W3C

– DRAFT –
Weekly VCWG meeting

12 August 2026

Attendees

Present
bigbluehat, brent, denkeni, dlongley, Elaine, JennieM, KevinDean, kezike, manu, michaelshea, pdl-ASU, phila, swcurran, TallTed, wes-smith
Regrets
-
Chair
phila
Scribe
bigbluehat

Meeting minutes

phila: any other items for the agenda for today?

manu: there is a discussion over the last couple weeks around payments and digital credentials
… EMVCo did a presentation at the W3C
… some of us were there and noted that there are W3C VC community members doing payments work at other organizations
… some of those other orgs are also hoping to visit on August 27th to present some of that work
… I can't make that call
… but hopefully others here can
… there are some asks from FIDO and EMVCo
… and folks here could contribute review
… as they've been asked to support W3C Verifiable Credentials
… and it would be great for us to participate

phila: is that the FedID WG call on the 27th?

manu: yes.

<phila> The meeting Manu is talling about is https://www.w3.org/events/meetings/d593c94a-0cc3-4a92-ae85-f4024adf1f16/

phila: I was under the wrong impression that it was only for chairs, but everyone is actually welcome
… I plan to be there and I hope others will join from this group as well
… there are other events this fall where various standards will be being discussed together

TallTed: that call is actually already on the VCWG calendar

<Zakim> brent, you wanted to say also at TPAC

brent: there is also a joint meeting on the Tuesday of TPAC
… if you've already registered, please consider attending that
… one of the bolded options for you should be that joint session

phila: It's 1:30 PM on Tuesday--Ireland time
… k. there's a list of things from manu for us to go through today

task Force updates

phila: anyone else have other task force things to discuss?

dmitriz: the Render Method Task Force agreed to ask the main group--this one--to do a resolution to start the horizontal review for our spec

<Zakim> manu, you wanted to note lots of work on threat models.

phila: dmitriz can you draft that?

manu: I actually have resolutions drafted

phila: great, let's use that/those

manu: this isn't usually how we do it, but doing one proposal would simplify things

wes-smith: that list should include VC Forgery Defense also

manu: k. adding that.

phila: so, some context for those who might be need
… wide review is a W3C distinguishing feature
… we have Accessibility, I18N (Internationalization), Security, Privacy, and the TAG (Technical Architecture Group) review every standard
… these things can take a bit, so we want to start them earlier than later
… these are valuable reviews since the Web is for Everyone (per Tim Berners-Lee)

wes-smith: we will need to link to these minutes as part of the request to the TAG (at least) when doing horizontal review

<manu> PROPOSAL: Request Horizontal Review for VC Rendering Methods, VC API for Lifecycle Management (VCALM), VC Barcodes, and VC Forgery Defense.

phila: manu please post the proposal--I think we're ready to vote

<TallTed> +1

<dlongley> +1

<bigbluehat> +1

<phila> +1

<wes-smith> +1

<manu> +1

<JennieM> +1

<dmitriz> +1

<pdl-ASU> +1

<michaelshea> +1

<brent> +1

<kezike> +1

<KevinDean> +1

phila: simple resolutions only come from far too few people doing far too much work
… thank you to those who have made this happen!

RESOLUTION: The VCWG requests Horizontal Review for VC Rendering Methods, VC API for Lifecycle Management (VCALM), VC Barcodes, and VC Forgery Defense.

<Zakim> manu, you wanted to note I have one more for the registration

phila: for wes-smith and anyone else who needs it, there is the direct link to the vote above

<Elaine> Post link again. Please. I was disconnected.

manu: it's good practice to register protocol and/or pseudo schemes at IANA
… we have one in VCALM called `interaction:`
… and it supports multiple protocols

<manu> https://w3c.github.io/vcalm/#iana-considerations

manu: this should actually help the ecosystem by building a bridges from user agents (Wallets, browsers) to various protocols

phila: this is what goes at the front of the URI?

manu: yes

<Elaine> Add me +1

phila: is this contentious?

manu: who knows?! We don't think so.
… the `web+interaction` URL is for web apps to be registered as Wallets

brent: as someone who is currently going through a failing URI attempt
… I am not seeing the description of the URI itself
… I see the scheme registration, but where is the description of what the URI actually looks like?

manu: are you asking about the ABNF?
… I thought that was not needed until the final registration, not a provisional one

<dlongley> https://w3c.github.io/vcalm/#interaction-scheme-format

<manu> https://w3c.github.io/vcalm/#interaction-scheme-format

manu: kezike may know more

kezike: we do have ABNF

manu: we could provide that. We do have it.

brent: all good. I just wasn't finding it.

manu: some registrations have very little info and others have pages...so who knows how this will go

kezike: we should probably put the full scheme names in the proposal

manu: we mention that the spec talks about what they are
… we could make it explicit

TallTed: yes, please do

<manu> PROPOSAL: Request the registration of protocol schemes listed in the IANA Considerations section, that is, interaction and web+interaction, of the Verifiable Credential API for Lifecycle Management (VCALM) specification via IANA.

