DID and VC:Untangling Decentralized Identifiers and Verifiable Credentials for the Web of Trust

Abstract

Decentralized identifiers and verifiable credentials have been proposed as a self-sovereign and privacy-friendly alternative to centralized and proprietary authentication services. Currently, a W3C standard exists that attempts to unify existing proposals and to find a common layer for decentralized identification and verification. However, there are some limitations of decentralized identifiers in comparison to established, centrally controlled authentication platforms concerning trust, privacy and usability. In this paper, we first describe all workflows which are necessary to create, share and verify a verifiable credential and second, we discuss the limitations concerning trust, privacy and usability of decentralized identifiers. The paper summarizes the involved workflows for decentralized authentication as proposed by the current standard. Further, we show the existing limitations and shortcomings that need to be considered when sharing DID for practical implementations and give an overview of possible solutions and future directions.