Georgia: First country to track, verify educational credentials via blockchain

Be it fashion, education, food and health, medical or even government elections for that matter, blockchain has proven its efficiency across various sectors.

The latest news in the DLT sector is that Georgia has become the first-ever country to promote the use of third generation Cardano-backed blockchain technology for storing, tracking and verifying educational credentials by leveraging blockchain technology in public services, according to a recent report.

Blockchain research and development firm IOHK, spearheaded by Charles Hoskinson is helping Georgia build a next-generation credential verification system in the education field. 

A representative of IOHK in Georgia, George Shekriladze, noting that this academic credential verification service would bring legitimacy and convenience to the education and human resources industry, stated,

“Today we use centralised data systems. What does that mean? Any digital data is stored in any specific server, or cloud, or someone’s computer …. Different from this, blockchain (which is also called DLT ‘distributed ledger technology’) enables us to save data not only in one localised place but in several places.”

This project will enable Georgian universities and schools to store, authenticate grades, credentials or certificates via blockchain technology. In fact, future employers can verify the academic credentials of an individual through the platform, without having to go through the existing lengthy, expensive and manual processes.

IOHK, Georgian Ministry of Education, the Free University and the Business and Technology University of Tbilisi had already signed a memorandum of understanding in June 2019 and this project was slated to be completed by June 2020. Interestingly, IOHK also recently established a research center at the University of Wyoming. The new laboratory was announced after the firm made a $500,000 donation in ADA cryptocurrency.