Decentralized Identity Foundation

DID Traits v1 is now a DIF Ratified Specification! Thank you and congratulations to lead editor / author Jan Christoph Ebersbach, author Otto Mora, and the DIF Identifiers & Discovery Working Group / community for their support!

Read the spec here:
https://identity.foundation/did-traits/v1.0.0/

🛫 At HITEC 2025, industry leaders explored how SSI can revolutionize hospitality with secure, hyper-personalized experiences while protecting traveler privacy.

Recap: https://htwg.identity.foundation/hitec-2025-recap-leveraging-ssi-for-secure-hyper-personalized-and-seamless-travel-experiences/

🚀 DIF Labs Beta Cohort 2 kicks off tomorrow (June 24th, 8 AM PST)!
Three projects tackling key challenges :

- Legally-binding proof of personhood via QES
- Privacy-preserving revocation mechanisms
- Anonymous multi-signature VCs

Read more: https://blog.identity.foundation/dif-labs-beta-cohort-2/

DIF's Creator Assertions Working Group is committed to making C2PA / CAWG work for creators of all sizes. Read about their recently-released 1.1 versions of CAWG specifications:

👉 https://blog.identity.foundation/progress-report-from-the-creator-assertions-wg/

🌍✈️ At #HITEC2025, our experts unveiled how Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) can revolutionize travel with secure, seamless, and hyper-personalized experiences.

👉 https://htwg.identity.foundation/hitec-2025-recap-leveraging-ssi-for-secure-hyper-personalized-and-seamless-travel-experiences/

Don't miss our HITEC session to learn how SSI is creating secure, hyper-personalized travel experiences that will transform the industry!
https://www.hitec.org/
✈️ #HITEC2025 #TravelTech #SSI

🚀 The future of travel and hospitality is here! Join us at HITEC 2025 next week as our experts reveal how SSI is creating secure, hyper-personalized travel experiences that will transform the industry! 

https://www.hitec.org/
✈️ #HITEC2025 #TravelTech #SSI

Igalia Chats Technology Podcast · Updated fortnightly · Igalia’s Brian Kardell and Eric Meyer chat about the Web, open standards, open source, healthy software ecosystems, the latest in browser features, and more.

Two long-time DIF contributors (Dmitri Z🧠, former SDS WG Chair and did:webvh editor, and Bumblefudge🦝) went on the Igalia Podcast to give an intro to and update on Verifiable Credentials on the occasion of v2.0 of the specification.

Tomorrow's meeting of DIF Hospitality & Travel SIG will feature Shane O'Flaherty of @Microsoft on Microsoft’s View of Cybersecurity - it starts with identity!

📆 June 5 at 10:00ET / 15:00GMT / 16:00CET
🔗 Joining info: https://identity.foundation/special-interest-groups/hospitality-travel.html

No Phone Home - No Phone Home Statement We, the undersigned, believe that identity systems must be built without the technological ability for authorities to track when or where identity is used. Such tracking can occur when either the identity verifier or user’s application interacts with or “phones home” to the identity issuer or another third party. Identity systems that phone home […]

DIF joined 100 experts including ACLU and Bruce Schneier to raise the alarm: digital identity systems being built today must not contain tracking capabilities that could enable surveillance for generations.
Blog: https://blog.identity.foundation/no-phone-home/
Statement:

Global Digital Collaboration: your questions answered. Read DIF's latest blog about this unique event, see a preview of the agenda, and learn how to get involved.

https://blog.identity.foundation/gdc/

🧑🏻‍🏫 DIF Staff Drop-In Office Hours (APAC) coming up in 40 minutes. Bring your questions, feedback, jokes. All are welcome.

Take note:
🕰️ Today, 5PM PDT / 8AM CST
🔗 See link in DIF Calendar:

📢 DIF made waves at #EIC2025! Our experts tackled topics of AI agent identity, personhood, and the values embedded in digital standards. See how we're building the architecture for human-AI trust in a world of synthetic identities. Read more: https://blog.identity.foundation/dif-at-eic-2025/

🆕 DIF's May Newsletter has arrived! https://blog.identity.foundation/dif-newsletter-51/

🚀 DIF Labs Beta Cohort 2 RFP is here! Topics include Personhood Credentials, Content Authenticity, Applied Cryptography, Verifiable AI & Industry. Includes mentorship & ecosystem support. Submit proposals by May 20

Read more: https://labs.identity.foundation/posts/042825_request_for_proposals/

📣 DIF's new Hospitality & Travel Working Group starts tomorrow April 29! 

