W3C publishes Verifiable Credentials Data Model 2.0 as a Recommendation
VC Data Model 2.0 reached W3C Recommendation on 15 May 2025, moving verifiable credentials from a promising draft to a standard the W3C recommends for wide deployment. It admits several securing mechanisms rather than mandating one.
The W3C published the Verifiable Credentials Data Model 2.0 as a Recommendation on 15 May 2025, the stage at which the W3C recommends wide deployment of a specification as a web standard. Version 1.1 had been a Recommendation since 2022, so this is a revision rather than a first arrival.
The substantive shift is that 2.0 does not mandate a single way to secure a credential. It accommodates Data Integrity proofs, JOSE and COSE, and SD-JWT, which matters because those communities had been solving the same problem incompatibly. Selective disclosure and privacy considerations are treated more prominently than in 1.1.
Why it matters
A Recommendation is the point at which procurement and regulation can safely reference a spec, and that is the practical unlock. The EU Digital Identity Wallet work under eIDAS 2 depends on a stable credential format, and member-state implementations were waiting on exactly this.
The caution worth carrying: multiple securing mechanisms means "supports verifiable credentials" is not a specification. Two conforming implementations can still fail to interoperate if one issues SD-JWT and the other expects Data Integrity proofs. When you evaluate a wallet or issuer, ask which securing mechanism and which DID methods it supports, not whether it is standards-compliant. Our implementation guide covers where those choices bite.