When discussing decentralized identity with someone not-so-deep in the context, the first things that come to the people’s minds are DIDs (Decentralized Identifiers), VCs (Verifiable Credentials) along with the dApps that allow collecting those assets in one profile.

While it is a vital part of the identity and reputation representation in web3, builders go beyond the application layer crafting the ecosystem solutions such as blockchains and protocols layers.

Identity in the blockchain gets its implementation in the Proof-of-Personhood consensus that provides each human (e.g. identity) with an equal voting power. In contrast with Proof-of-Stake, where the voting power is based on the stake (amount of money) the Proof-of-Personhood mechanism relies on the individuals as the core of the network.

During the DeFi summer, most of the solutions were focused on taking back the control of our money by establishing the model of Decentralized Finance and allowing individuals to have a complete ownership of their keys and their funds. 

Since recently, we all started figuring out that the data ownership and the governance in our web3 ecosystem has the flaws of the web2 approach which must be reimagined.

The decentralized identity solutions that bring the voting power back to the individuals and form a paradigm of a Self-Sovereign Identity, followed by the self-managed data, are emerging on different levels including not only the dApps but the L1 blockchains.

Humanode is a blockchain that implements the essential idea of the Proof-of-Personhood building a network where every validator is a verified human ensuring that the node equals an identity.

Idena is one of the pioneers of the proof-of-personhood blockchains where verified identities can mine the native coins and spend them within the network including staking for a reward. To get verified, users need to get an invite from a verified identity and solve the puzzles within a limited timeframe.

Accumulate network is an identity-based, Delegated Proof-of-Stake blockchain, with features that power DeFi applications.  Accumulate implements a chain-of-chains architecture in which digital identities (aka Accumulate Digital Identifiers(ADIs)) with the ability to manage keys, tokens, data, and other identities are treated as their own independent blockchains.

{r}elinkd is an identity protocol and a dapp that collects all of the users credentials and DIDs along with the on-chain and off-chain activity to build a unique web3 score and open the opportunities to monetize this reputation representation.

Worldcoin is building a protocol that distributes the equal share of the native token - WLD - to each verified human that owns a World ID. The verification process is based on their specific hardware - Orbs that allow scanning the iris and getting the biometric information to create the World ID. 

Proof-of-Humanity is a protocol built on Ethereum that enables social verification and utilizes Kleros for the courts where verified users vote for the newly joined users and anyone can dispute the verification.

BrightID is a protocol that similarly provides the system for the social graph building and verification through the connections. It is one of the first projects working on the decentralized identity verification and implementing the social graph.

Eden Protocol is a slightly different concept as it’s focused on the reputation of the identities, allowing the users to stake into the people they trust creating the reputation graph similar to the social graphs.

Karat Network is a decentralized data identity protocol that provides users with the ability to share and control their data acting as a Data Middleware. KaratDAO creates the form of the personal data marketplace.

CyberConnect is a protocol that allows creating the profiles and connecting them with the status - the specific token showcasing the credentials and memberships that the owner has.

Starknet, an L-2 Ethereum Zk-rollup which has an amazing content creator on their Twitter (seriously, check it out) integrated the identity layer from the very beginning in the form of the StarkNet ID. The primary objective of the StarkNet ID protocol is to serve as a versatile passport for StarkNet, enabling users to seamlessly store and share their desired data within the StarkNet ecosystem while allowing various protocols to efficiently access and utilize this information.

Human Protocol provides a CAPTCHA solution to identify and verify the real humans.

Everyone owns some kind of a credential. Both web2 and web3 credentials and DIDs represent a particular data about the human, varying from the driver’s license (the most obvious example) to the on-chain activity. 

A notable example here is Polygon ID. Polygon ID is an identity solution that allows users to use zero-knowledge proofs to interact with smart contracts, based on the Verifiable Credential documents issued off-chain.

Civic is another good example of the credentials as an ecosystem solution. Civic Pass is a non-transferable token, representing the on-chain attestation of requirements defined by the projects, that grants the user permission to access the services or protocol. Projects can issue their own custom access tokens (SBTs), gate smart-contracts, conduct identity verification, or even create inputs for their own compliance program. 

Dock has been building a decentralized network for creating, issuing, and managing both Verifiable Credentials and decentralized identifiers on the Dock blockchain since 2017. This blockchain runs its own validator network on Substrate (which is the same framework used throughout the Polkadot ecosystem). It uses the consensus mechanism offered by Substrate – nominated Proof of Stake (NPoS).

KILT protocol provides a framework for issuing self-sovereign, verifiable credentials and DIDs (decentralized identifiers) and gives the data ownership to the users.

Of course, the identity concept sits deeply into the majority of the decentralized social projects as it is often a core idea of the produced content to associate it with some kind of a creator.

