Australian start-up Thinking Active is working on the IDentabit, an identity-based bitcoin alternative, to fight anonymity-empowered crimes and to prompt the compliance of cryptocurrency with regulatory framework.

The IDentabit is the product of collaboration between Thinking Actively and the Virginian software company Cryptonomex.

The need for a chain compliant with AML/CTF rises from the increase in regulatory attention to the bitcoin digital currency, as bitcoin is being seen as potential means of committing web crimes anonymously. The inventors of the IDentabit believe that governments are not likely to tolerate anonymous transborder transactions, but they cannot ignore the evolving technology, which makes it reasonable to develop identity-based alternatives to let potential customers choose whether they prefer anonymity or identity.

Being a permission-based ledger, IDentabit does not disclose transactions to public scrutiny. It also addresses theft prevention and enables sustainable funding by means of so-called Proof of Appreciation based on the assessment of favourable market conditions.

Apart from what is supposed to be its main feature, namely the preference for identity, IDentabit is also solving the problem of scalability, which has been seen as one of the most painful for bitcoin digital currency and a way out of which has been only recently suggested by the Ripple's Interledger protocol.

According to the press release, IDentabit is now able to process four times as many transactions as MasterCard, and six times as many as bitcoin network.

“None of us has time to wait for bitcoin's organic crawl to address the issues of speed and compliance,” the press release states.

Maria Rudina