<dlongley> +1

<dmitriz> +1

<brent> +1

<kezike> +1

<michaelshea> +1

phila: thank you, manu

<phila> +1

<bigbluehat> +1

<TallTed> +1

<manu> +1

<JennieM> +1

<pdl-ASU> +1

<Elaine> +1

RESOLUTION: The VCWG requests the registration of protocol schemes listed in the IANA Considerations section, that is, interaction and web+interaction, of the Verifiable Credential API for Lifecycle Management (VCALM) specification via IANA.

phila: whether you were part of the work or not, you are part of the group that approved this resolution
… I understand that folks can't be in all groups, but we do act as a group for significant actions such as this one.

test suites and implementations

phila: we're heading into a few upcoming months where test suites need expansion or creation
… with the number of things going on, it can be helpful to see who's actually using this stuff
… where can I see the W3C VC stack in the wild?
… if you have or you know of an implementation of W3C VCDM, I'd be very interested to hear about that
… so we can jot some of that down and talk about them at the conferences this fall

manu: I can't mention all of our rollouts, but one of them is the CA DMV
… all Driver's Licenses in CA are issued both as mDL and VCs
… they also issue Vehicle Titles as only W3C VCs
… there should be upcoming news about that
… there has also been educationally focused VCs getting traction in CA
… there are a number of pilots--such as the Career Passport pilot
… MOSIP has mentioned that they have 180 million _people_ using VCs--obviously even more VCs than people
… several US states are issuing VCs for a wide range of government and educationally related use cases

<dlongley> additional note on CA DMV: all new physical licenses include VCBs.

manu: CONEXSUS and NACS are releasing several VC ecosystem-based deployments

<wes-smith> and ID cards!

manu: I can't share all the timelines, but "soon"
… some of this surfaces on https://vcplayground.org/
… if you look at convenience.org's list of credentials, you'll find an entire retail store story there with VCs covering things such as gift cards, loyalty cards, etc.
… and many more announcements coming in the next 6-9 months

phila: that's great data.
… does anyone else have data they can share?

<pdl-ASU> I believe the California Career Passport also includes the Community Colleges and CA State University System, as well.

michaelshea: I believe the UNTP work is getting traction in Australia
… and is moving from pilot to production in the next 12-18 months
… that's obviously outside the person identity space

manu: thank you michaelshea, lots more going on at the UN and in the supply chain world as well

<pdl-ASU> ASU does issue W3C VC compliant OBv3 credentials as well

manu: I also meant to call out VC Barcodes specifically
… a VC Barcode is going on all physical Driver Licenses in CA
… so VCs are in people's hands--with a 5-to-1 ratio opposite mDL technology in CA

denkeni: as manu mentioned, MOSIP has lots of adoption
… we're going to propose a new task force under the CCG soon
… we're using much of this technology in our own countries
… and I'm hoping we can contribute to test suites, etc.

phila: I believe there's also work going on in Brazil?

hxavier: what I know is that there are biometric, non-VC-based private implementers
… but the government is working on a solution based on verifiable credentials
… I know VCs have been applied to giving credit to farmers, but not sure of the specifics
… and for age assurance they are using VCDM
… and also using the OID4* protocols

phila: anyone else have more to share?
… I and many others are going to be on the road talking about our work and pushing their own approaches
… it always helps to have real world use cases to present

<pdl-ASU> The Alabama Talent Triade is their statewide talent markplace has the W3C VC as a core pillar of its technology stack.

phila: it provides confidence
… and in this spirit, GS1 is indeed implementing W3C VCs
… we are a federated organization, so we have to work out governance next
… also, for the Recognized Entity folks, we are planning to get our docs up to date to share with that task force
… so, GS1 is certainly on board
… which is a big deal for cross-border trade, etc.

michaelshea: there is a great deal of activity going on with UNTP
… especially around mines
… and pilots around fashion and textiles
… and another around responsible businesses
… there's also a seafood traceability group forming
… and all these groups are bringing lots of attention to UNTP
… and UNTP is 100% W3C VC based technology

<pdl-ASU> The Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) through its CRED System (Comprehensive Record for Every Learner) uses VCDMs (via OBv3 and CLRv2s)to represent verified skills, course competencies, co-curricilar achievements and credit-for-prior-learning.

