Verifiable credentialVC

A digital document whose authenticity anyone can check cryptographically.

For example, a digital driver's license or university degree can be checked on the spot, without calling the office that issued it.

A tamper-evident claim set in a format set by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the web standards body, signed by an issuer and verifiable without contacting that issuer. A claim is a statement about a person, such as "this person is over 18" or "this person holds this degree."

Three roles make a verifiable credential work:

• The issuer creates the credential and signs it with a cryptographic key.
• The holder stores the credential, usually in a digital identity wallet, and decides when to share it.
• The verifier checks the issuer's signature to confirm the credential is genuine and unaltered.

Verifiable credentials sit next to terms that are easy to mix up:

• Digital identity wallet is the app that stores credentials, while a verifiable credential is the signed document inside it.
• Reusable identity is the idea of verifying once and reusing the result, and verifiable credentials are a common way to carry it.
• Self-sovereign identity is a model in which people hold their own identity data, and verifiable credentials are one of its building blocks.