cheqd's unique superpower for monetising credential issuance
Verifier pays Issuer is a Credential Payment flow that enables "issuers" to charge a premium fee to validate the legitimacy of the credential's status. This is an incredibly powerful tool for companies that want to issue Verifiable Credentials, but also want to put a sensible commercial model in place.
This is Jane Doe
Jane Doe has recently completed her university degree at Bright University. She wants to receive a digital, verifiable and certifiable copy of her diploma to apply for a prospective job.
In order for this to happen, first Bright University needs to register their Decentralised Identifier (DID) to a Verifiable Data Registry or ledger. In this case, Bright University anchor their DID to cheqd, using the cheqd DID method.
Bright University, however, want to make sure that they also receive a payment when Jane uses her digital diploma for other purposes. As such, Bright University create a "Premium" credential with a $20.00 fee to fully validate.
Bright University anchor their DID to cheqd, and create a "chargeable" $20.00 DID-Linked Resource to allow relying parties to Pay to Trust the credential's status and also the governance framework under which the university operates.
The specific Public DID is registered as did:cheqd:mainnet:923u592u5ghgu3r8 and the DID-Linked Resouce is available via did:cheqd:mainnet:923u592u5ghgu3r8/resources/5c2529b0-656d-4244-8e55-906d124df523.
Bright University specify that $20.00 must be paid to Bright University to access the status information regarding the credential they will issue to Jane.
Jane has completed her degree and she has successfully achieved a First Class Honours. Now, she wants to receive a digital copy of the diploma to be able to hold it in her digital identity wallet.
On the physical certificate there is a QR code which Jane scans. This creates a peer-to-peer encrypted channel between the University and Jane's phone, which has her digital identity wallet.
Bright University issues a Verifiable Credential to Jane through this peer-to-peer encrypted channel. The Verifiable Credential has the following claims:
This is Jane Doe's diploma
Jane Doe graduated from Bright University in the year 2022
Jane Doe achieved a First Class Honours in her MSC degree in Computer Science.
$20.00 ($CHEQ or stablecoin) must be paid to Bright University to validate and verify the status pof the credential.
The Verifiable Credential has a proof, meaning it is digitally signed by the Public DID of Bright University, as well as potentially cryptographic material referring to a specific public key, which may be used for a particular purpose (such as asserting claims).
Jane receives the Verifiable Credential to her digital identity wallet and this entire data flow takes place off-ledger. This is important because it keeps all of Jane's personal information private, and only with her.
Jane now holds a Verifiable Credential of her University degree in her digital identity wallet and is able to use this to prove claims about herself.
Jane applies online for a new job as a Lead Engineer at a leading technology company.
The technology company asks for Jane to upload her education records. Rather than filling out the form manually; Jane scans another QR code to create a peer-to-peer encrypted channel with the technology company. Jane sends a Verifiable Presentation containing her claims and the attached proof to those claims, in a few clicks or taps.
The technology company is only able to verify the validity of the claims that Jane presents by resolving the DID embedded in the Presentation and by paying $20.00 to Bright University to verify the Credential's legitimacy, status and validity.
Through paying to verify the credential, the technology company is able to see the DID Document and also the Credential status information stored as a DID-Linked Resource. Automatically, the technology company is able to ascertain that the proof inside Jane's Verifiable Presentation was issued by the real Bright University and is for the correct purpose.
The technology company is now satisfied and progresses Jane to the next phase of the application.
On the other side, Bright University make $20.00, which they can later withdraw into fiat currency. This creates a trusted relationship between the "Verifier" (technology company) and the "Issuer" (Bright University) whereby a fair payment can be made for cryptographically verifiable data that makes the technology companies recruitment process much easier.
Understand how $CHEQ is used for payments for verifiable credentials
One of the most repeated bits of feedback that we've had, throughout our survey results and community engagement, is that: more easy explanation and examples on how cheqd can be used in practice would better help people understand the project.
