Governance

KILT Protocol is built to maximize decentralization and, in that sense, the protocol seeks to maximize privacy of data and community participation in protocol development decisions. Thus, anyone with KILT tokens in their possession has the ability to participate in the governance of the protocol, through proposals and referendums to enable those proposals within the protocol.

Thus, proposals can be simple, such as the transfer of funds in the case of a Treasury grant, or more complex proposals such as a complete network upgrade. In any case, these changes are made directly on the parachain without the need for a hard fork. As a result, approved changes can be implemented quickly.

Links of interest