Wrightid

Wrightid is a framework for issuing, storing, and validating digital identities and attestations. It is designed to enable interoperable verifiable credentials across organizational boundaries, allowing individuals and entities to present proofs of attributes—such as age, employment status, or professional qualifications—without disclosing unnecessary personal data.

Origin and development: Wrightid originated in 2021 from the Wrightid Consortium, a collaboration of technology companies, researchers, and civil society groups. Version 1.0 was published in 2022, with ongoing work guided by the Wrightid Standards Association. The framework emphasizes privacy by design and cross-system interoperability.

Technology and features: Wrightid uses decentralized identifiers and verifiable credentials, backed by public-key cryptography and cryptographic proofs. It supports selective disclosure, credential revocation, and offline verification. The architecture is designed to be vendor-neutral and extensible, allowing issuer, holder, and verifier roles to interact through standardized message formats.

Adoption and governance: Several banks, universities, and government pilots have experimented with Wrightid with varying degrees of success. The governance model relies on open specifications and a stakeholder council that coordinates updates and conformance testing.

Limitations and criticism: Critics point to implementation complexity, the risk of fragmented ecosystems, and privacy concerns if revocation data is mishandled. Proponents argue that proper governance and privacy controls can mitigate these issues.

See also: verifiable credentials, decentralized identifiers, digital identity.