Verifiable credential

A verifiable credential, or VC, is a digital record of claims, such as a qualification or age attribute, that is issued by an organization and protected with cryptographic proofs. A verifier can check who issued it and whether it has been altered, often without contacting the issuer each time.

Verifiable credentials are commonly described by the World Wide Web Consortium, or W3C, Verifiable Credentials Data Model. They are designed to let people and organizations exchange digitally signed evidence in a way that can be checked by software.

In identity verification, a VC can carry identity-related claims, but it is not limited to identity. It may represent a government-issued identity attribute, employment status, a professional license, a university degree, or proof that someone is over a required age.

How a verifiable credential works

• An issuer, such as a government agency, university, employer, or regulated provider, creates the credential and signs it using cryptography.
• A holder, usually the person or organization the claims concern, stores the credential, often in a digital wallet.
• A verifier, such as a bank, employer, or online service, receives the credential or a verifiable presentation derived from it and checks its cryptographic proof.
• The verifier may also check credential status, including whether it has expired or been revoked, depending on the issuer's design.

What it does and does not prove

A valid cryptographic proof can establish that a known issuer made the included claims and that the credential has not been changed since issuance. It does not by itself prove that the current presenter is the rightful holder, that the issuer's underlying identity checks were adequate, or that the claims remain current unless those issues are separately addressed.

Privacy and presentation

A VC may allow selective disclosure, meaning a holder can share only the attribute a verifier needs, such as confirmation that they meet an age threshold rather than their full date of birth. The technical and privacy outcomes depend on the credential format, wallet, issuer, verifier, and whether the system requires online status checks.

Related terms

A verifiable presentation is the package a holder sends to a verifier, potentially containing one or more credentials and additional proof that the holder controls them. Decentralized identifiers, or DIDs, are sometimes used with VCs to identify issuers or holders, but they are not required for every verifiable credential implementation.