Telegram announced it would launch a new user authentication service, Telegram Passport. The service will allow uploading the documents via its messenger only once and share the data with other services that require identification. Before, the same paperwork had to be uploaded separately for each new service, writes Telegram.
The documents will be encrypted and stored in the Telegram cloud. The messenger itself will not have access, meaning that users will share data directly with the recipient.
Telegram Passport can store documents like passport, driver license, utility bills, bank statements and other. It can also request a user photograph, according to guidelines published for developers who will use the service.
During the private ICO round Telegram Passport was described in investor prospectus as part of the upcoming TON (Telegram Open Network) blockchain platform. It is back then when the company drew $1.7 billion for the development of ecosystem that would offer services and content to be paid with its cryptocurrency, Gram.
Telegram is already offering to try out the new function as part of ePayments.com, a British payment service.
On its registration page ePayments already offers to “sign up with Telegram”. Once pressed a user is redirected to the messenger site, where EpaymentsKYCBot would request access to your personal data. Entering the password, a window pops up asking for your email and personal data.
Kiwi, a Russian payment service, is exploring the possibility of integrating the solution. Yet no definite plans have been laid out. According to company’s rep, as soon as Telegram Passport is approved by Russia’s Central Bank, things will move quicker.
The service could be quite handy in AutoFill option when registering in online stores and buying tickets. Telegram Passport can also come invaluable in the cryptocurrency industry, which for the most part still remains anonymous.