Transmute Tech School 101: Verifiable Credentials Use Cryptography to Secure Digitization
What is a Verifiable Credential
A Verifiable Credential (VC) is a cryptographically secure, tamper-evident digital-twin of paper documents. A Verifiable Credential possesses the same attributes as a paper-based credential — subject, issuing authority, credential type, attributes, evidence, and constraints — but is more trustworthy and secure in a digital format.
A full list of benefits of VCs include:
- Data Quality: Shared credential definitions power automated review at scale with zero ambiguity
- Privacy Protection: Only authorized parties can access digital data
- Authorization: Authoritative digital signatures can always be traced back to the original signer
- Selective Disclosure: Credential holders can selectively share information as desired
- Integrity: Tamper-evident data, signatures, and time stamps prove legitimacy and build reputation
- Offline Verification: Credentials can be verified from paper or digital copies without internet access
Verifiable Credentials are currently a W3C standard, which means it is formally recommended as a set of technical specifications which developers can use to enable industry specific use cases. This standard is already being adopted by large Fortune 500 companies and regulators across the world to enable trust and transparency in their processes and in developing actionable insights that rely on a trusted data set.
How Transmute Uses Verifiable Credentials: Secure Digital Twins
Verifiable Credentials are built into the Transmute DNA as a core competency in our business model and in our product, the Verifiable Data Platform (VDP), a platform that allows enterprise teams to secure the exchange of critical transactions in near-real time. Transmute has worked tirelessly, and continues to work, with supply chain organizations and conducting third party research to define the data elements within each Verifiable Credential. We publish each VC defined in the Traceability Vocabulary, an open source repository that anyone can see, and is particularly useful to developers and businesses. Recent examples of essential global trade Verifiable Credentials that Transmute has defined include: Commercial Invoice, Bill of Lading, Mill Test Report, and Packing List.
Today, Transmute offers 25+ Verifiable Credentials out-of-the-box and ready to use within Transmute VDP. Transmute VDP enables ecosystems of all sizes and industries to leverage the power of Verifiable Credentials via both our web application and the API.
Verifiable Credentials in the Supply Chain Industry: A Steel Industry Example
Today, there are several examples of the use of Verifiable Credentials in the supply chain industry. We’ll highlight one example below — Mill Test Reports.
The Mill Test Report is a critical quality assurance document used to certify the chemical and physical properties in metals. When importing steel into the U.S., the Mill Test Report is required for entry by U.S. CBP, but in its current insecure format, is susceptible to:
- Human error that can stall shipments, halt business, and unnecessarily lose money for businesses and the government;
- Forgeries to reduce their tariff fees, update the country of origin to a more desirable country, overstate the quality of the steel, and myriad other reasons that provide an unfair advantage over companies adhering to global regulatory standards
My Experience: Verifiable Credentials can Transform Global Trade
Prior to Transmute, I worked exclusively deploying proprietary supply chain software and had no exposure to Verifiable Credentials. I found that one of the core reasons why companies would deploy new software was digitalization. Many companies still operate today via spreadsheets which are not scalable, not very reportable, and not efficient. The companies I interacted with leveraged software to enhance their business processes and facilitate their day-to-day operations digitally; specifically, they did so by having systems digitally create a Commercial Invoice, PO, BOL, Proof of Delivery, and other critical trade documents. These documents would then be archived or printed then provided to another company as the goods move throughout the supply chain, which is minimal digitization without any security measures.
Verifiable Credentials have the power to optimize digitization and bring trust and traceability to trade documents, ensuring that data remains accurate and tamper-proof as it moves from company-to-company. Given my hands-on experience in global trade, I am confident that the supply chain industry is on the brink of a major break-through in technology with the implementation of Verifiable Credentials.
Matt Berry, Transmute’s Enterprise Delivery Manager, works with organizations of every size to achieve maximum value using the Transmute SaaS platform.
Connect with Matt on LinkedIn
About Transmute: Building on the security and freedom that Web3 promised, Transmute provides all the benefits of decentralization to enterprise teams seeking a cost effective, interoperable, planet-forward experience provided by experts in technology and industry.
Transmute was founded in 2017, graduated from TechStars Austin in 2018, and is based in sunny Austin, Texas. Learn more about us at: http://www.transmute.industries
