If decentralized identity is the future of the web, then the contributions that you accumulate in your crypto wallet — the articles you write, the content you curate, or the things you buy — will become very important.

unlike web2 profiles, decentralized identities are backed by hard evidence: a permanent, timestamped record of a person’s accomplishments, contributions, interests, and activities to date.

For the sake of logistical simplicity (and because different facets of a person’s identity naturally overlap and interact), it makes sense to store one’s relevant activities and contributions in a single wallet. But any given person isn’t solely a creator, builder, investor, or collector; they’re many things at once. Thus, we need some way to take... See more

Managing reputation information also requires publicly accessible data standards — agreed upon formats for, say, “what an attestation of a contribution looks like” or “how to formulate an on-chain record.” Structuring these inputs to reputation ensures interoperability, both (1) enabling people to meaningfully combine parts of their decentralized... See more

But in order to mainstream decentralized identity, we must first establish systems that map people’s relevant off-chain experiences and affiliations on-chain. Then we must build mechanisms to standardize, process, and prioritize the influx of data that will be added on-chain. On the way, we’ll need to solve endemic challenges to decentralized... See more

And in addition to organizing the raw data, it’s important to have systems that aggregate and simplify the information contained in a person’s wallet to make that information more clearly interpretable and comparable across individuals.

instead of creating temporary profiles like we do in web2, web3 promotes long-term thinking. If people were empowered to build and maintain permanent identities online, we believe that on-chain systems could encourage people to more carefully curate the reputation markers that they carry with them into the future. In this case, curating a permanent... See more

In the realm of talent sourcing, decentralized identities promise “open CVs” based on fine-grained records of professional activities and accomplishments. This could allow for a fuller picture of someone’s past work and provide more granular insight into their skills and contributions.

To make decentralized identity useful and widespread, it is important to introduce on-ramps for people to record their experiences and affinities on the blockchain, such as their educational accomplishments, professional achievements, or fanships. Some companies are already tackling this challenge. Violet aims to authenticate off-chain, personally... See more