Credentials

A credential is essentially a digital certificate that proves something about an individual or entity. It could be any verified piece of information, such as:

• A diploma from a university
• A government-issued ID
• A membership card for an organization
• Professional qualifications

In Hovi, credentials are self-sovereign and decentralized, allowing both businesses and their users to manage credentials securely. Tenants (businesses) act as issuers by creating and issuing credentials, while verifiers (third parties) can validate the credentials through cryptographic methods. This ensures that control remains with the businesses and users without relying on centralized authorities. \

How Do Credentials Work?

In Hovi, credentials go through three key steps:

1. Issued: A trusted entity (called the issuer), like a university or healthcare provider, creates the credential and sends it to the person (the holder).
2. Stored: The holder (you) stores the credential securely in their digital wallet. This digital wallet works just like the wallet in your pocket, but it's online, where you store digital certificates.
3. Verified: When needed, the holder can share this credential with a verifier (like an employer or government agency) to prove that the information is correct. The verifier checks if the credential is valid using Hovi’s system, ensuring that everything is trusted and secure.

Technical Overview of Digital Credentials

1. Verifiable Credentials (VCs): Credentials in Hovi follow the W3C Verifiable Credentials standard, ensuring global compatibility. Each credential is cryptographically signed by the issuer, making them secure and tamper-proof.
2. Credential Types: Hovi supports different schema types such as AnonCreds. Additionally, emerging formats like JWT-VC and LDP are evolving and might be supported in the future. You can view Credentails Types to learn more.
3. Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs): Hovi allows users to prove specific facts (like age) without revealing full details, ensuring privacy during verification.
4. Revocation: If credentials are no longer valid, the issuer can revoke them, and verifiers can check their status using Revocation Registries.
5. Interoperability: Credentials issued in Hovi are interoperable, meaning they can be shared and verified across different platforms and networks, ensuring seamless integration with various systems.
6. Selective Disclosure: Hovi enables selective disclosure, allowing users to share only the specific attributes of a credential that are relevant to a given verification process. This enhances privacy by ensuring that unnecessary personal information is not disclosed during credential verification.

This system ensures that your information remains private and that only the necessary details are shared with the right people.