SolidVC : a decentralized framework for Verifiable Credentials on the web

Abstract

Credentials are an integral part of our lives, as they express our capabilities and enable access to restricted services and benefits. In the early 2010s, the Verifiable Claims Working Group of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) proposed a specification for what is now the Verifiable Credentials Data Model. This living specification, which is still in development, outlines a cogent framework for the issuance, storage, presentation, and verification of credentials on the Web. Many of the leading Verifiable Credentials projects leverage Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), potentially compromising Web interoperability and sometimes exposing otherwise personal data. SolidVC is a decentralized Verifiable Credentials platform built with the open protocols of the Web. It is implemented on top of Solid, a Web framework developed at MIT in 2016 that allows decentralized applications to interact with personal user data to provide services in an access controlled environment.