Decentralized Identity: Passport to Web3

Having a strong DID layer could allow for “on-chain” credit scores, providing users access to credit-based lending. Furthermore, because users directly control their credit score, they can better monitor and adjust their borrowing/lending behavior. Thus, DID offers the chance of further democratizing decentralized financial systems. 

On Ceramic, each piece of information is represented as an append-only log of commits called a stream. Each stream is a directed acyclic graph (DAG) stored in IPLD, with an immutable name called a StreamID, and a verifiable state called a StreamState. A stream is similar in concept to a Git tree, and each stream can be thought of as its own blockch... See more

Metamask serves as a strong mental model of what a broader DID solution could look like, as well as highlighting the promise and perils of self-sovereignty. Because Metamask users hold their own private keys, they truly own the assets in their wallets. There is no need to trust third parties with security and custody. Furthermore, users can seamles... See more

With the emergence of the internet of value, robust DID solutions will be required to allow Web3 to go mainstream by enabling new use cases. We are still in early innings, but the future is bright. 

DIDs could preserve a user’s reputation across multiple DAOs. Porting over credentials from one DAO to another reflects the reputation portability that we already enjoy in the physical world, preventing active contributors from having to start from zero. Furthermore, other Web3 contexts, such as participation in Gitcoin, publications to Mirror, or ... See more

Applications can build off of DID to allow creators to provably sign off that an NFT, representing a digital or physical asset, was created by them. Buyers and sellers will be able to verify the provenance of the digital artwork too. DIDs could also help foster greater engagement between artists and their community, such as restricting NFT ownershi... See more

Although decentralized identity (DID) has been a largely overlooked topic compared to DeFi, NFTs, and DAOs, we view it as a critical technological primitive that enables native Web3 applications. If we create a shared, flexible, and resilient identity layer, we can drastically unlock the pace of innovation by creating a wider design space.

Ceramic is a public, decentralized data network for managing dynamic and mutable information on the internet. It provides developers the ability to build applications without databases or servers by creating a flexible primitive called Ceramic streams.

In new technological paradigms, the solution that users interact with most frequently often have an outsized influence on the industry’s future development. Similar to how browsers were the battlegrounds for Web1 (Netscape, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome) and apps for Web2 (Facebook, Instagram, Netflix, Spotify), wallets will likely be the battle... See more