上周我去了趟車輛管理局，流程如你所料：不停地填表，在木凳上苦等。那地方簡直讓你覺得遭遇了技術上的時光倒流，但這可能也不是個大問題——畢竟，只有開車的人才會每過五年造訪這里一次。

麻煩在于，在上飛機或進酒吧等許多其他場合，我們也要用到自己的駕駛證。它是一個有力的證件，告訴世人我們是誰。然而，把守這一身份系統的卻是笨拙的機動車輛管理局，對帶夾子的寫字板有著瘋狂的迷戀。

這就是為何區塊鏈身份認證如此吸引人。理論上，我們很快就可以把個人數據儲存到區塊鏈里了。它使用的生物測定技術可以確保只有那些獲得許可的人才能查閱數據。這意味著將來某一天，我們就不再需要Equifax等征信機構來收集和儲存我們的個人信息了。在身份認證上，埃森哲（Accenture）和微軟（Microsoft）等公司還提出了更加雄心勃勃的設想：利用區塊鏈來幫助難民和世界上的貧困人口獲得公民身份和移民紀錄。最棒的是，區塊鏈的安全特性意味著黑客入侵和盜取身份信息的難度會大大提升。

這些聽起來都很美好，實現起來卻極為復雜。因為可行的區塊鏈身份認證系統不僅需要公司和個人的合作，還需要政府協助。政府依舊掌握著定義我們正式身份的終極權力。不幸的是，我在車輛管理所的經歷表明政府完全不擅長技術。這意味著要實現“身份的自我主權”的夢想，還有很長的路要走。

令人驚訝的是，當下正紅的區塊鏈身份認證初創公司Civic的領袖文尼·林厄姆也同意這一點。在與《財富》（Fortune）的訪談中，林厄姆承認政府和行業可能還要數年時間來敲定區塊鏈身份認證的共同標準。盡管初創公司uPort與瑞士的楚格市簽訂了推行區塊鏈身份認證系統的協議，但他表示這些只是特殊情況，就像在數字化政府領域，愛沙尼亞屬于例外一樣。區塊鏈身份認證要在更大范圍內發展起來，難度會大得多。

林厄姆表示：“我們研究了區塊鏈投票，意識到任何政府都需要相當一段時間才能推行它。至少在接下來兩屆美國總統的領導下，我們不會看到通過區塊鏈進行選舉的形式。”他補充道，利用區塊鏈幫助世界各地窮人的精神值得贊揚，但目前這一想法基本不現實。

林厄姆稱，相反，區塊鏈身份識別系統將會首先在更加平凡的項目上得到采用，例如自動售貨機或網站登錄等。他預測道，在此之后，它會應用于社交媒體和約會網站。與此同時，這一過程的進展也會很緩慢。

林厄姆表示：“老實說這是個苦差。每周我們都會與幾十個用戶簽約。希望能很快變成每周幾百個或幾千個。”他補充道，區塊鏈身份認證項目需要結合每天或者每周都要使用的情境才具有可行性。

本質上說，區塊鏈身份認證不單純是個不切實際的愿景，但在可預見的未來里，駕駛證仍將是我們主要的身份證件之一。（財富中文網）

譯者：嚴匡正?

I went to the DMV last week and the visit unfolded as you’d expect: A lot of filling out paper forms and waiting on wooden benches. The place is a technology time warp and perhaps that’s not a big deal—after all, you only have to go there every 5 years if you want to drive a car.

The trouble is we use our drivers license for many other things, from boarding a plane to entering a bar. Our license is a powerful document that tells the world who we are. And yet, the gatekeeper to this identity system is a goofy motor vehicle agency that has a fetish for clipboards.

That’s why the idea of blockchain for identity is so intriguing. In theory, it will soon be possible to store our personal data on the blockchain, using biometrics to grant access only to those who ask for permission to see it. This could mean a day will come when we no longer need to rely on credit agencies like Equifax to collect and store troves of our personal information. More ambitious visions of identity—backed by the likes of Accenture and Microsoft—envision using blockchain as a way to help refugees and the world’s poor obtain citizenship and immigration records. Best of all, the security features of blockchain could mean hacking and identity theft will become much harder.

All of this sounds wonderful but horribly complicated. That’s because a viable blockchain ID system would entail coordination among not just businesses and individuals, but also governments—which still possess the ultimate authority to define our official identity. Unfortunately, as my trip to DMV underscored, governments are terrible at technology. This means the dream of “self sovereign identity” could be a long way off.

Surprisingly, one person who agrees is Vinny Lingham, who heads the buzzy blockchain ID startup, Civic. In an interview with Fortune, Lingham acknowledged it could take years for government and industry to agree on a common blockchain standard for identity. And while a startup, uPort, has signed up the Swiss city of Zug to implement a blockchain ID system, he says such examples are outlier cases in the same way Estonia is an outlier when it comes to digital government. It will be much harder for blockchain ID to get traction on a larger scale.

“We looked at blockchain voting, and realized it will take any government of a reasonable size years to implement it. We won’t see elections on the blockchain in the U.S. for at least two more cycles,” said Lingham, adding that using blockchain to help the world’s poor is an admirable but mostly out-of-reach idea for now.

Lingham says adoption of blockchain ID systems is instead going to start with more humble projects, such as vending machines and website log-ins. After that it will spread to applications like social media and dating sites, he predicts. In the meantime, though, it’s going to be slow-going.

“It’s a grind to be honest. Every week we’re signing up dozens of users. Hopefully it’ll soon be hundreds or thousands a week,” Lingham said, adding blockchain ID projects need to find daily and weekly use cases to be viable.

The bottom line is blockchain-for-identity is more than a pie-in-the-sky vision but, for the foreseeable future, our driver’s license is going to remain our primary form of ID.