👉 Get involved: https://identity.foundation/working-groups/hospitality-travel-wg.html
📖 Read more about it here: https://blog.identity.foundation/dif-launches-hospitality-travel-wg/

Algorand x World Chess - Universal Chess Passport Tired of rebuilding your chess identity across every platform? A new blockchain-based system from Algorand and World Chess proposes portable, verifiable credentials for chess players—bringing fairness, reputation, and rewards into one unified ecosystem.

🎉 Decentralized Identity meets Chess!

Congratulations to @foundation.algo.xyz  and World Chess on the Universal Chess Passport!

Read all about it, and sign up for the live discussion on May 6.

📣 DIF's new Hospitality & Travel Working Group is creating standards for self-sovereign traveler data—giving people control over what they share with airlines, hotels & services while making travel smoother!
https://blog.identity.foundation/dif-launches-hospitality-travel-wg/

📣 Just released! DIF Newsletter #50 covers the Global Digital Collaboration Summit (July 1-2, Geneva), DIF Labs Beta Cohort wrap-up, and exciting progress across working groups. Read more: https://blog.identity.foundation/dif-newsletter-50/

🔬 DIF Labs' Beta Cohort results! Three projects—Veranon, Linked Claims, Ordinals Plus—reshaping decentralized identity. Beta Cohort 2 starts May 20! Join us in building human-centric digital trust solutions. Details: https://labs.identity.foundation/posts/beta_cohort_show_and_tell_results/ #DIFLabs

How the US could sleepwalk into a dystopian digital ID system Tech born in the crypto community could ward off a privacy nightmare—but only if people actually use it.

Our Kim Hamilton-Duffy spoke on a panel about non-dystopian futures for digital identity with Manu Sporny and others. Read the Project Glitch newletter's cypherpunk-leaning take-aways about the looming "show me your papers" internet: 

How to keep user data private while storing it in the cloud By layering End-to-End Encryption (E2EE) on cloud storage services ourselves, we can ensure that our data is protected from unwanted access, even from the storage services themselves.

The governments are at it again, threatening encryption at scale. Maybe now is a good time to visit the DIDComm User Group hosted by DIF, where we design friend-of-friend networks and protect end-users from these sudden movements from the powers that be?

The State of Security Industry Standards: An Update From the Decentralized Identity Foundation - Security Industry Association Kim Duffy, executive director of the Decentralized Identity Foundation, shares the latest updates on the organization’s standards initiatives.

Thank you to the Security Industry Association for this webinar discussing the latest in security standards, and for featuring DIF's latest efforts in this blog

The upcoming DIF Africa SIG will feature special guest Anushka Soma-Patel. She will share insights on decentralised identity innovation and the Ayra ecosystem

Date: Wednesday, March 19, 2025
Time: 13:00 SAST
All are welcome; how to join: https://identity.foundation/SIG-Africa/

🚀 The March DIF Newsletter (#49) is now available with exciting updates from the decentralized identity world!

Read the full newsletter: https://blog.identity.foundation/dif-newsletter-49/

#DecentralizedIdentity #DigitalIdentity #DIF #VerifiableCredentials #SelfSovereignIdentity

📣 Creator Assertions WG (CAWG) is coming to DIF! Building on C2PA, CAWG helps creators prove digital ownership over their creations.

This collaboration between DIF, @trustoverip, and CAWG members will be chaired by @ericscouten.me . 

👉 Sign up here: https://blog.identity.foundation/welcome-cawg/

🔐 Join the DIDComm User Group to connect with developers implementing secure, decentralized identity communication!

See demos, get help with your projects, and explore adoption trends. Meetings in US and APAC/EU time zones.

Learn more: https://blog.identity.foundation/3-reasons-didcomm/

Golda Velez discusses Linked Claims during the recent DIF Labs Beta Cohort Show and Tell. Linked Claims is a standard that is implementation independent, for making claims that can be connected together across different platforms, storages and implementations. Full presentation 🔗 in comments.

YouTube video by Decentralized Identity Foundation DIF Labs Inaugural Beta Cohort: Show and Tell

youtu.be/pHYnNOYu5jw

Alex Hache of team VerAnon presents his proposal for a protocol for anonymous personhood verification using Semaphore, a zero-knowledge group membership protocol at the recent DIF Labs Beta Cohort Show and Tell. Full video 🔗 in comments.