Japan – Meta Akita, an authorized spin-off of the nonprofit Akita Dog Preservation Society, today announced that it will integrate Concordium’s Layer 1 blockchain wallet with Web3 ID to preserve Akita dogs. Thanks to the Web3 ID feature, Akita dogs and their owners can be verified without the user’s personal information, providing new opportunities and unprecedented levels of data ownership to the global Akita dog community. The collaboration is intended to serve as a means to more broadly communicate the culture and history of Akita dogs as part of Meta Akita’s regional revitalization efforts.
History of the Akita Dog
The six major Japanese dog breeds (Shiba, Akita, Hokkaido, Shikoku, Kishu, and Kai) are descended from two ancient breeds, the Jomon and the Yayoi. Specifically, the Akita-Inu is a hybrid of the two. Its more recent ancestors, the ‘Matagi-Inu’, were bred by ‘Matagi’ hunters in the mountains of Akita. The Akita Inu were originally known as the Odate-Inu.
Based in Odate City, Akita Prefecture, Meta Akita is undertaking innovative digital initiatives to protect Akita dogs and revitalize the region. These include issuing Akita dog NFTs, the proceeds of which are redirected as charitable donations to improve the prefecture, building the world’s largest dog metaverse to connect the Akita community with the rest of the world, and developing the world’s first blockchain-based pedigree app.
TASUKOF, co-founder of Meta Akita, says, “Our partnership with Concordium allows us to use innovative, digital tools as part of our mission to protect the Akita dog breed and revitalize Akita Prefecture in a compliant manner. Thanks to Concordium’s unique digital identity framework, we can meet KYC requirements without asking our users and community to share sensitive information. In other words, we can advance our mission in new ways and provide security and privacy to our community.
The Concordium wallet, powered by Web3 ID, is a tool for managing digital identity on the blockchain while keeping personal information private thanks to Zero-Knowledge Proof technology. Users can prove their identity while maintaining control over what information is shared, meaning organizations can verify those identities without accessing sensitive information. And because this framework fights identity fraud, users can be confident that the people they are interacting with are who they say they are.
Torben Kaaber, Head of Commercial at Concordium, adds: “Meta Akita has recognized the value of new Web3 tools to further its honorable mission of improving Akita Prefecture and protecting the Akita dog breed. It’s great to see more and more companies looking to blockchain technology to develop use cases that emphasize privacy and security for their users.”
Through this integration with the Concordium blockchain, Meta Akita will bring enhanced privacy protection to its Akita dog NFTs and the metaverse.This collaboration symbolizes the fusion of the mission to protect the traditional Akita dog breed with cutting-edge digital technology. Together, Meta Akita and Concordium aim to usher in a new era of regional revitalization and digital innovation.