Decentralized Identifier (DID)
A W3C standard identifier that a subject controls without a central registry, resolvable to a document with keys and endpoints. A building block of decentralized identity.
The point of a DID is that verification does not require calling the party that issued the identifier, which removes both a dependency and a surveillance channel. In practice the method matters more than the concept: did:web resolves through ordinary DNS and TLS and is easy to deploy but inherits domain control as its trust root, while ledger-anchored methods gain independence at the cost of operational weight. Most enterprise pilots start with did:web.
See also: decentralized identifiers standard, DID method, verifiable credential, what is decentralized identity
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