RTAO -> TAO

As a Root of Trust (RTAO) entity, it is possible to accredit Trusted Accreditation Organisations to issue Verifiable Accreditations or Verifiable Attestations.

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

Root TAOs can set permissions under which TAOs must abide. This creates a level of codified governance for the trust ecosystem.

"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"
      }
    ]
  },

Whereby:

Field	Description
schemaId	Schema of the Verifiable Accreditation that the TAO is accredited to issue themselves
types	Types of Credential that the TAO is accredited to issue
limitJurisdiction	Permission that the RTAO can set to limit the jurisdictional scope of the credentials issued in the ecosystem

Policies

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

"termsOfUse": {
    "type": "TrustFrameworkPolicy",
    "trustFramework": "Name of the Ecosystem Governance Framework (GF)",
    "trustFrameworkId": "https://example.com/governance-framework/125"
  },

Whereby:

Field	Description
type	Must be TrustFrameworkPolicy
trustFramework	Name of Governance Framework set by the Governance Authority
trustFrameworkId	URL linking to where the written Governance Framework is stored

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",
    "VerifiableAuthorisationForTrustChain"
  ],
  "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": "TrustFrameworkPolicy",
    "trustFramework": "cheqd Governance Framework",
    "trustFrameworkId": "https://learn.cheqd.io/governance/start"
  },
  "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