The DCC and Credential Engine Publish Issuer Identity Research Report and Governance Framework

Marking the completion of a year of research and open collaboration, the Digital Credentials Consortium (DCC) and Credential Engine have released the Issuer Identity Registry Report and Governance Framework. Drawing on insights from an Advisory Group of stakeholders in education, technology, policy and digital identity, this initiative has explored approaches to effectively govern issuer registries, highlighting how they enhance trust and verification of W3C Verifiable Credentials (VCs) and aligned standards such as Open Badges 3.0 in the Learning and Employment Records (LER) ecosystem.

As outlined in a previous blog post “Issuer Registries — Layering Trust for Verifiable Credential Ecosystems,” Learning and Employment Records (LERs) are made more privacy preserving, data rich, and secure when issued as W3C VCs. This is due in part to their ability to be cryptographically signed by the issuing organization, thus making them tamper evident and instantly verifiable. By design, they are also able to be verified instantly without contacting or informing the issuer. While this model protects the privacy of the holder, it does call into question how a verifier (such as an employer) can be certain the issuer that is listed on the credential is in fact a known organization, as opposed to an impersonator.

This is the challenge that is addressed by issuer identity registries, datasets containing the identities of known issuers and their unique identifiers (such as Decentralized Identifiers and URLs). By leveraging issuer registries in LER VC ecosystems, verifiers are not only able to check the validity of the credential itself, but can also check to see that the issuer is included on a governed list of known entities, providing an additional layer of trust and security.

Image showing the trust model for W3C VCs with the inclusion of an issuer identity registry.

The DCC and Credential Engine’s work involved several phases of research and implementation. The project team reviewed a number of existing specifications for issuer identity registries, ultimately selecting Open ID Federation 1.0 (for more information on the process for reviewing and selecting this spec see our previous blog post here) based on its capabilities and level of adoption. DCC and Credential Engine technical teams worked together to develop a reference implementation focusing on the LER use case and produced a governance framework, guided by Mayer, Davis, & Schoorman’s Integrative Model of Organizational Trust.

The project team worked openly and collaboratively throughout, seeking input from technologists, identity experts, and learning and workforce advocates. The resulting resources include:

• Issuer Identity Registry Research Report: Designing Trust Infrastructure for W3C Verifiable Credentials Being Used for Learning and Employment Record which explores the trust challenges, standards, and governance essential for scalable, privacy-preserving credential ecosystems, highlighting how issuer identity registries enable trusted, portable LERs, and offering practical guidance on implementing W3C Verifiable Credentials using OpenID Federation, DIDs, and the Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL).
• Governance Framework for Issuer Identity Registries, co-developed through extensive stakeholder collaboration, provides clear, adaptable practices to help implementers establish transparent and accountable registry operations, aligning with community expectations and technical reliability through the Integrative Model of Organizational Trust: ability, integrity, and benevolence.
• Open source code for implementing issuer identity registries: Available on DCC Github repository here.

This collaborative initiative represents a significant milestone in establishing a trusted digital credential ecosystem, creating essential infrastructure and guidance that addresses critical trust and verification challenges in the LER ecosystem. As organizations increasingly adopt W3C VCs for educational and professional records, these resources will serve as foundational elements for interoperable, trustworthy digital credentialing networks that benefit learners, employers, and institutions alike, paving the way for broader adoption of secure digital credentials in education and workforce development.

View the Report and Governance Framework here.

Contact Information: Info@credentialengine.org and digitalcredential@mit.edu to learn more about these resources and how you can get involved.