What are the highlights of the decentralized identity system "Spruce," led by a16z with a $34 million investment?

Author: Shiwen, Odaily Planet Daily

Digital identity is the digital information that represents an individual's identity when participating in online activities, serving as the gateway between the real world and the online world. Strictly speaking, it is a type of digital signature technology used to confirm the identities of two or more parties exchanging data on the internet. It is specifically manifested in email addresses, usernames, phone numbers, etc. These digital identities, composed of numbers and symbols, record all your behaviors and statuses on the internet.

With the emergence of technologies like big data, the collection and construction of personal digital identities have become more convenient than ever. Almost all digital identities can be linked through devices, social applications, and services. However, we cannot exercise rights such as the right to refuse, the right to query, the right to correct, the right to obtain, and the right to delete our identity information; these rights are held by network operators and service providers who have the ability to store, process, and transmit information. They can utilize our digital identity data to enhance and optimize their service levels and earn substantial profits. Moreover, digital identity has gradually become a major source of personal information leakage and misuse, severely affecting people's social, financial, and daily lives.

In light of this, decentralized digital identity services like Spruce are emerging and developing, providing a new perspective on the future direction of digital identity.

Spruce is an open-source, decentralized digital identity company that allows users to control their own data online. Through its two products, SpruceID and Kepler, Spruce offers developers an open-source tool ecosystem that enables users to collect their data on their controllable open-source platform.

Recently, Spruce announced the completion of a $34 million Series A funding round, led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), with participation from Ethereal Ventures, Electric Capital, Y Combinator, Okta Ventures, SCB 10X, Robot Ventures, OrangeDAO, A.Capital Ventures, Third Kind Venture Capital, Protocol Labs, Gemini Frontier Fund, SV Angel, and others.

Cross-Platform Identity and Data Management

Spruce believes that a person only needs their keys to access different services and accounts online, as well as any data generated through these services, without having to create separate accounts for each service and sign ownership. To achieve this, it is necessary to ensure cross-platform identity management and data storage. Spruce accomplishes this by providing two main products— the decentralized identity toolkit SpruceID and the self-storage product Kepler.

SpruceID

SpruceID is an open-source tool ecosystem that enables user-controlled identity anywhere, containing four toolkits for building cross-chain identities.

DIDKit: DIDKit is a cross-platform toolkit that provides cross-chain decentralized identity and data processing capabilities, including EVM-based chains, Solana, and more.

Rebase: Rebase is a reusable authentication across social media, DNS, etc., allowing users to understand associated accounts by showcasing new information from accounts they publicly control on other networks, thereby creating portable verification profiles. Currently, it includes workflows for Twitter, GitHub, Discord, DNS, and more.

Keylink: Keylink is a tool that links existing system accounts to cryptographic key pairs, ranging from cryptographic keys to API credentials, which can be used to gradually guide public key infrastructure (PKI) in existing complex IT systems.

Credible: Credible is a white-label credential wallet that supports W3C verifiable credentials and decentralized identifiers built on DIDKit and Flutter.

Kepler

Kepler is a decentralized storage system that uses smart contracts to define where your data is stored and who can access it. It achieves top-down user control of the entire system through technology, along with confidentiality options.

Through these two products, Spruce is able to build a secure, private, and highly portable set of identity data credentials that everyone can access; no matter where you go, you can carry it with you and control it throughout the usage process.

Integration of "Ethereum Login" Feature

Spruce was selected last September to collaborate with the Ethereum Foundation and ENS to develop the Ethereum login feature. Compared to traditional closed development identity logins, Ethereum login is a completely open authentication standard and a new form of authentication. It allows users to control their digital identity using their Ethereum accounts and ENS profiles, rather than handing their identity data over to centralized identity providers like Google, Facebook, or Amazon.

Spruce has developed the first authentication plugin—using Ethereum login for Discourse. Discourse is an open-source discussion platform with a self-learning system and a full web application, suitable for both desktop and mobile, and has become a major communication tool in Web3, supporting L1 networks, protocols, and DAOs. This authentication plugin supports any official version of self-hosted Discourse forums, allowing users to authenticate using their Ethereum accounts. When registering with an Ethereum account, the username and avatar of the Discourse account default to the ENS name and avatar.

The entire Spruce team's philosophy is highly decentralized, aiming to build decentralized identity and Ethereum login to bridge the gap between the decentralized internet and Web2, achieving a world where all users can truly control their identity and data.