As I spend more and more time on-chain, I have been thinking deeply about my on-chain identity. I grew up during the birth and surge of social media (MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, etc.), and I spent a lot of time online without a care or thought about what my online presence represented. Now, as I embed myself in the communities and organizations in the blockchain space that resonate with my interests, values, and goals, I wonder how my reputation is represented on-chain. The questions I keep asking myself are: Based on my on-chain activity, who am I? What are my core values? What are my goals? Am I being conscious of whom and what I support in my digital life? Do my actions align with how I see myself, the values I follow, or the goals I have for myself?
Let's start with the basics: What is an on-chain identity? I define my on-chain identity as the digital representation of myself on the blockchain. Blockchain technology allows me to have a digitized, sovereign identity without relying on a single identity provider. Because my identity is on-chain, I have a unique profile that is immutable and permanent. As an example, I own both sambino.eth and sambino.sol as registered domains to my blockchain wallets. I use these domains to organize and participate in on-chain activities and protocols; they act as my on-chain identification.
There are several benefits to having an on-chain identity. Control, I have total, censorship-proof control over my identity. Portability, I can carry my identity across various platforms, protocols, and ideally various blockchains. Security, my decentralized identity is protected by a private key through my blockchain wallet. Convenience, a single digital identity simplifies using different chains and wallets, meaning I don't have to manage various profiles and accounts. Additionally, there are tons of use cases yet to be implemented, such as work history, experiences, and digital reputation.
But, why is this important? Ultimately, I am a user of blockchain technology. I want to be more conscious of my digital activity, and I want that activity to reflect who I am. I also want complete control of my identity. As blockchain adoption expands, on-chain reputation, in my opinion, will truly differentiate sovereign users as experienced, trustworthy participants from bad, unreliable actors.
Sweet, so what is next? Well, that is what we will explore here. I am using this inaugural post as the start of my personal on-chain summer challenge with the long-term goal of transitioning a majority of my digital life on-chain.
