Credentials are ubiquitous in the physical world. Driver's licenses allow us to drive cars, passports enable us to travel between countries, and credit cards provide a means for financial transactions. We often use these physical credentials or combinations of these to provide proof of information for certain kinds of activities, such as providing our age so that we may purchase a bottle of wine at a retail store.

But the internet was built without an identity layer. Digital identities today are effectively an endless count of online accounts across multitudes of sites and with it a plethora of negative customer experiences and privacy problems – phishing, spam, surveillance, correlation, regulation, cyber-attacks, exposed data lakes, single points of failure, and more.

Verifiable credentials put control back into the hands of each of the parties. For community members, verifiable credentials make it easier to interact with the digital world (no more passwords!), as it offers a trusted digital way for verifying identity online. For example, community members can generate zero-knowledge proofs, sharing only what they need without oversharing data. They are also able to revoke access or change service providers without losing control of their identity.

For organizations, businesses, and governments, they can be used to automate workflows and drive efficiencies, improve trust and accountability through improved security and better customer experiences, and create secure and private relationships with customers.