An Internet with Attesters and No Identities with Ingo Rübe, Founder of KILT

Ingo Rübe is the founder and CEO of BOTLabs, a Berlin-based company providing Blockchain-powered solutions for Self-Sovereign Data. BOTLabs is the team behind KILT, a Blockchain protocol, enables the user to describe and attest any kind of characteristics of persons, organizations, and things in a standardized way. KILT is an open-source fat blockchain protocol for issuing claim-based verifiable, revocable, and anonymous credentials in the Web 3.0. It allows end users to claim arbitrary attributes about themselves, get them attested by trusted entities, and store the claims as self-sovereign credentials (certificates). As trusted entities can issue credentials in return for money, KILT aims to foster new business models for anyone who owns trust or wants to build up trust. Ingo has vast experience in tech and building startups, starting in 1995 Ingo founded his very first startup, Network Department, which in 2000 was merged with the IT Department of Fresenius AG to form today’s Fresenius Netcare GmbH. With subsequent experience as IT Project Director at Axel Springer, CTO of Burda Media (where he initiated the open-source Content Management System “Thunder”), and Board Member of the Drupal Association, he is well aware of the need for reliable and verifiable identity solutions in the business world and beyond. We discuss a variety of topics including KILT, Digital Identities, Polkadot, Privacy, and much more. We begin our conversation by discussing Ingo’s backstory and how he got interested in Crypto. Ingo touches on his experience working for the Drupal Association and the importance of giving back to open source projects. Ingo shares how he became fascinated by crypto and blockchain technology and why believed it would be a revolutionary step change for technology. We transition our conversation to focus on KILT. Ingo explains the importance of digital identities and how they will reshape the way society functions. We discuss applications for digital identities and how they can be used to provide more privacy protections. Our next conversation centered around Polkadot. Ingo explains how Polkadot works. Ingo also explains how KILT leverages Polkadot to scale and secure their blockchain. We also discuss data privacy. Ingo explains how blockchain technology can be leveraged for greater privacy We discuss the broader value proposition of Polkadot and what makes it standout in the broader Layer 1 landscape. Ingo discusses the biggest challenges in the identity landscape. Ingo explains how standardizing helps fosters better communication within an industry and field of study. We discuss the why building out proper infrastructure is necessary for an industry to grow.