As an analyst with over two decades of experience in the tech industry, I have seen projects take off and crash more times than I can count. However, the sudden discontinuation of IOG’s Atala Prism project for Cardano is particularly intriguing given its ambitious goals for Ethiopia’s educational system.
As a crypto investor, I’ve been closely following the developments at Input Output Global (IOG), the team behind the Cardano blockchain. I was particularly excited about their Atala Prism project, an initiative aimed at revolutionizing educational and identity management systems in Ethiopia. However, recently, news has surfaced from the Midnight Discord community and corroborated by multiple internal sources that the development of this ambitious project has been halted. Unfortunately, there’s been no official statement about this change yet, leaving us all wondering about the reasons behind this decision.
The Atala Prism initiative sought to capitalize on the Cardano blockchain to develop decentralized identity systems. This technology aimed to ensure secure issuance, possession, and administration of digital identities through Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) and Verifiable Credentials (VC). In October 2021, the project garnered significant publicity when IOG forged a partnership with the Ethiopian government to implement a blockchain-driven national system for student and teacher IDs and academic achievement tracking.
The objective of this project was to establish a system that would digitally validate grades, track school performance from a distance, and improve education and job prospects nationwide. Our goal was to develop an unalterable record of students’ academic performance spanning five million students, 3,500 schools, and 750,000 teachers. This record would help us pinpoint underperforming areas and wisely distribute educational resources for optimal results.
IOG Discontinues Cardano’s Atala Prism Project
It appears that recent changes have significantly altered the course of the project, as per a Discord message from user johnny5i. In a online meeting, it was announced that the Atala project has been terminated. According to johny5i’s report, “IOG has effectively ended Hyperledger Identus. The Identus Decentralized Identity (DID) program is now struggling to survive.
Worsening the predicament even more, a significant portion of the Atala team, which includes the entire product division, has been let go. As Johnny5i puts it, “They’ve terminated 25 staff members, including the platform engineers Esteban and Faye, who is responsible for outreach within the channel community.
Although the Atala Prism project has come to an end, IOG (Input Output Global) has announced that a select group from the original team will move on to Input Output Engineering (IOE). Their focus will be on maintaining and advancing the Hyperledger Identus Project. Esteban, a previous engineer at IOG, shared on Discord that while most of the Atala staff, including himself and Fay, have been let go, IOG remains dedicated to carrying forward the work on the Hyperledger Identus Project.
In addition, he clarifies, “Concerning the development of Atala products and Atala business ventures, it’s reasonable to conclude they won’t proceed. […] I likewise want to make clear that any ex-IOG staff member can choose whether they wish to continue involvement with Identus.
Matt K, a previous CTO at Atala under IOG, conveyed an emotional farewell to his team on Discord, looking back on the conclusion of a substantial phase and its effects: “With deep regret, I bid adieu to numerous gifted and committed coworkers […] I am incredibly proud of the groundbreaking, self-sovereign identity solution we managed to create, despite the hurdles.
He expressed, “To those of you on the team who’ll be keeping Identus running at IO, I extend my best wishes for managing this change. Your skills and drive are undeniably capable of steering Identus towards further success.
Significantly, the closure of Atala Prism prompts speculation concerning the prospective direction of Cardano-centric identity solutions in places like Ethiopia. For now, there’s no information regarding the future of the PRISM Sandbox; however, it seems likely that more details will be disclosed eventually. This is according to Esteban’s statement.
11:11 am GMT+2, Charles Hoskinson commented via X: “I’m just reminding everyone that Prism transformed into Hyperledger Identus around 10 months ago. It’s an open-source Apache2 framework designed for identity applications. IO Engineering manages the core team together with community contributions, and projects like Midnight, RealFi, and Lace will leverage this framework for their identity requirements. This is a typical approach in the open-source world, and how Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) should function. Identity should serve to enhance the user experience of other products, not make you the product.
At press time, ADA traded at $0.40.
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2024-10-04 01:42