W3C publishes Verifiable Credentials 2.0 as a W3C Standard, making expression, exchange, and verification of digital credentials easier and more secure
Read testimonials from W3C Members
https://ekuhu0ggzk.proxynodejs.usequeue.com/ – 15 May 2025 – Credentials are a part of our daily lives; driver's licenses are used to assert that we are capable of operating a motor vehicle, university degrees can be used to assert our level of education, government-issued passports enable us to travel between countries. The family of Verifiable Credentials W3C Recommendations provides a mechanism to express digital credentials in a way that is cryptographically secure, privacy respecting, and machine-verifiable, as well as provides an extension mechanism so that specific applications (identity credentials, university credentials, etc.) can use their own terminology.
“At a time when so many are wrestling with trusted digital information, Verifiable Credentials 2.0 reaching the status of Web Standards is a critical signal to innovators, policymakers, and tech leaders in governments, industry, and civil society to build the global digital trust upon interoperable, trustworthy, and privacy-aware open web standards,” declared Seth Dobbs, W3C CEO and President. “Whether the needs are for digital wallets in sectors like Health, Financial Services, Travel, and Education, or whether the needs are for government identities, organization identities, Smart Things identities — all key enablers for society — the VC family of standards is set to enable trusted and privacy-aware digitafaml interactions."
A verifiable credential is defined as a set of claims made by an issuer about a subject. The holder of the credential can then present it to a verifier, who can check that the claims genuinely come from the issuer and were not tampered with. Claims use properties from a standard vocabulary defined by the Verifiable Credentials Data Model v2.0 and expressed in JSON-LD, a lightweight syntax to serialize Linked Data in JSON, thus favoring a decentralized and permissionless approach to extensibility, provisioning for existing or new applications distributed on the web.
The authenticity and integrity of a verifiable credential come from using cryptography, especially through the use of digital signatures and related mathematical proofs to check the structural validity of contents so that all three parties — issuer, holder, verifier — have a consistent mechanism of trust in interpreting the data that they are providing or provided with.
To accommodate a wide variety of use-cases with different technical and regulatory requirements, the Verifiable Credentials family of specifications defines several techniques for attaching proofs to sets of claims. These different methods rely on existing specifications from IETF and W3C. Holders of verifiable credentials can also provide to verifiers a subset of a credential (providing selective disclosure of the private data) or combine several credentials into one. These so-called Verifiable Presentations are usually short-lived and not meant to be stored for a long period. The standards used for signing and encryption are based on cryptographic methods widely adopted and deployed in the ecosystem.
The general framework for verifications defines specific verification methods based on generally known and accepted cryptographic approaches, and new cryptographic methods (e.g., post-quantum) can be adopted if they come to the fore.
"The VCWG has done a great job producing this latest set of W3C Recommendations,” said Brent Zundel, co-chair of the Verifiable Credentials Working Group. “It is exciting to see the work progress so far. More and more implementations are being used. Verifiable credentials are poised to make a significant impact on the way people and systems share data."
About the World Wide Web Consortium
The mission of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is to lead the web to its full potential by creating technical standards and guidelines to ensure that the web remains open, accessible, and interoperable for everyone around the globe. W3C well-known standards HTML and CSS are the foundational technologies upon which websites are built. W3C works on ensuring that all foundational web technologies meet the needs of civil society, in areas such as accessibility, internationalization, security, and privacy. W3C also provides the standards that undergird the infrastructure for modern businesses leveraging the web, in areas such as entertainment, communications, digital publishing, and financial services. That work is created in the open, provided for free and under the groundbreaking W3C Patent Policy.
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End Press Release
Media Contact
Amy van der Hiel, W3C Media Relations Coordinator <[email protected]>
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Testimonials from W3C Members
Conexxus • Danube Tech • Digital Bazaar • Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) • GS1 Global Office • Mavennet Systems Inc. • RANDA Solutions • Spruce Systems, Inc. • Tradeverifyd
Tradeverifyd
"Tradeverifyd integrates verifiable credentials at the core of its platform to enable secure, standardized, and interoperable data sharing across global supply chains. By embedding data lineage and trust into every document, Tradeverifyd unlocks the provenance and traceability needed to meet evolving regulatory demands - and sets a new bar for transparency in trade."
