RTAO -> TAO

Learn about structuring Verifiable Accreditations from a Root of Trust (rTAO) to a subordinate entity (TAO) on cheqd.

A Root Trusted Accreditation Organisation (rTAO) can delegate trust by issuing Verifiable Accreditations to Trusted Accreditation Organisations (TAOs). These accreditations define the permissions and scope under which the TAO can operate.

The Verifiable Accreditation should include:

Field	Description	Example
Issuer	DID of the Root of Trust (RTAO)	did:cheqd:testnet:8ea036da-f340-480d-8952-f5561ea1763c
Subject	DID of the TAO that is being accredited	did:cheqd:testnet:a2b675de-33d0-4044-8183-0d74f210cceb
Credential Subject	A set of structured permissions around what credentials the TAO is accredited to issue, and in which jurisdiction.	See below
Terms of use	A set of policies setting out the Governance Framework for the ecosystem	See below

Permissions

The credentialSubject of the accreditation, issued by issuer defines what the TAO is authorised to do — including which credential types they can issue and in which jurisdictions.

"credentialSubject": {
  "id": "did:cheqd:testnet:a2b675de-33d0-4044-8183-0d74f210cceb",
  "accreditedFor": [
    {
      "schemaId": "did:cheqd:testnet:8ea036da-f340-480d-8952-f5561ea1763c/resources/b10146d7-0d0f-41e0-8ee3-c76db64890be",
      "types": [
        "VerifiableCredential",
        "VerifiableAccreditation",
        "VerifiableAttestation",
        "VerifiableAccreditationToAccredit"
      ],
      "limitJurisdiction": "https://publications.europa.eu/resource/authority/atu/FIN"
    }
  ]
}

Field descriptions:

Field	Description
schemaId	The schema the TAO is authorised to use when issuing accreditations or credentials
types	Credential types the TAO is permitted to issue
limitJurisdiction	(Optional) A geographic or regulatory restriction on where the accreditation is valid

Policies

The Root TAO can also set polices known as the AccreditationPolicy within the termsOfUse section of the Verifiable Accreditation.

"termsOfUse": {
    "type": "AccreditationPolicy",
    "parentAccreditation": "did:cheqd:testnet:8ea036da-f340-480d-8952-f5561ea1763c/resources/18de60ec-bed1-42e5-980c-601c432bc60b",
    "rootAuthorisation": "did:cheqd:testnet:8ea036da-f340-480d-8952-f5561ea1763c/resources/18de60ec-bed1-42e5-980c-601c432bc60b"
  }

Whereby:

Field	Description
type	Must be AccreditationPolicy
parentAccreditation	The DID URL of the Accreditation issued by another TAO or the Root TAO to the TAO
rootAuthoroisation	The DID URL of the Root of Trust Verifiable Authorsation

Example of fully formed Accreditation

The example below shows a Verifiable Accreditation that is issued by an rTAO to a TAO, specifying a schema under which the recipient is able to use for issuing their own accreditations.

{
  "@context": [
    "https://www.w3.org/2018/credentials/v1",
    "https://schema.org/schema.jsonld",
    "https://veramo.io/contexts/profile/v1"
  ],
  "issuer": {
    "id": "did:cheqd:testnet:b003df6f-ec8e-48dd-9a2b-7011c5cf0a5e"
  },
  "type": [
    "VerifiableCredential",
    "VerifiableAccreditationToAccredit"
  ],
  "issuanceDate": "2024-08-07T02:08:30.000Z",
  "credentialSubject": {
    "accreditedFor": [
      {
        "schemaId": "https://resolver.cheqd.net/1.0/identifiers/did:cheqd:testnet:b003df6f-ec8e-48dd-9a2b-7011c5cf0a5e?resourceName=VerifiableAccreditation&resourceType=JSONSchemaValidator2020",
        "types": [
          "VerifiableCredential",
          "VerifiableAccreditation",
          "VerifiableAttestation",
          "VerifiableAccreditationToAccredit"
        ]
      }
    ],
    "id": "did:cheqd:testnet:6af412d7-2f04-4e12-a424-e6719db487ad"
  },
  "termsOfUse": {
    "type": "AccreditationPolicy",
    "parentAccreditation": "did:cheqd:testnet:8ea036da-f340-480d-8952-f5561ea1763c/resources/18de60ec-bed1-42e5-980c-601c432bc60b",
    "rootAuthorisation": "did:cheqd:testnet:8ea036da-f340-480d-8952-f5561ea1763c/resources/18de60ec-bed1-42e5-980c-601c432bc60b"
  },
  "proof": {
    "type": "JwtProof2020",
    "jwt": "eyJhbGciOiJFZERTQSIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.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.CrEirG-Yki2HCfY6GjNR_Oqx0ZV6uJr1NPpTTLnVWfG1Q9R3YASj7IyEZ3FtVGRmdSNhQ9v2pmPijVxeBnwPAg"
  }
}

For all Verifiable Accreditations, the accreditations are stored as DID-Linked Resources (DLRs), linked to the DID of the Accreditor. This means that the Accreditations are publically available, fully DID resolvable and are signed by the authentication keys within the DID Document of the Accreditor.

DID-Linked Resources

Learn about cheqd's approach to implementing DID-Linked Resources

To issue a Verifiable Accreditation, follow the tutorial below:

Issue Verifiable Accreditation

Issue a Verifiable Accreditation to start a trust registry on cheqd

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