Personally, I believe that the DeSoc use case will be one of the most clear ones for the mass adoption when it comes to the decentralized identity. Social reputation is something that we are all familiar with and putting it on-chain feels natural.

Isme is a decentralized identity social network that acts as a Metaverse Social Explorer and enables users to discover connections while seeing the mutual experiences they share with each other.

Lens Protocol, one of the leaders in the DeSoc space, is a social graph protocol that allows other dApps to build the decentralized twitters on top utilizing the very same Lens identity (Lens handle) that users already own.

Farcaster is another notable example of the Decentralized Social protocol functioning on the invite-only model allowing the users to contribute to the protocol in an open source manner.

DeSo is an L-1 blockchain custom-built to power and scale a new category of decentralized social applications allowing all of the dApps and protocols to get the social information stored about the users.

While we all already agreed that the wallet does not equal an identity, the wallets that take care of the identity concepts integrating the VCs&DIDs are essential for the space.

Polygon ID mentioned above also develops the Polygon ID Wallet app - a set of open source user and developer kits to integrate or white label for custom applications.

The SelfKey Identity Wallet is an app that allows managing the ERC20 tokens and digital identity, KYC documents, or other digital assets including NFTs. SelfKey is going to release the SelfKey ID as well. 

Blockchains are created to be built on top of, so any of the blockchains from the first section accommodate developers.

The protocols and credential solutions also provide their APIs and SDKs to enable the ecosystem growth. BrightID, Worldcoin, Proof-of-Humanity, Idena, Polygon ID, CyberConnect and others all have their docs public for the developers to research and craft.

Here I’d want to go over some developer-focused solutions as DevEx still sucks and all the developer tools are vital.

Airstack is a web3 developer platform that provides powerful APIs for integrating on-chain and off-chain data into any application.

Ethereum Attestation Service (EAS) is a public good that enables anyone to make attestations on or off-chain about anything. Developers can deploy schemas (or use an existing one) about any topic and make attestations using that schema.

SpruceID provides the developers identity kit with the authentication, data management and credentials issuance modules.

Walt Id includes an extensive toolkit with the SSI, NFT, Wallet, Storage, and IDP components covering most of the needs when building a dapp requiring an identity.

NextID is a protocol offering Decentralized-Identity-As-A-Service (DIaaS), by aggregating the Web2 and Web3 digital identities, and offering an identity database for open-source developers and projects to innovate and build dApps on.

Fractal provides an integration to build a sybil-proofed dApp with KYC/AML regulatory compliance. 

When discussing decentralized identity with someone not-so-deep in the context, the first things that come to the people’s minds are DIDs (Decentralized Identifiers), VCs (Verifiable Credentials) along with the dApps that allow collecting those assets in one profile.

While it is a vital part of the identity and reputation representation in web3, builders go beyond the application layer crafting the ecosystem solutions such as blockchains and protocols layers.

Identity in the blockchain gets its implementation in the Proof-of-Personhood consensus that provides each human (e.g. identity) with an equal voting power. In contrast with Proof-of-Stake, where the voting power is based on the stake (amount of money) the Proof-of-Personhood mechanism relies on the individuals as the core of the network.

During the DeFi summer, most of the solutions were focused on taking back the control of our money by establishing the model of Decentralized Finance and allowing individuals to have a complete ownership of their keys and their funds. 

Since recently, we all started figuring out that the data ownership and the governance in our web3 ecosystem has the flaws of the web2 approach which must be reimagined.

The decentralized identity solutions that bring the voting power back to the individuals and form a paradigm of a Self-Sovereign Identity, followed by the self-managed data, are emerging on different levels including not only the dApps but the L1 blockchains.

Humanode is a blockchain that implements the essential idea of the Proof-of-Personhood building a network where every validator is a verified human ensuring that the node equals an identity.

Idena is one of the pioneers of the proof-of-personhood blockchains where verified identities can mine the native coins and spend them within the network including staking for a reward. To get verified, users need to get an invite from a verified identity and solve the puzzles within a limited timeframe.

Accumulate network is an identity-based, Delegated Proof-of-Stake blockchain, with features that power DeFi applications.  Accumulate implements a chain-of-chains architecture in which digital identities (aka Accumulate Digital Identifiers(ADIs)) with the ability to manage keys, tokens, data, and other identities are treated as their own independent blockchains.

{r}elinkd is an identity protocol and a dapp that collects all of the users credentials and DIDs along with the on-chain and off-chain activity to build a unique web3 score and open the opportunities to monetize this reputation representation.

Worldcoin is building a protocol that distributes the equal share of the native token - WLD - to each verified human that owns a World ID. The verification process is based on their specific hardware - Orbs that allow scanning the iris and getting the biometric information to create the World ID. 

Proof-of-Humanity is a protocol built on Ethereum that enables social verification and utilizes Kleros for the courts where verified users vote for the newly joined users and anyone can dispute the verification.

