VCs

Semantic & Data Protocol

W3C Verifiable Credentials — foundational data model for cryptographically verifiable claims about a subject made by an issuer. A VC is a signed document containing claims (e.g. employment status, qualifications, identity attributes) that can be verified without contacting the original issuer. Composes with W3C DIDs (issuer, subject, holder are typically DID-identified) and with DIDComm/OID4VC (for exchange protocols). Foundation of the broader SSI ecosystem; member of the W3C SSI Suite.

Comunidade

Links

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Detalhes

Licença

Specification only; reference implementations widely available — SpruceID, walt.id, Veramo, Digital Bazaar libraries, Microsoft Entra Verified ID, Mattr, IDunion, etc.

Status de Dev 🏁 Final

Detalhe do Status de Dev

Released / Mature (W3C Recommendation; v2.0 expected 2025; broad ecosystem adoption)

Proprietário

W3C; Verifiable Credentials Working Group; editors include Manu Sporny, Orie Steele, Dave Longley, others

Órgão de Governança W3C (Recommendation track — Verifiable Credentials Working Group)

País

International (W3C)

Ano de Início 2017

Stack

Specification; implementations in most major languages — JavaScript/TypeScript (Veramo, Digital Bazaar, walt.id JS), Rust (SpruceID DIDKit), Java/Kotlin (walt.id, EUDI Wallet libraries), Python, Go

Financiamento

W3C standards process; substantial industry investment in VC infrastructure (EU Digital Identity Wallet, US Department of Homeland Security CHAPI initiatives, etc.); commercial VC platforms (SpruceID, walt.id, Microsoft)

Última Investigação 1 de jul. de 2026

Domínios de Caso de Uso

Identity & Trust

Semantic & Data Protocol Atributos

Origins

Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI); credentialing on the web; emerged from W3C Credentials Community Group; designed to enable cryptographically verifiable claims without phone-home-to-issuer requirements

Database

Issuer/holder/verifier maintain their own credential storage; VCs themselves are signed documents stored wherever the holder chooses (wallet apps, cloud wallets, paper/QR codes); no centralized credential database

Query Language

N/A — VCs are signed documents; query patterns are application-specific

Data Formats

JSON-LD (canonical VC format with Linked Data Proofs / Data Integrity signatures); JSON (compact format); JWT (JSON Web Token-formatted VCs); SD-JWT (Selective Disclosure JWT); CBOR-encoded VCs (mDoc, ISO mDL)

Collaborative Live Editing

N/A

Rich Text Editing

N/A

Mobile Support

Yes — VCs are designed for mobile wallets; EUDI Wallet reference implementations for iOS and Android; many commercial mobile SSI wallets

Web Support

Yes (CHAPI, OID4VC, browser-based wallet integrations)

Native Apps

N/A

Terms

Open standard — W3C Recommendation

Funds

N/A (specification itself); broader VC ecosystem has received billions in public and private funding

Based On

W3C DIDs (issuer, subject, holder typically DID-identified); JSON-LD; W3C Data Integrity / Linked Data Proofs (cryptographic signing); JWT/SD-JWT (alternative signature formats); earlier SSI research; co-designed with W3C DIDs and DIDComm as part of the W3C SSI Suite

Semantic Web Compatibility

Full — JSON-LD is the base serialization of the data model; every conformant credential carries an @context, is interpretable as an RDF graph, and uses the media type application/vc+ld+json . Caveat worth recording: v2.0 defines two securing lanes — Data Integrity proofs, which are JSON-LD-native, and JOSE/COSE including SD-JWT, which treats the credential as a JSON payload . Implementations in the JOSE/COSE lane commonly skip JSON-LD expansion, so RDF-level semantics are guaranteed by the data model but are not exercised by every deployed profile

Protocol Maturity / Standardization

W3C Recommendation (Mature) — VC Data Model v1.0 (2019); v1.1 (2022); v2.0 expected 2025; co-designed with W3C DIDs and W3C SSI Suite; broad implementation across commercial and government SSI deployments

Vocabulary / Ontology Type

Credential container / Attestation meta-vocabulary — defines the structural terms for expressing and verifying claims (VerifiableCredential, VerifiablePresentation, credentialSubject, issuer, validFrom/validUntil, credentialStatus, credentialSchema, evidence, termsOfUse, proof) but deliberately carries no domain semantics; the meaning of a claim is supplied by additional vocabularies imported through @context. VCs are therefore the envelope that narrower credential-type vocabularies populate, including Personhood Credentials and Verifiable Relationship Credentials on this sheet. Core v2 context published at https://www.w3.org/ns/credentials/v2

Usage Pattern

Embedded in other protocols — the data model specifies credential structure and semantics, not transport or proof mechanism. Issuance and presentation are carried by separate exchange protocols (OpenID4VC, DIDComm, VC-API), and cryptographic security is supplied by separate securing specifications, either Data Integrity or JOSE/COSE . The model is in turn profiled by narrower credential-type vocabularies that define what a given credential asserts while inheriting the VC envelope — including Personhood Credentials and Verifiable Relationship Credentials on this sheet . Adopted as the credential substrate across education, government identity, and supply-chain ecosystems