Jaehoon (Ace) Shim profile photo

Jaehoon (Ace) Shim

Co-founder & CEO at Hopae

Decentralized Identity (DID)Verifiable Credentials (VC)Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI)Blockchain InfrastructureICT International StandardsCybersecurity
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About

I'm Jaehoon (Ace) Shim, Co-founder and CEO of Hopae and Vice-Chair of the Technical Advisory Committee at the OpenWallet Foundation. My career has been dedicated to building the trust fabric of the digital world, from my time as a blockchain researcher at LG CNS to co-developing COOV—a system that handled 4 billion verifications for 34 million users. I am passionate about moving beyond 'doc+selfie' verification toward a future of portable, reusable identity. At Hopae, we are focused on making decentralized identity operational and interoperable on a global scale, particularly within the eIDAS 2.0 and EUDI Wallet frameworks. I believe the future of payments is identity, and I'm always looking to connect with partners who want to transform legacy systems into privacy-preserving, user-sovereign models.

Networking

What I can offer

  • ›Scalable, lightweight DIDaaS infrastructure
  • ›Expertise in transforming legacy credential systems
  • ›Deep knowledge of international ICT standards and EUDI ecosystem
  • ›Strategic insights on privacy-preserving identity models

Looking for

  • ›Strategic partnerships with firms like 1Kosmos, Deloitte, and INCERT GIE
  • ›Collaboration on eID coverage expansion
  • ›Engagement with governments and enterprises on identity infrastructure

Best fit for

Government digital identity leadsEnterprise security architectsFintech and travel tech innovatorsOpen source wallet contributors

Current Interests

eIDAS 2.0 and EUDI WalletPSD3 and GDPR complianceAviation and Travel TechIdentity-First PaymentsSD-JWT (RFC9901)

Background

Career

Began as a developer and system admin, moved into blockchain research at LG CNS, led product for COOV, and is now a founder and international standards expert in decentralized identity.

Education

Bachelor of Science (BS) in Computer Science, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (2011 – 2018)

Achievements

  • ›Co-developed COOV, reaching 34M monthly active users and 4B verifications.
  • ›Achieved 7ms API response and 12.5k TPS in production for COOV.
  • ›Lead editor for official Korean translation of W3C DID and VC specifications.
  • ›Won iF 2022 award for COOV UX design.
  • ›Raised pre-seed funding from 500 Global (W23 batch).

Opinions

  • The future of payments is identity.
  • Fraud is primarily an identity misuse problem rather than a technical one.
  • Global rollouts must be operational, not theoretical.
  • Identity data belongs in the hands of users through decentralized solutions.