MicroStrategy Unveils ‘Orange’: Bitcoin-Based Decentralized ID System

• Michael Saylor introduced the Microstrategy Orange decentralized identity protocol at the company’s Bitcoin for Corporations event on Wednesday.
• The protocol is anchored on Bitcoin and relies on Ordinals inscriptions to store the identity data while using SegWit to separate all the other data.

MicroStrategy has launched a new Bitcoin-based decentralized identity protocol that relies on Ordinals-like inscription to store the ID data on the world’s pioneer blockchain network.

At the annual MicroStrategy World 2024 in Las Vegas, executive chairman and founder Michael Saylor announced the new protocol, dubbed MicroStrategy Orange, that he says will revolutionize enterprise identity and security.

MicroStrategy unveiled the open-source MicroStrategy Orange Decentralized Identity protocol, which uses a modified approach to inscriptions as Ordinals, but stores only data related to DID, meaning documents can be created and updated with few restrictions on size and content…

— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) May 2, 2024

Orange will leverage Bitcoin’s secure network to store identity inputs, modifying the popular Ordinals inscription method. Ordinals launched in early 2023 and opened up the Bitcoin blockchain to a vast array of use cases. It embeds data within the network’s transaction outputs, allowing users to add all kinds of data—memes, videos, images, digital signatures—onto a Satoshi, the smallest unit of Bitcoin.

Saylor, renowned Bitcoin maxi, told the attendees:

MicroStrategy Orange aims to redefine the landscape of digital identity by harnessing the untampered security and widespread recognition of the Bitcoin network.

While it mimics Ordinals in most ways, Orange will only store data related to a user’s digital identity on the Bitcoin blockchain. It will leverage Segregated Witness (SegWit) to separate all the other data, allowing users to leverage the protocol to store virtually unlimited data sizes.

MicroStrategy Orange—Decentralized Identity on Bitcoin

Orange is Saylor’s idea. The controversial tech guru has been working on applications that leverage the Bitcoin blockchain since Ordinals launched last year. Last May, he revealed that his company was especially interested in using Bitcoin to address weak corporate security, mentioning DocuSign as a business model that would greatly benefit from Bitcoin’s enhanced security.

Saylor has now unveiled the solution he promised. According to MicroStrategy’s VP of Engineering, Cezary Raczko, Saylor presented “a compelling case why it makes sense to anchor digital identity into the Bitcoin blockchain, protected by the strength and the security of the Bitcoin network.”

Raczko, who led the development of the new protocol, revealed that it relies on three fundamental aspects. The first is the Orange Service, the primary platform upon which users build and issue their decentralized identities.

At the heart of it is a service cloud, hosted, that allows you to issue those identifiers to your users in your organization. It also allows you to deploy prepackaged out-of-the-box applications that run on the MicroStrategy Orange platform.

Orange also comes with a software development kit, which makes it easier for developers to integrate it into their existing systems and applications. The team has already used the SDK to build an ‘Orange for Outlook’ application that confirms the authenticity of email senders.

MicroStrategy’s focus on Bitcoin has received criticism from some quarters, who believe it has come at the cost of its main software business. In Q1, the company recorded a net loss of $53.1 million. However, its BTC holdings appreciated by over 60% and are now worth over $15 billion, with plans to raise half a billion dollars to purchase more BTC, as Crypto News Flash reported.

Meanwhile, BTC trades at $57,709 at press time and has been trading sideways over the past day.

Recommended for you: