Cryptocurrency: PERSONA : your own digital self

Persona represents the solution for identity management, aligned with the latest data protection regulations. Its scope is to empower the individual and grant them the control over their personal data as well as the means to secure access to their private details.

The main goals of Persona are:

To leverage on identity management services for the individual based on what the blockchain technology can offer
To protect individuals personal details. While it is obvious that individuals need to provide their details to various entities(Facebook, Google or any website they visit), they have no control over it after sharing. Persona puts individuals back in the driver seat
To empower each person and to give them the power on what it shares and with whom when it comes about their identity and private details
To allow entrusted third parties which with private details to enrich their services by offering trust as a service
To prevent fake news, by providing a decentralized identity management system, Persona will provide the trust level we all need when we rely on news; based on the public Persona profile of any content creator, we can track down news to their source
To streamline onboarding process since an individual might be already checked by some entity enrolled in the system

SOLUTION

Overview

Persona is designed as a decentralized application with no single point of failure, keeping all records encrypted. The individuals have the control over the granularity of the details they want to share, with whom they are sharing it and for how long. With the launch of Bitcoin in late 2009, Satoshi Nakamoto offered a glimpse of the underlying technology that powers its decentralized network, the blockchain.

The main strong points which the blockchain technology offers are :

Replace the middleman: There is no need anymore of a trustful side, one that can be and is trusted by both sides involved in a transaction
Decentralization: there is no single point of failure, while attacking the network is virtually impossible
Immutability: a record written on the blockchain is there forever, unalterable

Persona leverages the blockchain features, allowing a company to offer KYC services to third party as well as benefiting from each other’s services. The verification process has two levels: Community and Professional KYC.

Persona KYC Types

The first level is represented by the community where the identity is checked by peers. It represents a common effort, where people are encouraged to validate each other’s identity. They will have to confirm the authenticity of documents and identity of the people applying to be checked.

The people who offer verification services will be displayed on the Persona website. They will be rewarded for the verification services by receiving PRS. The threshold for verifications is illustrated below.

Security and Data Safeguarding

Given the fact that there are two components of the product, layered on top of each other, Persona is safe to use.When registering with a provider, the physical presence of the individual is a prerequisite in order to share their data with the company.

Persona is composed of three segments:

- The blockchain which holds the transaction data and IPFS for storage

- A web app and dashboard for the individual to use

- A mobile app which helps data management

The mobile application’s security is based upon:

- PIN-based login

- Optional fingerprint scan

The Web application’s security:

- 2FA Authentication

Once the user creates his identity, the data stored is secured by the cryptographic algorithms of the blockchain. There are numerous reasons why blockchain is more secure than a centralized application: lack of a single-point of failure, no-prone to human errors or data stealing, etc.

Technology and Architecture

Blockchain Design

According to the UK Government, the distributed ledger technology is already having a profound impact on how private companies manage data and interact with customers and suppliers. If applied within government it could reduce costs, increase transparency, improve citizens’ financial inclusion and promote innovation and economic growth.

The Persona Blockchain represents a DPoS system with 51 delegates which makes use of the Ark technology (Persona is a fork of ARK, following ARK’s vision of point.click.blockchain approach). The number of delegates has been set to 51 in order to support the estimated number of nodes and transactions for the first year.

If the number of Pesona users will increase to a value greater than 1,000,000, an update proposal will be published and discussed in the community so the number of delegates can be increased. This approach is taken in order to ensure the necessary scalability for Persona. Based on the technical description of the ARK blockchain is as follows:

DPoS (Delegated Proof of Stake):

- 51 active forging Delegates

- Delegates selected by vote mechanism built into DPoS

100 Million PRS - Seeded Genesis Block
Multi-signature accounts

The block reward and inflation graph are illustrated below :

Token Design

The PRS token is an utility token that is used by the platform in order to issue verifications. For each verification PRS tokens are used. The tokens circulate in the environment and they will be forged through a DPoS system with 51 delegates, similar to Ark.

When verifications take place and the initiator is a private partner, they will pay PRS tokens for the verification. The verification price will differ based on the complexity of the verification.

Business Plan

TGE Timeline and Token Allocation

The Token Sale for Persona will take place following the phases illustrated below:

The seeded number of tokens will be 100,000,000. The price for one PRS token during the TGE is $0.2. The total allocation is:

70,000,000 PRS allocated for the TGE
15,000,000 PRS allocated for the team composed of the co-founders. The tokens allocated to the team will be vested over a three-year period, split into yearly payments as following:

- 10% at Genesis;

- 30% after 12 months;

- 30% after 24 months;

- 30% after 36 months;

12,000,000 PRS allocated for the Persona Startup Fund;
1,000,000 PRS allocated for the advisors. The tokens allocated for the advisors will be vested over a period of 6 months;
1,500,000 PRS allocated to the bounty.
500,000 PRS allocated for the escrow services (performed by Ark)

There are 70,000,000 PRS allocated to the TGE, split into one Private Sale and a three-phase Public Sale, as explained below: