January 14 2020 / News

2019 Year in Review

Connor Hays

With all new products, integrations and major growth, 2019 was a big year for Bloom! We want to extend a warm thank you to all of our wonderful users, partners, and developers for helping create a thriving community and ecosystem.

In 2019, we welcomed hundreds of thousands of new users to the Bloom protocol and released a bunch of really exciting new features and products. We've continued to push the boundaries in decentralized technology and user experience, making it easier than ever to create a secure identity and build on what is now the largest decentralized identity platform in the world.

Let's take a look back at what all we accomplished this year and get a sneak peak into what we have in store for you in 2020 here at Bloom!

1+ Million Mobile App Installs

Over the past year, we've seen tremendous traction and reached some major milestones.

This time last year we had just surpassed 100,000 users. A year later, we are happy to report that the Bloom mobile app has been downloaded and installed by over 1 million people!

Bloom has global reach, with users in over 220 countries, putting decentralized identity into the hands of people all around the world.

Bloom enables you to create a secure identity where you are the owner of your own information. Traditional identity solutions that rely on centralized data storage of information are highly vulnerable to attacks and data breaches. Bloom leverages the power of blockchain to create a fully decentralized digital identity system.

BloomID is a reusable, cryptographically secure identity that reduces your risk of identity theft due to data breaches.

Our vision is for the mobile app to be the center of your BloomID experience, a one stop command center for managing your identity and credit.

The Bloom iOS app release marked a revolution in the way individuals control their data. Following the success of the iOS app, in March we launched the Bloom app for Android. With the Bloom mobile app, users can create a secure identity, build their reputation, complete attestations, monitor data breaches, and much more.

Bloom’s streamlined experience allows users to interface with blockchain in an entirely novel way, one that brings the benefits of decentralized technology to the masses. Now, with the Bloom mobile app on Android and iOS, anyone with a mobile device can finally harness the power of blockchain and a secure financial identity.

Download the Bloom mobile app today to create a secure identity and take back control of your data.

Bloom is currently pushing the ecosystem forward in terms of user experience. This past year has been a huge success as we have been extremely focused on delivering a great experience for our users. Every action within the Bloom protocol has been designed to be as frictionless for users as possible while maintaining a high level of security and decentralization.

Major Milestones

Now, let's take a look back at the major community, development, and product milestones in 2019 that have helped make Bloom the largest decentralized identity platform in the world.

February 5: Bloom Starter released
March 4: 250,000 BloomIDs
March 11: Bloom for Android launched
April 17: Bloom Radar released
April 25: Second round of developer bounties announced
May 7: Bloom goes MetaMask free
June 4: Former Experian Chief Scientist Geoffrey Arone joins Bloom
June 11: Digital lending platform Bloom Journey launched
June 13: One-click Apply for Marketplace
June 27: 500,000 BloomIDs
August 30: First round of community bounties announced
December 10: Bloom Credential Playground released

Protocol Upgrades

We made significant strides in development of the Bloom protocol this year. Our developers published several Bloom Improvement Proposals (BLIPs), with improvements related to attestation scaling, privacy improvements and interoperability with other existing and emerging digital/decentralized identity standards. We also launched new tools for building on Bloom, such as Bloom Starter and Credential Playground, and made improvements to Share Kit.

Bloom Lending Marketplace

We launched our first Bloom-ID enabled lending application partnership with Monevo. With one-click apply, users can securely share their verified information with lenders to quickly apply for credit in seconds!

Bloom Journey

Bloom Journey is a secure, white-label application solution that brings consumer lending into the digital age. With Journey, Bloom enables lenders to protect customer data with cutting-edge blockchain technology while providing a seamless lending experience that makes applying for credit a simple and streamlined process, reducing the risk of data breaches and minimizing costs associated with customer on-boarding, compliance, and fraud prevention.

Metamask Free Bloom

In May, the Bloom web app went MetaMask free. With mobile usage growing at a rapid rate, Bloom’s mobile first approach will allow us to deliver groundbreaking technology, intuitive user experiences, and increased security to hundreds of millions of users around the world.

Bloom Starter

Bloom Starter is an easy starting point for integrating Bloom into your app. Getting started with integrating a third-party ecosystem can seem daunting, Bloom Starter aims to ease this pain. Giving developers a starting point will help speed up integration times and help foster even more protocol integrations.

Bloom Credential Playground

The Bloom Credential Playground is the perfect place to start learning about decentralized identity. The Credential Playground is a command line interface (CLI) that demonstrates each component of Bloom’s decentralized identity implementation. Using the CLI, you can initialize DIDs, issue Verifiable Credentials, encrypt credentials for storage in a user controlled Encrypted Data Vault, share credentials with a third party and verify the integrity of a shared credential.

Free Data Breach Monitoring

In April, we released Bloom Radar, a free tool that monitors data breaches and alerts you when your information has been involved in a breach.

With data breaches running rampant, knowing when and what information has been exposed in a breach can help you take steps to keep your data and accounts safe.

Radar makes it easier than ever to monitor whether your information has been compromised and accounts put at risk, so that you can act swiftly to guard against identity fraud and mitigate the potential fallout.

We've added some great new features to Radar. Not only can you get alerts when your information has been found in a breach, but you also get personalized actions for each data breach you've been affected by, along with step-by-step instructions on how to complete them, so that you can act quickly to protect your identity.

