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The underlying cryptographic technology here: "Verifiable Credentials" is quite exciting. If you have ever wondered "why aren't bureaucracies using digital signatures?" then VCs are interesting. It's a pretty decent technical spec for signing statements like "This person has this age" or "this person is vaccinated" or "this person is authorized for this bank-account as executor of a will". It is a spec written by cryptographers and hackers. At the same time, it is a spec being used by banks, governments, and health-care. That is, its not just a nice technical ivory tower idea, it is actually liked by people who would use it.
Why do these organizations want to use this? Because, without cryptographic guarantees, your business processes involve a whole lot of bureaucracy, manual checking of data, implicit trust relations, and friction (so much friction). That friction is part of why people would actually want to use it. Essentially, all you need to do to share required data is scan some QR codes. Another, maybe more important part, is control over your data.
You determine who you show your VC. It is not needed for two organizations to have access to all of their shared data they need. They give the used the data, and the user hands it over, or he doesn't. The general concept behind all of this is sometimes called SSI (Self Sovereign Identity). |