The Cardano Foundation has rolled out Veridian, a new open-source platform aimed at helping people and businesses manage their digital identities, according to a Friday release.

Alongside it comes the Veridian Wallet, a tool designed to keep personal info secure and let users prove who they are online without the usual hassles of sharing sensitive veri.

This launch comes at a time when proving one’s identity online is more important and riskier than ever. Whether it’s for healthcare, banking, shipping, or school records, current systems often leave veri exposed, and with smart devices and AI popping up everywhere, those flaws are getting tougher to fix, the Foundation said.

“From healthcare and financial services to supply chains and academics, identity verification serves as the cornerstone of trust,” Thomas A. Mayfield, head of Decentralized Trust and Identity Solutions at Cardano Foundation, wrote in the release. “Despite this, existing solutions often fail to provide adequate security and credential control, resulting in frequent veri breaches. Last year alone, 1.7 billion records were compromised in the United States.”

Veridian tackles this by letting users take control instead of handing their information to a central authority. It uses open, shared tools to ensure legitimate communication and check identities without a go-between.

There’s even an option to link it to the Cardano blockchain for added assurance. The Veridian Wallet ties it all together, letting people manage their details safely from their phones.

The wallet application is built for individuals and businesses alike, with options for companies to tweak it for their needs.