Two identity-focused tech firms have teamed up to develop a global identity platform based on blockchain technology.

One of the firms, Boston-based Distilled Analytics, offers continuous authentication solutions based on end users’ digital activities. The other, Shyft Network, is developing a blockchain-based platform for identity verification. Together, the companies have announced Distilled Identity, a collaboration that will essentially combine their expertise.

At the partnership’s outset, specific details of the firms’ planned platform are somewhat vague, with the companies explaining in a statement that it will be based on “AI analytics research from MIT, Oxford, and Imperial College,” and that it will apply “advanced biometrics and predictive identity analytics to verify customer identity and provide superior match capabilities using new data sources and methods.” And the platform will, of course, be based on Shyft Network’s blockchain system.

Commenting on the partnership, Shyft Chairman Joseph Weinberg said, “By leveraging a distributed network and storing a pool of attestations on the blockchain, Shyft Network can provide Distilled Analytics with the highest level of personal data protection.”

The companies also announced that as part of their partnership, Shyft has made an equity investment in Distilled Analytics, though they did not disclose the terms of this investment.

(Originally posted on FindBiometrics)