A global leader in blockchain credentials and NFTs, CertOnce has empowered institutions worldwide with innovative, instantly verifiable blockchain-based records that save effort and resources. Founded in 2019, the Digital Records Management platform aims to disrupt the $34 Bn Market of Valuable Records Issuance and Verifivation while working with educational institutes, government offices and businesses. These Digital records are time-stamped, tamper-proof, instantly and independently verifiable by anyone instantly, independent of the issuer. It has received the seal of Global Standards issued by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and aims to evolve organically with the requirements of businesses. Hello Entrepreneurs had a deep talk with Mr Pawan Khurana, Co-Founder and COO, who tell us about CertOnce in detail.
Q. What was the vision behind starting this venture?
The idea behind CertOnce came to Rajesh Ranjan through a personal experience when he was applying for higher studies at a university in the United States, requiring him to submit a verified copy of his graduation degree. This made him reach out to his friend’s father, who was based out of India, who then had to go through numerous processes and authentications for 6 weeks to procure Rajesh’s degree and mail it to him. This got him thinking about devising a simpler method for issuing and verifying such essential documents. The breakthrough came when MIT, Boston announced in 2017 that they would award blockchain-secured degrees to their students to simplify the entire process for all the parties, including the institutions, students, and future universities and employers. He also realised that not just education but blockchain-secured credentials could help solve many problems for the healthcare, corporate, and government sectors, including land records, financial records, employee records etc.
CertOnce has been developed with the belief that as the world goes digital, traditional methods should not hinder the timely and accurate verification of records. Thus, it offers automated one-click verification using the immutable time-stamped blockchain technology, interoperability, one-way deterministic encryption and identity-locking technology.
The Digital Records Management platform provides options to store the paperwork on digital platforms as PDF empowered with a Verification Link and as printed certificate enabled with QR Code.
Q. What makes CertOnce stand out from its competitors?
Certonce is unique, given its tamper-proof character and instant nature. As digital records are time-stamped and immutable, they have globally accepted without any time or resource loss to the client. Three key points distinguish it:
a) Technology reinforcement-With a patent-pending open standards credentialing model, CertOnce boasts of its self-verifying credentials platform that is independent of influence and undergoes upgradation as and when required.
b) Capacity to adapt to client requirements—The platform is such that it can adapt to the business and process requirements of clients from various fields, be it an educational institute or the government, and also restructure the model of expenditure according to the project.
c) Continuous Evolution—CertOnce understands that technology is not stagnant and will need a full backup of analysis and adaptation if it has to survive in the market. Not only does it imbibe the requirements of the projects and the clients but has a talent pool to keep itself abreast of all technological advancements happening around the ecosystem.
Q. In a concise time, CertOnce has come a long way; what do you think works for your brainchild?
CertOnce has been able to carve out a niche for itself because it doggedly focused on solving real-world use cases through blockchain technology. Blockchain is a digital ledger that cannot be messed with or tampered with, and thus it has far-flung implications if rightly leveraged.
It gives any organisation the ability to put myriad digital documents on the blockchain, helping reduce forgery, making it instantly verifiable, and installing trust and transparency in the system on a real-time basis. CertOnce has the dynamic applicability to put documents like degrees, transcripts, training certificates, land records, birth certificates and more into easily verifiable formats, helping reduce overhead costs and empowering the clients by having true ownership of their documentation for a lifetime.
Q. Tell us about the Indian blockchain market and potential developments over the upcoming five years?
According to Analytics Insight, 56% of Indian businesses are moving towards blockchain technology, making it a part of their core business. In keeping with the plans, the National Informatics Centre has established a Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Blockchain Technology, which operates as a coordinated, interoperable blockchain ecosystem around the nation.
The blockchain market in India is slowly maturing, and it had now boosted government acceptance as well—when Prime Minister Modi launched the blockchain based digital degrees at the IIT Kanpur convocation last year. The ‘National Strategy on Blockchain’ prepared by the Ministry of Information Technology (MeitY) also shows the way forward. Various Government organisations and associated stakeholders are working harmoniously to harness the advantage of blockchain technology in terms of enhanced security, trust, and its ability to ensure tamper-evident transactions.
MeitY has projected a roadmap that includes the assessment of the value proposition of blockchain technology, running pilot deployments and prototypes, evaluating these for specific platforms and, in the future, adopting them for other applications and areas. As planned progress happens in these areas and technology gets adapted, a whole new world of blockchain-enabled services will make India one of the most credible and transparent markets. The opportunities may not have been fully exploited, but the digital ecosystem and regulatory system is fully aware of the next steps.
Q. Where do you envision CertOnce in the next few years?
CertOnce is already present in 3 continents and 6 countries, including India and the US, and is poised to take off across the geographies. Given the applicability of blockchain technology and focus on sustainability, CertOnce is looking forward to partnering with the government and organisations alike in their bid to digitise records.
CertOnce’s technology will be a game changer for society and all industries and sectors by bringing in trust and transparency regarding digital transactions and interactions. The founders believe multiple sectors will benefit enormously from the exciting blockchain technology as the company heads into NFC & metaverse ventures.