These subpages will try and lay out simple use cases where cheqd will be able to create new commercial models.
There has been a consistent cold start problem for digital credential ecosystems where organisations do not see a clear commercial model or revenue opportunity to justify the switch up costs to credential-based technologies. This is because the perceived value in Verifiable Credentials is the costs saved when there is a significant amount in circulation (the chicken🐔), but this cannot occur without organisations issuing credentials in the first place (the egg🥚).
Unfortunately, the benefits of credentials, prior to the point of mass adoption, provide no compelling reason for businesses to change their current data collection and retention practices until this is the case.
Since launching cheqd, our hypothesis has been that Credential Payments will be the catalyst for credential adoption, by incentivising issuers to release data back to the holder, and allowing them to set a price for trusted data checks. This thinking has since been validated by data collected by cheqd’s partners and potential customers, where 70% of respondents believed that payment rails would help drive adoption with their customers.
We now believe that credential ecosystems are technically mature enough to scale, especially with accelerating their adoption and providing a template for interoperability. Yet, there is a barrier between the theoretical and philosophical benefits of Verifiable Credentials, and the commercial and business benefits of Verifiable Credentials. A payments or incentive layer is still required to provide a compelling reason for enterprise organisations to make the switch.
To achieve this shift, we’ve built Credential Payments into our product to allow organisations to build trusted data markets easily, with simple REST APIs. This abstracts the complexity and responsibility of handling interactions with the ledger and provides a clear integration pathway for developers that are not familiar with decentralised identity standards or blockchain.
This is Jane Doe
Jane Doe has recently completed her university degree at Bright University. She wants to receive a digital, verifiable and certifiable copy of her diploma to apply for a prospective job.
In order for this to happen, first Bright University needs to register their Decentralised Identifier (DID) to a Verifiable Data Registry or ledger. In this case, Bright University anchor their DID to cheqd, using the cheqd DID method.
The specific Public DID is registered as did:cheqd:mainnet:923u592u5ghgu3r8
Bright University also anchors an adjacent DID Document which contains information about Bright University such as:
This is the DID of Bright University
This is the endpoint for Bright University's help/contact address
These are the list of public keys that Bright University might sign with for Verifiable Credentials for University Degrees.
Jane has completed her degree and she has successfully achieved a First Class Honours. Now, she wants to receive a digital copy of the diploma to be able to hold it in her digital identity wallet.
On the physical certificate there is a QR code which Jane scans. This creates a peer-to-peer encrypted channel between the University and Jane's phone, which has her digital identity wallet.
Bright University issues a Verifiable Credential to Jane through this peer-to-peer encrypted channel. The Verifiable Credential has the following claims:
This is Jane Doe's diploma
Jane Doe graduated from Bright University in the year 2022
Jane Doe achieved a First Class Honours in her MSC degree in Computer Science.
The Verifiable Credential has a proof, meaning it is digitally signed by the Public DID of Bright University, as well as potentially cryptographic material referring to a specific public key, which may be used for a particular purpose (such as asserting claims).
To learn more about Verifiable Credentials, please see the page:
In return for a very high value University Credential, that provides Jane a verifiable record of her diploma, and is an optional addition to Jane's physical diploma, Jane is required to pay the University $10.00 USD.
Jane is required to pay this $10.00 in $CHEQ (or a stablecoin that she holds), before she is able to receive the Verifiable Credential. In the background the price of $CHEQ is equated to $10.00 USD, and is transferred to Bright University's wallet address.
Jane receives the Verifiable Credential to her digital identity wallet once the payment has been successfully completed. This entire data flow takes place off-ledger. This is important because it keeps all of Jane's personal information private, and only with her.
Jane now holds a Verifiable Credential of her University degree in her digital identity wallet and is able to use this to prove claims about herself.
Jane applies online for a new job as a Lead Engineer at a leading technology company.