Mike Prorock, CEO, Tradeverifyd
Mavennet Systems Inc.
“We are excited to support the release of Verifiable Credentials v2.0. At Mavennet, we see VCs as critical infrastructure for secure, machine-verifiable trust in regulated environments. These standards directly support our mission of enabling digital traceability and identity in energy, supply chains, and government systems. We commend W3C’s leadership in advancing this foundational layer for the internet of trust.”
Patrick Mandic, CEO, Mavennet Systems Inc.
Digital Bazaar
"The Verifiable Credentials and Data Integrity specifications are key privacy-preserving technologies in our digital credential issuing, wallet, and verifying product lines. We have already deployed these technologies into production environments, in governments and private industry, which will positively impact tens of millions of individuals. We applaud W3C for investing in these technologies and look forward to continued work in the space as the market matures."
Manu Sporny, CEO, Digital Bazaar
RANDA Solutions
“We are excited to see the Verifiable Credentials and Data Integrity specifications move forward. They were key considerations informing the CLR 2.0 and OB 3.0 specifications of which I was co-chair in those initiatives with 1edtech, also proving Standards Organizations collaborating inform broad implementations. We have also already leveraged these in four separate Statewide implementations, providing interoperable frameworks for thousands of high value credentials being utilized in real world applications. We appreciate W3C’s continued commitment to the success of these technologies.”
Marty Reed, CEO, RANDA Solutions
Danube Tech
"Verifiable Credentials are a key component in digital identity architectures that are independent of overly powerful central authorities and intermediaries. This technology succeeds at both empowering individuals and solving real business needs. The Verifiable Credentials v2.0 specifications have immense potential across many different industries and use cases, and we are already using this technology in our products for multiple customer projects."
Markus Sabadello, CEO, Danube Tech
Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI)
"We welcome the publication of Verifiable Credentials v2.0 as a foundational standard for decentralized and privacy-preserving digital identity. As a research institute actively contributing to W3C and global ICT standardization, we recognize the transformative potential of Verifiable Credentials in enabling trusted and interoperable data exchange across domains such as e-government, education, and healthcare. We are committed to supporting the adoption and continued evolution of these open standards to help build a secure and trustworthy digital ecosystem."
Seungyun Lee, Director, Standards Research Division, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI)
GS1 Global Office
"We are delighted to see the important work on Verifiable Credentials reaching this new milestone. The technology has the potential to make a huge improvement in efficiency for data exchange between trading partners within and across borders, for formal certifications, sustainability claims and more. Having conducted a number of pilots, GS1 is already working to implement many of the updated standards, cautiously for now, but with anticipation of larger scale roll out in future."
Phil Archer, Web Solutions Director, GS1 Global Office
Spruce Systems, Inc.
“SpruceID supports the Verifiable Credentials v 2.0 Recommendation as an important step toward interoperable and privacy‑preserving digital credentials. By implementing the Verifiable Credential Data Model 2.0 in our products, we help governments, enterprises, and communities exchange trustworthy data while preserving individual autonomy and market choice. We appreciate W3C’s collaborative approach and remain committed to advancing open, vendor‑neutral standards for digital identity.”
Wayne Chang, Founder & CEO, Spruce Systems, Inc.
Conexxus
“Conexxus is collaborating with the National Association of Convenience stores (NACS) on a number of efforts that use Verifiable Credentials. These efforts, such as the TruAge program (digital ID combining consumer privacy and ease of use with the potential for mass retail integration), as well as a credential container interface (an aspect of digital wallets), use VCs as secure and privacy preserving instruments speeding local commerce at neighborhood convenience stores, as well as global commerce with specific online identification.”
David Ezell, Director of New Initiatives, Conexxus
