In San Francisco, there is a new public blockchain and smart contract platform called Proton. The goal of Proton is to provide a secure, verified identity account which is integrated with a financial settlements layer that allows users to directly link this identity with fiat accounts, pull funds and buycryptocurrencies, all without sending any of the user's private, sensitive information. There is a The user's private key is maintained in confidence while allowing institutions to use public keys to check with trusted institutions.