# Verifiable Credentials Vs. NFTs: A Primer

By [Metagame](https://paragraph.com/@metagame) · 2022-08-17

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Unless you follow the working groups in digital identity, you might have missed the latest item of discussion: verified credentials (VCs.) VCs are a web2 technology with standards maintained by the W3C- but they will play a key role in web3.  We’ll go over a quick comparison between the two here.

NFTs and VCs share a few things in common:

*   They are both cryptographically signed, tamper-proof data objects carrying arbitrary information.
    
*   They are also unique in each instance, unlike fungible tokens.
    
*   They both offer some guarantees around the provenance of the data object itself.
    
*   They are both issued or minted by some authority (usually an account or contract in the case of NFTs.)
    

Crucial differences include:

*   VCs are non-transferable but can be issued, recovered, and revoked.
    
*   VCs are not platform-specific, but NFTs rely on a specific blockchain to deliver their usefulness.
    
*   VCs do not derive value from market dynamics, they are only valuable to the bearer.
    
*   VCs are typically more private than NFTs. Issuance is not broadcast to an entire network.
    
*   VCs are typically off-chain and stored locally.
    
*   Typically, centralized entities like businesses or governmental organizations issue VCs.
    

Overall, NFTs have focused on proving ownership of digital assets by a given account or address, whereas VCs have identity-related attributes.

Soon, Web3 will likely combine VCs and NFTs, giving NFTs provable identity relations between digital assets and those that own, sell or manipulate them. Additionally, zero-knowledge proofs can help demonstrate facts and properties without having to trust a 3rd party, a feature explored by protocols like [ZKAttestor](https://hackmd.io/VAcD_hGKSGSEqnmtFf0Now?view).

The relationship between permissions, ownership, and reputation is admittedly convoluted. However, the crypto space is just beginning to figure it out, with [projects like Disco](https://disco.xyz/) and the [Soulbound NFTs concept by Glen Weyl and Vitalik Buterin](https://vitalik.ca/general/2022/01/26/soulbound.html) exploring new ways to integrate, combine and apply non-transferability and third-party attestation. Vitalik has [a post](https://vitalik.ca/general/2022/06/12/nonfin.html) that dives deeper into some of the reasons a blockchain might be used for some VCs.

At Metagame, we’re thinking of how these permissions and data objects can evolve based on contributions or other parameters on-chain and off-chain. We’re confident that VCs and NFTs together will make reputation and status move more effectively and legibly between the natural world and the digital world.

**About Metagame**

Metagame explores the field of earned generative NFTs. We’ve produced a handful of earned NFTs anyone can mint, including Birthblock, an NFT visualizing your accounts age and experience in crypto, and Logbook, an aggregation of all the actions you've taken on-chain in a digestible way that you and other people can understand.

Questions or interest? Follow us [on Twitter](https://twitter.com/Metagame) or [join our Discord](https://discord.gg/3q4J8huNGx) for help with contributions.

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*Originally published on [Metagame](https://paragraph.com/@metagame/verifiable-credentials-vs-nfts-a-primer)*