Self-Sovereignty and Digital Credentials on the Blockchain

Can individuals ‘really’ manage their credentials and digital access?

The fundamental premise of self-sovereignty is that an individual is the ultimate source of data about themselves. With the use of blockchains, no one can take away a part of an individual’s identity by revoking or refusing to issue a credential. By making use of advanced cyrptography and digital signatures, the prominence of a credential – who issues it and the authorized recipient of whom it was issued – can both be validated. Digital self-sovereignty has seen comprehensive elaboration is education. This is partly because education has long been acknowledged as a social currency, relying on credential validation as a principle to prove one’s identity and existence. While traditional credentials can be tampered with, decentralised ledger technologies such as blockchains may become a single source of truth. The verification of education credentials on blockchains in combination with open standards has immediate benefits for issuers, recipients and third parties who need to rely on the credentials as currencies of trust.

About the Webinar

In this webinar, Dr Natalie Smolenski from Hyland Credentials discusses:

• How higher education institutions are changing by answering questions, such as who is the university serving and to what end?
• How using blockchains for credential validation has advantages in not only the education but also health and identity sectors.
• How hurdles to automate processes via self-sovereign identity and blockchain and schools can be overcome.
• How Blockcerts are currently being used in Malta.

Key takeaways

• Once a credential is validated and verified on a blockchain, it becomes a lifelong record. 
• The control of credentials and personal data is returned to the individual who owns it with the use of blockchains and open standards. 
• Blockchain in education makes credential verification faster, cheaper, and more secure.
• Blockchains remove ongoing dependencies on issuing institutions, software providers, and third parties to verify official records and enable direct ownership of digital credentials by both issuers and recipients.

Watch the Video

Watch Dr. Natalie Smolenski explain how blockchain technology can empower individuals and modernize accredited institutions in the webinar ‘Digital Credentials and the Pursuit of Self-Sovereignty‘ chaired by Dr. Kirk Perris from the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) and facilitated by 3CL’s Director Dr. Alex Grech.