New Paper and Infographic on Flavors of Digital Credentials Released!
A simplified but technically-accurate overview of the main flavors of standards-based digital credentials
We are excited to release the “Standards-Based Digital Credentials: Flavors Explained” (Whitepaper), which aims to provide a simplified but technically-accurate overview of the main flavors of standards-based digital credentials (for humans) in the market today to inform policy, business and technical decision makers sitting on the fence regarding what to use for their implementations. Accompanying it is an infographic that provides a high-level overview of the four major flavors and two emerging flavors covered in the paper.
Over two years ago, our two partners Kaliya Young and Lucy Yang co-authored a whitepaper and infographic, titled “Verifiable Credentials Flavors Explained”, at Linux Foundation Public Health while leading the COVID-19 Credentials Initiative. They were created then to provide public health authorities and industries market insights into the different technical options of credentials for pandemic-related purposes and addressed only credentials following the W3C Verifiable Credentials (VCs) Data Model. That work has helped many with their understanding and decisions.
However, the market has been evolving rapidly over the past two years. It is time that the paper was updated to reflect the current market condition. And this is made possible through the sponsorship from DRUK HOLDING & INVESTMENTS LTD. (DHI), the investment fund of the Royal Government of Bhutan.
“We (Bhutan) launched our self-sovereign-identity-based national identity system in February 2023 and are currently strengthening the privacy, security and scalability aspects of our solution for the next major release in early 2024. Our standards-based focus requires us to make use of experts like Identity Woman in Business to ensure that we have a great global view to augment our regional view. The research published here is both extremely timely and insightful for our journey ahead. We hope that by sponsoring this project and making the outputs openly accessible, those in similar situations will benefit from the work as much as we do.”
Jacques von Benecke, Chief Technology Officer of DHI
The updated paper focuses on digital credentials based on technical and data standards that are openly accessible and usable by anyone. These open standards provide important guidance for the development of applications on the Internet. It is critical that digital credential implementers follow open standards and/or industry standards leveraging open standards so that their infrastructures, systems and applications can issue, hold and consume credentials in an interoperable manner with others across ecosystems and geographic boundaries.
The new version includes credential flavors beyond W3C VCs and elaborates on the differences in data formats (Section 2) and cryptographic methods (Section 3) that together define the flavors. It also covers the key capabilities of digital credentials along with the issues associated with them (Section 4) and explains the differences between four major flavors through the journey of a credential (Section 5). Before concluding, it covers emerging features and flavors worth noting (Section 6).
The landscape of credential flavors is not getting less complicated in the technical and standard communities as the market evolves. The updated edition is written with an evolved understanding of convergence from the previous one. It recognizes the value of different credential flavors in addressing the various market and user needs today. By understanding the credential flavors covered in this new edition of the paper, you will be able to have a good grasp of where the market is and which areas require further research and development.
Hope you will enjoy reading it and find it useful for decision-making inside your organizations!
++++++++++
Identity Woman in Business (Author)
Identity Woman in Business is a boutique consulting firm with a global reach. We specialize in the business strategy, standards development, and technical implementation of Decentralized Identity as well as facilitating industry-wide collaborations in the space. We are committed to helping governments, industry organizations and companies of all sizes succeed in developing and investing in the new generation of identity infrastructure.
DRUK Holding & Investments LTD. (Sponsor)
Druk Holding & Investments (DHI), the commercial arm and trusted steward of the Royal Government of Bhutan, was established in 2007 to hold and manage the existing and future investments of the Royal Government for the long-term benefit of the people of Bhutan. As the largest and only government-owned holding company in Bhutan, DHI holds shares of 21 different domestic companies operating in the manufacturing, energy, natural resources, financial, communication, aviation, trading and real estate sectors.
DHI’s wider portfolio contains investments across a range of asset classes that deliver exposure to traditional sectors and the industries driving the modern economy. This includes global equities, fixed income and venture capital investments in promising startups; domestic and international real estate; renewable energy including hydropower generation; healthtech, biotech, life sciences and agritech; and digital asset mining and investment.
DHI’s future-facing investment strategy is helping to build a more connected and sustainable Bhutan by deepening local knowledge of and engagement in the technology landscape. At the same time, it fosters relevant human capital for industries of the future, creating jobs and preparing citizens to participate in the modern global economy from within Bhutan.