CID

Elaine: just an FYI, I'm also in the ISO groups related to this work

phila: great. I have nothing but respect for anyone working in standards

Elaine: and just so you know, folks often think I'm the liaison for the W3C--which I am not

phila: yes...similar confusions about around GS1 here

<brent> +1 Elaine should feel free to give ISO folks an update on what we're doing

phila: michaelshea you wanted to discuss some specific things here

<pdl-ASU> The State of North Dakota issues W3C VCs to all K12 students (focused on middle and high school) and a few technical schools have joined into project managed through the State Longitudinal Data Service.

CID Issue 170 w3c/cid#170

michaelshea: this particular one probably needs Joe to be here

brent: this one is actually done

CID issue 167 w3c/cid#167

CID issue 165 w3c/cid#165

CID issue 166 w3c/cid#166

<phila> bigbluehat: It's bc we're using content-based hashes, line endings and so on can change the hash. We have to look through until we find a match...

<phila> michaelshea: That's outside my expertise - can you help please?

<phila> bigbluehat: Has anyone gone through and checked all these? We may need to change how we share hashes so they don't get messed up.

phila: there are a couple of instances where it really matters where the hash in the spec matches
… I'm thinking the JSON-LD context file in the VCDM
… in that case, it really matters
… in the examples, I think I've seen text that says we make no cryptographic promises around examples

<phila> bigbluehat: This is a topic in itself. Do we need non-normative hashes to be accurate?

<Zakim> brent, you wanted to give context

brent: to give some context here...no pun intended
… as we were preparing the last round of specs

<dmitriz> @bigbluehat -- we really need to add a canonicalization attribute to digestMultibase..

brent: we wanted to be able to normatively reference the context
… I don't think removing the hashes is an option
… we need to fix this one way or the other

<dlongley> dmitriz: i think that already exists, the group just didn't have consensus to use canonicalization for these hashes in the past.

phila: this maybe just needs a quick call with bigbluehat and pchampin

<dmitriz> @dlogley -- what's the mechanism? multihash?

michaelshea: I'm happy to try and set one up

phila: I know pchampin is on holiday
… but basically, it's a bit of engineering to get it right

michaelshea: I will setup a separate call around 166

<dlongley> dmitriz: https://github.com/multiformats/multicodec/blob/master/table.csv#L595

<dmitriz> @dlongley -- I'm familiar with multicodec mechanism in general, I'm more asking -- does digestMultibase support that notation

<dlongley> dmitriz: yup, just use that header :) ... it's in the same namespace

<dlongley> (that's my understanding)

Issue 161 w3c/cid#161

<dmitriz> @dlongley -- ahaa that's good. so we should bring up the issue to the group again. I suspect we can arrive at consensus now

michaelshea: does this look closable?

phila: michaelshea I would add the key people for CID as reviewers

<dmitriz> oh FANTASTIC news

<phila> bigbluehat: The JSON-LD WG, which is meeting at TPAC, is having a very similar discussion about hashes

phila: thank you everyone and bigbluehat for scribing
… JennieM is up next for scribing
… thanks all, bye

<Peter> quit

Summary of resolutions

  1. The VCWG requests Horizontal Review for VC Rendering Methods, VC API for Lifecycle Management (VCALM), VC Barcodes, and VC Forgery Defense.
  2. The VCWG requests the registration of protocol schemes listed in the IANA Considerations section, that is, interaction and web+interaction, of the Verifiable Credential API for Lifecycle Management (VCALM) specification via IANA.
Minutes manually created (not a transcript), formatted by scribe.perl version 248 (Mon Oct 27 20:04:16 2025 UTC).

Diagnostics

Succeeded: s/yse/yes

Succeeded: s/CG/CCG

Succeeded: s/Henrique/hxavier

Succeeded: s/@dlogley/@dlongley/

Maybe present: dmitriz, hxavier

All speakers: brent, denkeni, dmitriz, Elaine, hxavier, kezike, manu, michaelshea, phila, TallTed, wes-smith

Active on IRC: bigbluehat, brent, denkeni, dlongley, dmitriz, Elaine, JennieM, KevinDean, kezike, manu, michaelshea, pdl-ASU, Peter, phila, swcurran, TallTed, wes-smith