THE KOREA ECONOMIC DAILY, GLOBAL EDITION

To Hopae Inc., a digital identity solution-developing startup native to South Korea, its home market is small.

After successfully accommodating more than 43 million users of the country’s COVID-19 vaccination credential app during the pandemic, it is now setting its sights on bigger markets for digital IDs and their verification in Europe and the US.

“We will build a global digital identity and authentication infrastructure so we can be a company like Visa,” said Shim Jaehoon, founder and chief executive officer of Hopae, in an interview with The Korea Economic Daily last week.

Shim added he is looking forward to the day that digital IDs with a Hopae mark are accepted worldwide as a verifiable credential just Visa or MasterCard are welcomed for card payments.

Hopae, founded in April 2022, develops and offers decentralized identifier (DID) technology-backed digital identity solutions and related infrastructure.

Before its official inception, the Korean startup’s original members, including Shim, developed COOV, Korea’s COVID-19 vaccination certificate app used by 43 million users during the pandemic, through which it proved the potential of DID technology.

“We are the only one in the world to have applied (DID) technology in the real world for such a big group of users. This is still an unmatchable track record,” said Shim.

Credited for the development of the seamless and scalable DID technology, Hopae was invited to the OpenWallet Foundation (OWF) as a founding general member.

Linux Foundation Europe launched the organization in February 2023 to develop open-source software to support interoperability for a wide range of digital wallet use cases, including making payments, providing identity and storing validated credentials proving employment, education, and financial standing status.

OWF members also include Accenture, VISA, American Express Deutsche Telekom, Spruce and more.

IDENTITY GATEWAY WITH DCX

DIDs are cryptographic digital identifiers, enabling individuals and organizations to have more control over their identity and personal data with greater security and privacy because they are not tied to any central authority.

A DID can be stored and transferred across different types of digital infrastructure, including blockchains.

In 2022, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) designated a DID as an official web standard, paving the way for the opening of the DID-backed digital ID market.

Hopae is one of a handful of companies in the world with proven DID technology and related know-how, standing on the front line in a race to lead the fledgling market.

“The market is in its very early stages,” said Shim, adding that Hopae will strive to seize opportunities in the market without a notable leader.

Hopae offers a cloud-based Hopae digital wallet framework (API/SDK).

With its digital wallet software development kit (SDK), its clients can build their unique digital wallets to be compatible with global standards, including eIDAS 2.0, a revision of the European Digital Identity Regulation, which entered into force in May 2024.

Hopae also validates credentials and identity with its gateway API service.

“We are an identity gateway that verifies someone’s identity or credentials upon request from an online service,” said Shim. “We aggregate authentication APIs so we are also referred to as either an aggregator API or an identity aggregator.”

Its proprietary decentralized credential express (DCX) lies at the core of its technology. 

“DCX is developed based on web standard DID but it is more like a Thunderbolt cable. We can make it faster and we can make it perform better,” said Shim. Compared to the blockchain-based standard DID, “our technology is lightweight, seamless and scalable,” he said. 

Hopae currently provides a comprehensive security solution composed of Furo LADS and Furo IAM.

Furo LADS is a login system that protects a system from external threats with real-time monitoring. Furo IAM is a service that verifies users’ digital IDs and securely manages them.

Shim expects the Furo service will play an important role in digital identity systems as an indispensable part of security enhancement.

INTEROPERABILITY

The Hopae CEO is heading to Paris next month and will stay there for a while to unlock opportunities in Europe where digital identity wallets will become a must-have for all citizens, residents and businesses in EU member countries by 2026 under the eIDAS 2.0.

“The (eIDAS 2.0) regulation was enacted in May, and this is a fledgling market. But we have prepared to enter the EU market since November last year,” said Shim.

“While in Paris, I will focus on connecting the dots ... I expect Hopae will be able to present a viable use case using our technology before the end of this year.”

Hopae is currently working with multiple partners at home and abroad to build proofs of concept (POCs) and major use cases, which are descriptions of the ways users interact with systems to accomplish tasks or reach goals.

It mainly focuses on three sectors – Esports, travel and cargo.

In early August, it introduced a gamer pass dubbed Hopae.GG, which streamlines esports players’ registration in game tournaments and authentication processes. This is the world’s first time to apply DID technology to the esports sector.

Hopae is also working with many other companies and organizations in the related fields to develop POCs.

“Our keyword is interoperability. We help people verify themselves wherever and whenever,” said Shim.

The Korean startup is in talks with investors to raise funds in a seed round, which is expected to be completed soon, the CEO said.

He declined to comment on the size of the funding and the names of investors.

With the proceeds, Hopae plans to expand its staff to 30 from the current 13 by the end of this year.

It received undisclosed funds from San Francisco-based early-stage venture fund 500 Global in a pre-seed round in March this year.

Hopae operates offices in Seoul, San Francisco and Paris.

Earlier this year, Hopae was picked as one of 20 Korean startups by Asan Voyager, a program designed to assist Korean startups entering the US by providing acceleration, coaching, community learning and long-term residency support.

Write to Sookyung Seo at skseo@hankyung.com
Jennifer Nicholson-Breen edited this article.