Civic CVC / Civic

What Is Civic (CVC)?

Civic is a blockchain-based identity management solution that gives individuals and businesses the tools they need to control and protect personal identity information.

The platform is designed to change the way we think about identity verification by giving users more control over their personal data, while allowing them to access a wide range of services without needing to fork over excessive amounts of personal information.

Civic's identity verification solution uses distributed ledger technology to authorize identity usage in real time, and is used to sparingly share information with Civic partners after authorization by the user.

Unlike some other identity management services, Civic users store all their sensitive data on their mobile device. Users are able to authorize the sharing of specific personal data by providing a biometric signature through the Civic app.

The Civic ecosystem is enabled by a unique utility token known as the Civic token (CVC), which is used for the settlement of identity-related transactions between Civic participants — such as between a customer and service provider.

Users can earn CVC tokens for completing a variety of tasks, such as signing up for a service through the platform or introducing new users, while validators can earn CVCs for validating documents for service providers.

Civic was launched in 2018, following a sell-out initial coin offering (ICO) the year prior.

Who Are the Founders of Civic?

Civic was co-founded in 2015 by Vinny Lingham and Jonathan Smith.

Vinny Lingham is a serial entrepreneur who appeared on Shark Tank South Africa in 2016, and has co-founded several prominent firms, including a South Africa-based investment fund known as Newtown Partners and Gyft — a Google ventures-backed digital card platform. Lingham is Civic’s CEO.

Jonathan Smith is the current CTO of the platform and has more than 15 years of experience in the banking industry. Prior to his role at Civic, Smith held various managerial roles at prominent firms, including Deloitte MCS Limited and HSH Nordbank, and was the global head of Platforms at Genpact Headstrong Capital Markets.

In addition to the founders, the Civic team includes a host of highly successful individuals, including COO Chris Hart, who has two decades of experience in senior finance, and previously held the role of CFO at Guidebook and Nextag.