Focused on improving governance, OriginalMy participated in ITU’s Focus Group on Applications of Distributed Ledger Technology.
The International Communications Union (ITU), a specialized UN agency for information and communication technologies, is holding the 6th meeting of the Focus Group from April 1st to 4th in Madrid, Spain. OriginalMy, a blockchain startup from Estonia, was selected as a relevant use case for social impact, and its CEO, Edilson Osório, presented the company to the Focus Group on the afternoon of the second day.
Osório highlighted the many achievements of the startup, which was founded in 2015 and has been consistently delivering concrete products since. Among them are the first blockchain-based election in Brazil, in which the new board of the Brazilian Association of Fintechs was chosen, and the register on blockchain of the first births and marriages in the country – including the first same-sex union.
OriginalMy has been heavily involved in public life in Brazil. In 2018, a plugin developed by the startup to fight fake news was widely used during the presidential elections. In the same context, a candidate used the platform to register his government plan, harnessing the immutability and transparency of blockchain. Finally, in 2019, a Court of Appeals decided that evidence collected using the technology is valid and binding, being able to provide proof-of-authenticity of web contents.
Being selected by the United Nations then serves as yet another confirmation that the startup is using blockchain technology to solve real-world problems. As Osório explained:
The impact of this selection to OriginalMy’s current and future activities is clear: having the UN recognition as a real use case of blockchain technology that causes positive social impact and changes people’s lives for the better, opens many doors for us. That is especially true because we are part of an industry in which credibility and trust are absolutely essential.
OriginalMy was also featured in another case presented at the Focus Group, the Mudamos project. Through the app, which uses the ID and signature mechanisms developed by the Estonian startup, Brazilian citizens can sign public petitions and initiatives. By the Brazilian Constitution, if a project of law is signed by more than 1% of the electorate, it must be voted by the legislative. Hundreds of thousands of signatures have already been collected in such a manner, with two laws having been proposed.