The technology company asks for Jane to upload her education records. Rather than filling out the form manually; Jane scans another QR code to create a peer-to-peer encrypted channel with the technology company. Jane sends a Verifiable Presentation containing her claims and the attached proof to those claims, in a few clicks or taps.
The technology company is able to verify the validity of the claims that Jane presents, by resolving the DID embedded in the Presentation. Through resolving the DID, the technology company is able to see the DID Document and the information contained. Automatically, the technology company is able to ascertain that the proof inside Jane's Verifiable Presentation was issued by the real Bright University and is for the correct purpose.
The technology company is now satisfied and progresses Jane to the next phase of the application.
John Smith is a gamer who has built a substantial in-game profile for game developer's, Digiplay, latest metaverse game. John wants to receive a verifiable copy of his in game assets, which he can hold ownership of, unilaterally, in his digital data wallet, in order to port these assets over to a new game made by MetaZap.
In order for this to happen, first DigiPlay needs to register their Decentralised Identifier (DID) to a Verifiable Data Registry or ledger. In this case, DigiPlay anchors their DID to cheqd mainnet, using the cheqd DID method.
The specific Public DID is registered as did:cheqd:mainnet:6nhj3p3yf8f83g14
DigiPlay also anchors an adjacent DID Document which contains information about the game developer, such as:
This is the official game developer DigiPlay
This is the endpoint for DigiPlay's help/contact address
These are the list of public keys that DigiPlay might sign with for Verifiable Credentials for different game accomplishments and in-game assets.
John has put a significant amount of hours into DigiPlay's title, but does not want to lose the progress he's made, as the game becomes obsolete and older. He wants to be able to port his progress into another, technically compatible title, in order to continue progressing from a relative position. He also has unlocked unique and rare skins, cosmetics and in-game assets which he wants to be able to use in future games.
Therefore, he scans a QR code provided by DigiPlay on their in-game main menu which creates a pairwise, peer-to-peer encrypted channel between John and DigiPlay. Through this channel, DigiPlay issues John a Verifiable Credential, or series of Verifiable Credentials, with various in game information such as:
This is John Smith's gamertag: JohnSmith99
John has reached rank 55 in our title
John has received the following achievements on his profile:
Achievement A
Achievement B
Achievement C
John has unilateral ownership of rare and unique items in this game:
NFT Blue Leopard skin for GG-B67
NFT Navy-blue 49145 player skin
NFT 8676 Custom stock
In this instance, the Verifiable Credential gives John a way to prove that he owns these items, easily, and he is able to showcase his profile and in-game assets in compatible wallets and third-party games.
Since without a Verifiable Credential, John will lose these in-game assets he has earnt, he is happy to pay a $15,00 one-time fee to get a verifiable digital copy of his assets in order to hold them unilaterally in a digital wallet, data vault or secure enclave on his PC, games console, or mobile phone.
Before John is able to receive the Verifiable Credential, in the background the price of $CHEQ is equated to $15.00 USD, and is transferred to DigiPlay's wallet address.
John receives the Verifiable Credential once the payment has been successfully completed.
John now holds a Verifiable Credential of his in-game profile in his digital data wallet on his desired console, mobile or computer, and is able to use this to prove attributes about himself.
John now wants to start a new game with a brand new metaverse title, made by game's company MetaZap.
John wants to port his in game assets, skins and prestige to MetaZap to build verifiable status in his player profile and allow him to use his unique items.
When John starts up MetaZap, the initial loading menu asks John whether he wants to port over any existing assets. John scans another QR code to create a peer-to-peer encrypted channel with MetaZap. John sends a Verifiable Presentation containing his relevant data and claims with the attached proof to those claims.
MetaZap is able to verify the validity of the claims that John presents, by resolving the DID embedded in the Presentation. Through resolving the DID, MetaZap is able to see the DID Document and the information contained from DigiPlay. Automatically, it is able to ascertain that the proof inside John's Verifiable Presentation was issued by the real DigiPlay and starts downloading John's assets into his MetaZap account.
This is John Smith
