India Starts Using Ethereum Blockchain To Verify Diploma Certificates

Ethereum is increasingly used in human life. (photo; unsplash)

JAKARTA - The Maharashtra state government, recently announced a partnership with Indian blockchain startup LegitDoc to implement an Ethereum-backed credential system to provide tamper-proof diploma certificates.

To tackle the increase in document counterfeiting, Maharashtra State Skills Development Council (MSBSD) is challenging India's crypto ban narrative of using an Ethereum-based public blockchain.

In an exclusive statement with Cointelegraph, LegitDoc CEO Neil Martis highlighted that while certificates are verified using traditional manual methods. MSBSD will begin recommending only digital verification methods for all manual verification requests starting next year.

“We have an active work order from the Government of Karnataka (Ministry of Information Technology and Biotechnology). We are in talks with Telangana Government (school education department) and Maharashtra Higher education & Engineering department to implement LegitDoc for their student community”, said Martis.

“Main institutions such as the National Institute of Technology (Surathkal) and Ashoka University are in talks to implement similar solutions to counter the ongoing forgery of documents”, added Martis.

The partnership with LegitDoc places India among the early adopters to implement e-governance systems for education with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Malta, and Singapore.

Citing blockchain's ability to limit fraud related to document falsification, Anil Jadhao, chairman of MSBSD, appreciated the move.

“In the last 10 years, there has been a rampant increase in the falsification of government-issued documents which has caused huge financial and reputational losses to the stakeholders involved”, said Anil Jadhao.

Following on from MIT's implementation of a tamper-proof blockchain diploma, Cointelegraph reports Stuart Madnick's point of view that blockchain comes with its unique set of challenges.

As a warning, Madnick argues, if blockchain can guarantee security. “The bottom line is that while blockchain systems represent advances in encryption and security, they are vulnerable in some of the same ways as other technologies, as well as having new vulnerabilities unique to blockchain. In fact, human action or inaction still has significant consequences for blockchain security”, said Stuart Madnick.