RaonSecure to build blockchain-based pedigree system for Jindo dogs

The RaonSecure's blockchain-based pedigree management system for Jindo dogs / Courtesy of RaonSecure

RaonSecure, an artificial intelligence security and identity authentication company, will build a blockchain-based pedigree management system for the Jindo dog, a native Korean breed designated as a national natural monument, the company said.

The project is being carried out by Jindo County, the breed's home region on Korea's southwestern coast, as part of a plan selected under this year's government smart village distribution program. Service is scheduled to launch in October.

The system will replace paper pedigree certificates and separate databases with a single integrated digital record covering each dog's DNA test results, birth, registration, sale and export history.

RaonSecure said the existing paper-based system made it difficult to verify certificates or trace a dog's history in real time once it left official channels, undermining confidence in pedigree records for dogs bought and sold outside that system.

Under the new system, a specialized institution will conduct DNA testing on each dog, and the verified pedigree information will be issued as a digital certificate through RaonSecure's blockchain-based identity platform, OmniOne Digital ID.

From there, each dog's full history — from birth and registration through adoption, export and later-life records — will be linked in a single digital file. Because blockchain records are difficult to alter, RaonSecure said the system is designed to prevent pedigree fraud and the improper sale of mixed-breed dogs passed off as purebred Jindos.

RaonSecure's underlying technology has already been used in Korea's national mobile identification system, which serves roughly 45 million people, as well as in digital identity projects in Indonesia and Costa Rica.

RaonSecure and Jindo County said the project is meant to strengthen pedigree management for Jindo dogs and boost the breed's brand value and buyer confidence, with plans to eventually expand the technology to other protected dog breeds as part of a broader national animal protection system.

"Web3-based digital authentication isn't limited to people — it's a technology that can connect the identity, qualifications and history of a wide range of subjects into reliable data," Lee Jung-a, co-CEO of RaonSecure, said in a statement, adding that the company will keep building trusted infrastructure linking identity and records across the public and private sectors.

This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.