MicroStrategy, the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, announced plans to launch a decentralized identity solution on the Bitcoin network, using Ordinal-based inscriptions to store and access information.
MicroStrategy executive chairman Michael Saylor introduced the solution—MicroStrategy Orange—during the company’s Bitcoin For Corporations conference on May 1.
According to Saylor, MicroStrategy Orange is open-source, doesn’t rely on sidechains, and can process up to 10,000 decentralized identifiers in a single Bitcoin transaction.
“[It aims to] deliver trustless, tamper-proof, and long-lived decentralized identities using only the public Bitcoin blockchain as a data source,” according to an unofficial draft document of the solution shared by MicroStrategy on GitHub.
The decentralized identifiers (DIDs) will allow pseudonymity, similar to how real-world identities are not tied to Bitcoin addresses and transactions.
MicroStrategy Orange consists of Orange Service, Orange SDK, and Orange Applications.
Orange Service lets users issue DIDs to their team members and deploy applications, while Orange SDK and Orange Applications provide customization tools for integrating specific services on mobile and desktop platforms.
MicroStrategy has already built an application called “Orange For Outlook,” adding digital signatures to emails so that recipients can confirm the sender’s identity.
The onboarding process requires users to accept an invitation email signed by MicroStrategy’s DID, which generates a unique DID and a public-private key pair for them.
After MicroStrategy inscribes the user’s DID and public key on the Bitcoin network, they can start sending invitations to their team to create their own digital identities.
The firm plans to expand MicroStrategy Orange applications to other messaging platforms, social media networks, and applications in the e-commerce, enterprise, and fintech industries.
In February, during an interview with CNBC, MicroStrategy chairman Michael Saylor announced that the company was rebranding itself as a Bitcoin development company. Saylor stated that this decision was linked to the growing demand for the recently launched Bitcoin ETF.
