🧱About DIDs and VCs

What primitives (building blocks) make Disco work under the hood?

A DID, or Decentralized Identifier, is:

• An alias for your existing addresses such as Ethereum address, email address, website, Bitcoin address, etc. This makes it easy to prove ownership and control over other identifiers.

• Self-generated and self-owned, meaning you have complete control over it.

• Able to help safeguard aspects of your digital presence through cryptography. Each wallet is unique to a single DID, like a keychain that holds many keys we need to use to access doors or entryways that are locked.

• A non-centralized, universally discoverable way for you to ultimately own your credentials. This means you have full ownership and control over your personal data and can share it selectively and securely with others.

What is a Verifiable Credential (VCs)?

• Specially formatted data (JSON) that you can put on your Disco profile. They are digital versions of important documents like membership cards, IDs, library cards, etc.

• Signed with cryptographic security by one DID about another DID. The signature ensures that the credential cannot be tampered with.

• Contains proof or attestation about the recipient or user, such as membership in an organization or completion of a course.

• An open-source standard by the W3C Verifiable Credentials Data Model, which is a set of specifications and verifiable documentation that allow credentials to be verified and shared on the web.

Want to read more about DIDs and VCs? Check out the DIDs and VCs Explained section.