Economy-Scale Digital Trust

With verifiable credentials and digital wallets, we can use the same trust model — and mental model — as we use with physical credentials and wallets. Furthermore, we can use governance frameworks ​ to adapt this model to any trust community and scale it to any size trust network. ​ This ​ digital governance trust triangle​ is shown below.

As this diagram suggests, digital governance frameworks are the backbone of this new era of digital trust. Every digital credential in your wallet should be backed by a governance framework that spells out the business, legal, and technical rules under which that credential operates. By combining the technical trust of W3C Verifiable Credentials and DIDs with the human trust codified in these governance frameworks, we can finally usher in a new era of Internet-scale digital trust infrastructure.