Coindesk Logo

German Startup Pitches Decentralized ID for Prescription Pickup During COVID-19

German Startup Pitches Decentralized ID for Prescription Pickup During COVID-19

German Startup Pitches Decentralized ID for Prescription Pickup During COVID-19

Coronavirus drove blockchain startup Spherity to develop a decentralized ID prototype for interacting with healthcare providers and pharmacies.

Coronavirus drove blockchain startup Spherity to develop a decentralized ID prototype for interacting with healthcare providers and pharmacies.

Coronavirus drove blockchain startup Spherity to develop a decentralized ID prototype for interacting with healthcare providers and pharmacies.

AccessTimeIconMar 30, 2020, 3:20 PM
Updated May 15, 2023, 1:29 PM

Presented By Icon

Election 2024 coverage presented by

Stand with crypto

Berlin-based blockchain startup Spherity has developed a decentralized identity prototype that would help people get the medicines they need while maintaining proper social distance.

“We see a big opportunity when it comes to social distancing to get decentralized ID out the door,” said Spherity CEO Carsten Stocker. “Humans interact with smartphones, but governments and doctors' offices interact with legacy infrastructure – so that means we need to bridge the gap.”

The “E-Rezept” prototype relies on self-sovereign identity (SSI), a way of managing the various attributes that comprise digital identity in a decentralized manner. Moving things away from password-based centralized architectures allows the real owners of sensitive personal data to control and share it without compromising their privacy.

Germany passed legislation last summer to help digitize pharmacies. Like many complex engineering transformations that would normally take months or years to complete, the coronavirus pandemic is kick-starting solutions for the coming weeks. 

Spherity was one of some 40,000 participants that applied to take part in the WirVsVirus virtual hackathon organized by the German government. That number was whittled down to 2,000 actual participants, but the coronavirus-focused event still counts as “the biggest hackathon in Germany’s history,” according to German Chancellery Minister Helge Braun.

Stocker said the E-Rezept project was inspired by his mother, who didn’t want to go to an overcrowded doctor’s office just to renew a pharmaceutical prescription. A lack of faith in remote identity verification is the reason patients are required to renew prescriptions in person, he said.

The Spherity prototype requires patients to carry their digital fingerprints in wallets that can be accessed by doctors. Once these know-your-customer (KYC) credentials are matched with their records, an electronic prescription can be issued.

“We are using smartphone wallets, cloud agent infrastructure, in combination with the Ethereum blockchain. But it could also be combined with other SSI solutions such as Hyperledger Indy,” said Stocker.

The next digital step would be connecting the patient’s wallet to an online pharmacy. Given the risks of contagion and the need to reduce traffic on critical infrastructure, urgent social distancing is the spur to push forward e-medicine, Stöcker said.

“There is an opportunity to do a quick fix using existing decentralized identity technology,” he said.

Disclosure

Please note that our privacy policy, terms of use, cookies, and do not sell my personal information have been updated.

CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk has adopted a set of principles aimed at ensuring the integrity, editorial independence and freedom from bias of its publications. CoinDesk is part of the Bullish group, which owns and invests in digital asset businesses and digital assets. CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive Bullish group equity-based compensation. Bullish was incubated by technology investor Block.one.


Learn more about Consensus 2024, CoinDesk's longest-running and most influential event that brings together all sides of crypto, blockchain and Web3. Head to consensus.coindesk.com to register and buy your pass now.