A tamper-evident, cryptographically signed digital credential that can be verified without contacting the issuer, enabling decentralised trust in digital identity systems.
A Verifiable Credential (VC) is a W3C standard data model for expressing credentials in a way that is cryptographically secure, privacy-respecting, and machine-verifiable. In the context of eIDAS 2.0 and the European Digital Identity Wallet, VCs provide the conceptual foundation for how identity data and attributes are represented, issued, held, and presented.
A VC contains claims about a subject (such as a person's name, date of birth, or professional qualification), metadata about the credential itself (issuer, issuance date, expiry), and a cryptographic proof, typically a digital signature, that allows any verifier to confirm the credential's authenticity and integrity without needing to contact the issuer directly. This decentralised verification model is essential for the scalability and privacy objectives of the EUDIW. While the eIDAS 2.
0 implementing acts specify particular credential formats (notably SD-JWT and mdoc/ISO 18013-5 rather than the W3C VC Data Model directly), the principles of verifiable credentials permeate the entire architecture. Selective disclosure and zero-knowledge proof techniques can be layered on top of VCs to allow holders to reveal only the minimum necessary information. For example, a user could prove they are over 18 without revealing their exact date of birth.
The VC ecosystem involves three roles (issuer, holder, and verifier) that map onto the eIDAS concepts of attribute providers, wallet holders, and relying parties. Understanding VCs is fundamental for any organisation planning to issue or consume digital credentials within the European digital identity ecosystem.
Related Terms
Decentralized Identifier (DID)
A globally unique identifier that can be resolved to a DID document containing public keys and service endpoints, enabling verifiable, self-sovereign digital identity without a central registry.
Technical StandardsSelective Disclosure
A privacy-enhancing capability that allows a credential holder to present only specific attributes from a credential rather than the entire dataset.
Digital IdentitySD-JWT (Selective Disclosure JSON Web Token)
A credential format that extends standard JWTs with selective disclosure capabilities, allowing holders to reveal only chosen claims, adopted as a core format for the EUDIW.
Technical StandardsOpenID for Verifiable Credentials (OpenID4VC)
A family of protocols built on OpenID Connect that standardise the issuance, presentation, and verification of digital credentials, adopted as the core protocol suite for the EUDIW.
Technical Standards