Microsoft Is Using Bitcoin to Help Build a Decentralized Internet

In an age of increasingly ubiquitous government surveillance, security breaches, and high-profile cancellations, in which internet giants have ultimate control over users' online profiles, credentials, and data, Microsoft is helping to build a technology that would give individuals ownership rights over their own virtual identities.

The mission of the ION project is to build Decentralized Identifiers, or DIDs, that can serve as the anchor point for our activities all across the internet. If the goal of bitcoin is to eliminate the power of centralized institutions over money, ION is trying...