BrightID is a protocol that similarly provides the system for the social graph building and verification through the connections. It is one of the first projects working on the decentralized identity verification and implementing the social graph.

Eden Protocol is a slightly different concept as it’s focused on the reputation of the identities, allowing the users to stake into the people they trust creating the reputation graph similar to the social graphs.

Karat Network is a decentralized data identity protocol that provides users with the ability to share and control their data acting as a Data Middleware. KaratDAO creates the form of the personal data marketplace.

CyberConnect is a protocol that allows creating the profiles and connecting them with the status - the specific token showcasing the credentials and memberships that the owner has.

Starknet, an L-2 Ethereum Zk-rollup which has an amazing content creator on their Twitter (seriously, check it out) integrated the identity layer from the very beginning in the form of the StarkNet ID. The primary objective of the StarkNet ID protocol is to serve as a versatile passport for StarkNet, enabling users to seamlessly store and share their desired data within the StarkNet ecosystem while allowing various protocols to efficiently access and utilize this information.

Human Protocol provides a CAPTCHA solution to identify and verify the real humans.

Everyone owns some kind of a credential. Both web2 and web3 credentials and DIDs represent a particular data about the human, varying from the driver’s license (the most obvious example) to the on-chain activity. 

A notable example here is Polygon ID. Polygon ID is an identity solution that allows users to use zero-knowledge proofs to interact with smart contracts, based on the Verifiable Credential documents issued off-chain.

Civic is another good example of the credentials as an ecosystem solution. Civic Pass is a non-transferable token, representing the on-chain attestation of requirements defined by the projects, that grants the user permission to access the services or protocol. Projects can issue their own custom access tokens (SBTs), gate smart-contracts, conduct identity verification, or even create inputs for their own compliance program. 

Dock has been building a decentralized network for creating, issuing, and managing both Verifiable Credentials and decentralized identifiers on the Dock blockchain since 2017. This blockchain runs its own validator network on Substrate (which is the same framework used throughout the Polkadot ecosystem). It uses the consensus mechanism offered by Substrate – nominated Proof of Stake (NPoS).

KILT protocol provides a framework for issuing self-sovereign, verifiable credentials and DIDs (decentralized identifiers) and gives the data ownership to the users.

Of course, the identity concept sits deeply into the majority of the decentralized social projects as it is often a core idea of the produced content to associate it with some kind of a creator.

Personally, I believe that the DeSoc use case will be one of the most clear ones for the mass adoption when it comes to the decentralized identity. Social reputation is something that we are all familiar with and putting it on-chain feels natural.

Isme is a decentralized identity social network that acts as a Metaverse Social Explorer and enables users to discover connections while seeing the mutual experiences they share with each other.

Lens Protocol, one of the leaders in the DeSoc space, is a social graph protocol that allows other dApps to build the decentralized twitters on top utilizing the very same Lens identity (Lens handle) that users already own.

Farcaster is another notable example of the Decentralized Social protocol functioning on the invite-only model allowing the users to contribute to the protocol in an open source manner.

DeSo is an L-1 blockchain custom-built to power and scale a new category of decentralized social applications allowing all of the dApps and protocols to get the social information stored about the users.

While we all already agreed that the wallet does not equal an identity, the wallets that take care of the identity concepts integrating the VCs&DIDs are essential for the space.

Polygon ID mentioned above also develops the Polygon ID Wallet app - a set of open source user and developer kits to integrate or white label for custom applications.

The SelfKey Identity Wallet is an app that allows managing the ERC20 tokens and digital identity, KYC documents, or other digital assets including NFTs. SelfKey is going to release the SelfKey ID as well. 

Blockchains are created to be built on top of, so any of the blockchains from the first section accommodate developers.

The protocols and credential solutions also provide their APIs and SDKs to enable the ecosystem growth. BrightID, Worldcoin, Proof-of-Humanity, Idena, Polygon ID, CyberConnect and others all have their docs public for the developers to research and craft.

Here I’d want to go over some developer-focused solutions as DevEx still sucks and all the developer tools are vital.

Airstack is a web3 developer platform that provides powerful APIs for integrating on-chain and off-chain data into any application.

Ethereum Attestation Service (EAS) is a public good that enables anyone to make attestations on or off-chain about anything. Developers can deploy schemas (or use an existing one) about any topic and make attestations using that schema.

SpruceID provides the developers identity kit with the authentication, data management and credentials issuance modules.

Walt Id includes an extensive toolkit with the SSI, NFT, Wallet, Storage, and IDP components covering most of the needs when building a dapp requiring an identity.

NextID is a protocol offering Decentralized-Identity-As-A-Service (DIaaS), by aggregating the Web2 and Web3 digital identities, and offering an identity database for open-source developers and projects to innovate and build dApps on.

Fractal provides an integration to build a sybil-proofed dApp with KYC/AML regulatory compliance.