Identity: who am I dealing with?

Alice, Bob and Charlie have never met. They still trust each other, because they all trust the same Authority.

The idea

The Authority hands each company a Verifiable Credential: a digitally signed statement such as "Charlie is a member of this data space". The company keeps it in its own Wallet. When another company wants proof, the Wallet presents the credential and the other side checks the signature.

Three roles, one credential. Bob never calls the Authority to ask about Charlie. Bob only checks the signature.

This removes shared secrets and allow-lists. Adding a new member means issuing one credential, not updating the configuration of every other member.

Try it

You will compare the credentials of two companies.

1. Open the participants Wallet and log in.
2. Open the profile menu in the top right and switch to Charlie.
3. Open Credentials. Charlie holds two:
   • a PlaygroundCredential, the membership credential
   • a PlaygroundResearchCredential
4. Expand one of them and open the Credential Subject tab. It records who Charlie is and which role it has.
5. Switch to Alice. Alice holds only the PlaygroundCredential.

Why one Wallet for three companies?

To keep the playground small, Alice, Bob and Charlie are tenants on a shared Wallet. Each tenant has its own identity and its own credentials, exactly as if they ran separate installations.

The credentials were issued by the Authority Wallet. You can open it to see the issuer side.

What to remember

A Control Plane checks credentials before it agrees to share anything. Usually it only asks "is this a member?". Some datasets ask more: "does this member also hold a research credential?". Charlie can answer yes, Alice cannot. You will see what that does in step 3.

Each company can now prove who it is. Next, find out what data the others offer.

Next: 2. Discovery