Draft:
The IOTA Foundation is the global not-for-profit foundation behind an ecosystem of open-source digital infrastructure, including its distributed ledger technology (DLT) known as the Tangle, an incentivized staging network called Shimmer, and Assembly, a network for permissionless smart contracts.
The Tangle is an open, feeless and scalable distributed ledger, designed to support frictionless data and value transfer with the goal of being the most reliable DLT infrastructure for Web3 applications and digital economies. As a robust network for exchanging value and data between humans and machines, it is the first distributed ledger built for the Internet of Everything. The Tangle is highly scalable, allowing transactions to be added in parallel unlike blockchain alternatives; it also boasts low resource requirements, as well as zero-fee and fast transactions with finality within seconds. [1]
Therefore, there are some specific features for IOTA:
- Highly scalable: IOTA uses a DAG data structure allowing transactions to be added in parallel, unlike blockchain alternatives.
- Low resource requirements: Designed for devices, such as sensors, to participate in a low-energy network.
- Zero-fee transactions: Send 1 cent, receive 1 cent. Send $1,000,000, receive $1,000,000.
- Fast transactions: IOTA transactions are confirmed within minutes.
- Finality Within Seconds: Honest messages are approved very quickly and efficiently.
- Distributed: A globally distributed network, IOTA is resilient and robust against attacks. [2]
With an IOTA-based login, a random string of characters (such as “did:iota:9rK6DPF46MCEzgfLD8AHFsaTuMqvmRo6kbXfjqQJPJmC”) becomes your Decentralized Identifier (DID). You can prove ownership of your identifier through asymmetric encryption (“something you have”). Conveniently, you don’t have to remember your DID: your Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) wallet manages it for you. Websites can utilize the DID internally to recognize you without having to know a username or email address. They may still request your personal information (such as a display name or an email address) but it is your choice to share this information. It will be the responsibility of the website to prove that they need this information from you and explain what you will get in return.
Login with IOTA
On 9 March 2023, the IOTA Foundation opened a Request for Proposals (RFP) for an IOTA-based login system built on OpenID standards. The RFP invited developers or companies to apply for funding to build out solutions that combine IOTA Identity with the OpenID Foundation standards of OpenID Connect (OIDC) and Self-Issued OpenId Provider (SIOP). Ultimately IOTA chose a proposal by walt.id that covers both Web2 and Web3 solutions. [3]
Web2 login
The IOTA Foundation encourages the development of two separate login systems: OIDC and SIOP. OIDC, which is dubbed the Web2 login system, is what most people use regularly. Buttons such as “Login with X” contact the centrally-hosted identity provider to provide your information to a website. [4]
Web3 Login
The second login system is geared towards web3. Self-Issued OpenID Provider (SIOP) is a standard in development by the OpenID Foundation that will improve the above-described login system with even more privacy. IOTA has dubbed this the Web3 login system and it is very much still under research. This standard allows a similar user experience as the Web2 login, but without the need for a centralized identity provider.
SIOP allows users to directly authenticate peer-to-peer with the website without having to communicate with a centralized component. Afterward, the SSI wallet makes it possible to exchange Verifiable Credentials and provide any additional information that would normally be requested from the identity provider. While this solution is superior in terms of privacy, it also requires integration efforts by the website, probably hindering immediate mass adoption of the technology as of now. To provide solutions in the mid and the long term, the IOTA Foundation is therefore interested in both Web2 and Web3 solutions simultaneously. [4]
References:
[1] Request for Proposals: Login With IOTA: https://files.iota.org/comms/Request_for_Proposals_Login_with_IOTA.pdf
[2] IOTA official webpage: www.iota.org
[3] Login With IOTA is Coming!: https://blog.iota.org/login-with-iota-walt-id/
[4] Creating a Privacy-Preserving Login System: https://blog.iota.org/request-for-proposals-login-with-iota/
[5] IOTA Q4 2023 Progress Report: https://blog.iota.org/q4-2023-progress-report/