We get it wrong! Misconceptions in self-sovereign identity.

I see a lot of misconceptions and misunderstandings that lead us to fail with #ssi products and confuse users.

Lost in Self Sovereign Triangle

The holder, Issuer, and Verifier exist only in the exchange process, and even in the same transaction holder could be turned to the issuer.

It is disconnected from real life. Classics ignore real-life scenarios of reverse relations in a triangle.

I could write a full-scale article about “lost in SSI triangle”. All modern exchange protocol models more complex scenarios. Try to answer the simple questions:

How do verifiers know whom to ask about VCs?

How could I ask the issuer to issue a VC?

To whom should Verifier have trust ?

Trust out of the box with SSI.

It is not a trust framework VCs based on crypto signatures. Signatures work with data integrity and authenticity but cannot guarantee or build trust. Trust should be built on top as a protocol with governance and the meaning of relations created by SSI.

Trust is built by a protocol that has meaning and governance.

Verifiable Credential is a misleading term.

The credential is term more from security than real life. The only thing you verify with a crypto signature is the authenticity of the issuer but no data itself. The correct term is Authenticity Data Containers — ADC. Containers made a revolution and created multi-billion industries in transport. Containers made a revolution in infra. Data containers will change how we work with data. VC = ADC is a container. Verification of data is hard work that the verifier and issuer should do.

VC = Authenticity Data Containers