Verifiable credentials blockchain have been gaining popularity and have become a buzzword in the technology community. Though the primary reason is the secure nature of these blockchain-based digital certificates, the accompanying trust is also a significant reason why verifiable credentials are slated to rebuild trust on the internet. But how do these documents preserve transparency and make it easier for strangers to trust each other? Let’s find out.
How are Verifiable Credentials Redefining Trust on the Internet?
The growth of fake certificate generation organizations and the emergence of forged and altered certificates have made it difficult for an issuer, verifier, and holder to trust each other. This is where verifiable credentials come in.
These blockchain-based digital certificates don’t just mimic this decentralized technology when it comes to security and making the issued documents tamper-proof. They feature its transparent and trustless characteristics, too. This means that once stored on the blockchain, these credential’s document history is recorded and maintained on the network in real-time.
Further, a verifier can view a verifiable credential’s issuer, date of issuance, and if the document has been tampered with since its origin. Expiration dates (if any) associated with the certificate are also visible.
These properties help build trust between strangers on the internet. Its instant verification characteristic doesn’t hurt, either.
Consider a multinational company screening candidate applications. Suppose there are 1000 such applications. Now, the company can either bypass the authentication process or individually check up the educational qualifications of each of the candidates, wasting significant time, effort, and resources.
Or, it could request the candidates to share their verifiable credentials and the company can quickly verify credentials and move the hiring process forward. Verifiable credentials help build trust between a candidate and the company and make the authentication process painless.
Moreover, these credentials support trust-based models and make it easier for businesses to classify their internal and external stakeholders into two categories: trust explicitly model and trust but verify model.
If a business trusts one of its partners explicitly and doesn’t need to check their documents (like, an invoice) before giving the go ahead, they can put them in the trust explicitly model. However, if the reverse is true, and the business would rather not take any chances, then the trust but verify model comes into picture.
Having verifiable credentials makes it incredibly simple for businesses to verify the authenticity and check if the document’s claim is legitimate instantly. This ensures no business processes get impacted during the verification stage and the business can always proceed knowing the information is true and correct.
If you want to adopt verifiable credentials, but aren’t sure about where to start, sign up on ProofEasy today for a free trial. You can issue five documents for free and opt for one of the pricing plans, depending on your requirements. The solution also provides credential verification services to help establish trust between your stakeholders and the business, ushering in a new era of trust on the internet.