Radar recommends actions based on the information that was exposed in a breach and the risks it poses. You can see the total number of hacks you've been affected by and how many you've resolved from the Radar dashboard.

You can now also add additional email addresses for Radar to monitor at anytime from the Radar dashboard. When you add a new email address to Radar, you will get alerts when that email address is found in new data breaches.

To get started with Radar, download the Bloom mobile app on iOS or Android to sign up for Radar. Setting up Radar is quick and easy, it only takes a couple of minutes and is 100% free!

A Thriving Community

We are passionate about supporting participation from our community. A strong, engaged community is vital to the success of building a secure, transparent, and equitable global credit infrastructure. We want to thank you, our community, for making 2019 such a major success.

If you haven't yet, please join our Telegram or Reddit community to communicate directly with the Bloom team. You can provide feedback on Bloom's apps, make feature requests, and access support directly from Bloom. We would love to hear from you! You can also follow us on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn to get the latest Bloom news as soon as it happens.

Along with putting out content for our community, various members of the Bloom team attended and spoke at conferences like ETHDenver, KNOW Identity, D.C. Blockchain Summit, Bank Innovation Ignite, and ETHWaterloo 2.

We’re extremely excited and humbled to have a community that is so passionate and thoughtful. The community has been key in bringing in thoughtful perspectives, providing feedback and participating in community programs. As always, community members can read the latest updates on our blog, chat with us in Telegram or Slack, and engage with the team at our events, which we will be attending more of in 2020!

Find out more about the Bloom community and our team below:

In the Press

Bloom received some major press coverage in 2019 from Bloomberg, Forbes, CNBC, and more. Here are some of the highlights:

Live on Bloom

Bloom continues to be the go-to protocol for all kinds of innovative uses for dapps, from identity verification and sharing to digital lending and commerce. We had an incredible time participating in hackathons across the world this year and worked with some amazing teams. Here are some of are favorite integrations from 2019:

Bloom Protocol is an end-to-end protocol for decentralized login, identity, and credit scoring. With Bloom Protocol, you can verify a user’s identity, reduce the risk of fraud, and build compliant financial applications, all without sacrificing user privacy or risking data breaches. You can do this without taking custody of a user’s personal data, and without relying on centralized systems.

To get started building on Bloom, check out the resources below or reach out to us on Telegram.

Getting started with Bloom Credential Playground
Getting started with Share Kit
Full Developer Docs

New Bloom Guides & Resources

This year, we've released a bunch of new resources for both Bloom users and developers. These guides are a great starting place for learning more about Bloom app features and how to get the most out of your secure identity, as well as how to quickly get started developing on the Bloom protocol.

Also, be sure to check out our Bloom Guide videos on YouTube. All of our Bloom Guide videos are now available in Portuguese and we are in the process of making all videos available in Spanish!

We hear from readers all the time who want to know how they can protect themselves online amid all of these data breaches and privacy issues. Knowing where to start can be difficult, so we have been working to build out a set of robust educational guides to help you safeguard your data and protect your privacy online. These in-depth guides provide easy-to-follow steps and cover a wide-range of tools. Check them out below. In 2020, we will release even more educational resources to help you manage your credit, identity, and data.

Research and Reports

Bloom’s Economic Research Division has been instrumental in conducting research, analyzing data, and informing the community on the most important economic and financial issues facing borrowers and lenders today. BERD serves as a core team within Bloom responsible for leading an open-source data approach to credit analysis.

Over the past year, we have shared rigorous and comprehensive research reports assessing wealth inequality, Aadhaar's national identification system, and leading credit scoring models. Moving forward, we will continue to dive deep into issues in the credit space and shed light on the most pertinent topics of the day. To read our research from 2019, check out the links below.

2020: What's Coming Up!

2020 is already shaping up to be a very exciting year here at Bloom. We have some major new features coming soon for both users and developers! We are committed to leading the way in the digital identity space with innovative new technologies and user-friendly app experiences to help bring secure data ownership to the masses. Here are a few things you can expect in the new year:

Launching Bloom SDKs: Enable institutions/enterprises to integrate Bloom SDKs into their apps to enhance user privacy, portability of verified information and accelerate decentralized identity adoption
Interoperability Improvements: We’re working with members of the Decentralized Identity Foundation and the W3C to establish standards for decentralized identities and verifiable claims
DeFi Integrations: integrate Bloom credentials with the DeFi ecosystem and enable users to use their Bloom verified identity and financial information to gain access to decentralized financial services with favorable terms and rates
Bridge the gap between the existing financial services and the future of user provisioned information. Connect decentralized identity systems to bank data, credit data, more
Bloom Collective (ambassador program) Launch
Development Grants Program
Community Meetup Grants Program
Bloom will be at more events this year!

We are looking forward to a fantastic new year full of new content, messaging, programs, partners, and features being rolled out that we think you will really love!

Bloom: Take Back Control of Your Data

At Bloom, we are giving you the tools to take back control of your data. No more centralized data storage. No more selling off your data to the highest bidder. No more risking identity theft. Bloom enables you to own, control, and protect your data using the latest advancements in blockchain technology.

With Bloom:

You own your data
You control access to your data
You decide when you share your data and who you share it with

It’s time to take back control of your data and unlock the power of a secure, reusable identity today. Download the Bloom mobile app to build a cryptographically secure identity and get free data breach alerts with Radar!