[wyc]

I'm excited to watch this work evolve. It aims to create the envelopes necessary to support new trust systems like those based on zero knowledge proofs on the web for more privacy-preserving claims.

What's new about this vs. JWTs? Roughly,

JWTs generally happen in two steps:

  1. Get JWT (private)
  2. Present JWT

JWPs can have three:

  1. Get JWP precursor (private)
  2. Generate JWP from JWP precursor (private)
  3. Present JWP

Between steps 1 and 2, JWPs can support algorithms that create selective disclosure, proof generation, etc. so you can show you're over 21 without revealing your date of birth. This extra steps means you don't necessarily need to share the original payload you got from an issuer. Another nice aspect is that ZKP-based algorithms can improve unlinkability to make surveillance more difficult.