This is a set of slides showing the relationships of the various Recommendations that the W3C Verifiable Credentials Working Group plans to publish in 2024.

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W3C Verifiable Credentials Working Group Specifications

It all starts with a data model…

Image description: a single box labelled with “VC Data Model, Graph based model of verifiable claims in JSON for Issuer-Holder-Verifier relationships”

Structural check of a document

Image description: a new box added to the left of the previous diagram, labelled with “JSON Schema, JSON Schemas for the structural checking of VCs”. This box is connected via an arrow to the box labeled as “VC Data Model”

Manage suspension/revocation of credentials

Image description: a new box added to the right of the previous diagram, labelled with “Bitstring Status List,Publishing status information for VCs using bitstrings”. This box is connected via an arrow to the box labeled as “VC Data Model”

Credentials should be secured through…

Image description: a drawing for a delimited area is added to the previous diagram underneath the box labeled as “VC Data Model”, labeled as “Securing Mechanism of VCs”

…either with security data “within” the credential…

A new, delimited area is added to the diagram, labeled as “Embedded Proofs”, enclosed in the delimited area on “Securing Mechanisms of VCs". This new area includes a new box labeled “Data Integrity, General structure of embedded proofs”. This box is connected with an arrow to the box labeled as ”VC Data Model”

…with specific crypto methods

Three new boxes are added to the delimited area labeled as “Embedded Proofs”; all boxes are connected with arrow to the box labeled as ”Data Integrity”. The new boxes are:
  1. Labeled as ”ECDSA Cryptosuites, Data Integrity with NIST elliptic curves”.
  2. Labeled as ”EdDSA Cryptosuites, Data Integrity with Edwards elliptic curves”.
  3. Labeled as ”BBS Cryptosuites, Data Integrity with BBS selective disclosures”.

…or with a security “envelop” for the credential

A new, delimited area is added to the diagram, labeled as “Enveloping Proofs”, enclosed in the delimited area on “Securing Mechanisms of VCs". This new area includes a new box, labeled as ”JOSE and COSE, Enveloping proofs using JWS, SD-JWT, or CBOR”. This box is connected with an arrow to the box labeled as ”VC Data Model”.