Sphereon's
Vision and Commitment

Sphereon’s Commitment to Interoperability

At Sphereon, we believe that worldwide interoperability is essential to unlocking the full potential of W3C Verifiable Credentials. Our commitment to developing interoperable solutions enables organizations and individuals to collaborate securely and efficiently through trusted data exchange.

As an increasing number of organizations explore the opportunities presented by SSI-technologies, developing various pilots and initiatives, the absence of a common worldwide interoperability strategy is a challenge.

This has led to a surge in distinct identity systems and applications, each with their own balance of autonomy, trust, and privacy. This lack of uniformity not only heightens the potential for errors but also complicates the task for users and organizations striving to comprehend these systems and applications. This presents a hurdle for a widespread adoption.

Sphereon underscores the necessity of interoperability in the face of this fragmentation. The creation of multiple, incompatible decentralized solutions hinders data sharing between individuals, organizations and devices.

Boundaries, whether semantic, organizational, legal, or economic, serve as additional obstacles.

Our vision is that interoperability should be an intrinsic attribute of the early stages of development. This can be achieved by adopting the same standards profile – an Interoperability Profile (Interop Profile).

An Interop Profile, as Sphereon views it, is a consensus on a set of technical protocols and standards. The commitment to this profile enables data, issued for a specific use case, to be also applicable to other scenarios that abide by the same Interop Profile.

Within the context of SSI, an Interop Profile provides several key advantages:

• It facilitates issuers to provide holders with the option to select one of multiple wallets that adhere to the Interop Profile, safeguarding the freedom of choice.
• The wallet becomes an independent entity from the organizations exchanging data.
• The credentials issued can be verified by any entity that supports the DDIP, eliminating the need for extra technical agreements.
• Holders can utilize their chosen wallet with all issuers and verifiers that follow the same Interop Profile, negating the requirement for a different wallet for each use case.
• Verifiers can immediately access all holders who employ a wallet within the Interop Profile. Technically, this implies that with a single integration, all data issued under an Interop Profile can be verified seamlessly.

The Dutch Decentralized Identity Profile (DDIP)

It is with this commitment that Sphereon, in collaboration with partners like the Dutch Blockchain Coalition (DBC), Animo and TNO, is leading the work on implementing the Dutch Decentralized Identity Profile (DDIP).

For the establishment of the DDIP, the approach has been to start with the most accessible profile for initiating Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI). This allows organizations to quickly understand what SSI can mean for them and accelerates adoption.

These components have been selected to facilitate further development. In the future, we anticipate a migration to more advanced standards. The transition to these standards is anticipated and will be described in a subsequent version of DDIP.

What does DDIP comprise?

DDIP is built on seven standardized components, supporting the most fundamental SSI use cases. While it’s possible to select additional components, it’s important to note that use cases incorporating these extras are not interpretable within this profile.

DDIP encompasses:

• OpenID for Verifiable Credential Issuance
• OpenID for Verifiable Presentations
• DIF Presentation Exchange
• W3C Verifiable Credential JWT
• DID methods: DID:WEB and DID:JWK
• Signature types ES256
• Revocation method: StatusList 2021

For a comprehensive overview of the components, refer to our GitHub page.