Verifiable Credential (VC)
A tamper-evident, cryptographically signed digital credential following the W3C VC Data Model. Issued by an issuer, held in a wallet, and presented to a verifier without contacting the issuer.
A verifiable credential is the data model that makes the whole decentralized identity stack work: signed by an issuer, held by a subject, checkable by anyone without contacting the issuer. Two things decide whether a deployment succeeds: the format (SD-JWT and mdoc in practice, whatever the abstract model allows) and revocation, which is where most designs get uncomfortable.
See also: verifiable credentials standard, decentralized identifier, revocation registry, verifiable credentials implementation guide
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