Awesome Self-Sovereign Identity

A curated list of self-sovereign identity resources.

Self-sovereign identity (SSI) is a term used to describe the digital movement that recognizes an individual should own and control their identity without the intervening administrative authorities. SSI allows people to interact in the digital world with the same freedom and capacity for trust as they do in the offline world (by The Sovrin Foundation).

♥ Contributions welcome! Read the contribution guidelines first

Contents

• 🌟 Getting Started
• 🤔 Philosophy & Concepts
• 🏛️ Political, Legal and Ethical Implications
• 💁‍♂️ Products & Services
• 🛠 Tools & Technologies
• 🎓 Tutorials & Guides
• 🎮 Demo's
• 📡 Networks
• 📚 Resources
• 📄 Technical Specifications
• 🎧 Podcasts
• 📆 Events
• 💪 Contribute
• 🖋️ License

🌟 Getting Started

Completely new to self-sovereign identity with no clue where to start? Here is one article, one video and one book to get you started.

• Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) Explained - Illustrated video that explains SSI in 3 minutes using two examples.
• Self-Sovereign Identity: Decentralized digital identity and verifiable credentials - Manning book on SSI containing both high- and low-level concepts and explanations.
• Introduction to Self-Sovereign Identity

Next step is to check out some other beginners guides and video's in the Philosophy & Concepts section below.

🤔 Philosophy & Concepts

To understand the philosophy of self-sovereign identity these starting guides and explanations have been collected.

• A Beginner's Guide to Self-Sovereign Identity - Non technical article on the concept of SSI and its pillars and values.
• Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) Foam Figure Explainer - An explanation of SSI using an example of renting a car. Includes a comparison of SSI and traditional identity models.
• Decentralized Identity Explained - An explanation of what decentralized identity is.
• Decentralized Identity — Owning It! - An intro on decentralized identities and a tutorial on using Veramo CLI.
• The Path To Self-Sovereign Identity - Article that originally explained and coined the term self-sovereign identity, starts with different identity models as a whole.
• A Technology-free definition of SSI - Topic paper for Rebooting Web of Trust III.
• Why Self-Sovereign Identity is Important - How to convince your dad, your sister, your nephew and your best friend that SSI is a good idea.
• 7 Myths of Self-sovereign Identity - Seven myths of SSI by Timmothy Ruff.
• 19 FAQs on Verifiable Credentials and Self-Sovereign Identity - Definition based FAQ that explains important SSI terminology and shows what a DID and VC actually look like.
• Ideology & Architecture of Self-Sovereign Identity - Insights and reflections around historical, technological and ethical aspects of SSI.
• The Invisible Man, TEDxAmsterdam - The story of Toufic El-Rjula, a refugee that lost his birth certificate. He now pledges for digital identities using SSI.
• Web Of Trust Self-Sovereign Identity Repository - Articles and documents associated with designing and implementing identity technology using self-sovereign identity principles.
• DIF FAQ - The Decentralized Identity Foundation's general-purpose knowledge base, uses color coding to indicate presumed level of familiarity.
• eSSIF-Lab Mental Models - A description of various mental models by eSSIF-Lab.

🏛️ Political, Legal and Ethical Implications

• The Growth Factors of Self-Sovereign Identity Solutions in Europe - Thesis on the business, technology, legal and governance aspects of SSI.
• Sovereignty, privacy, and ethics in blockchain-based identity management systems - Article about the ethics of self-sovereign identity systems.
• Self-Sovereignity for Refugees? The Contested Horizons of Digital Identity - Article that examines the implications of SSI for border politics and migration management.

💁‍♂️ Products & Services

What projects are out there using self-sovereign identity.

• List of Global Adoption (projects and their status)

Identity wallets for storing verifiable credentials.

• Connect.me Wallet - An identity wallet built by Evernym.
• esatus Wallet - A mobile wallet by esatus.
• Trinsic Wallet - A mobile wallet by Trinsic.
• Lissi Wallet - A mobile wallet by Lissi.
• BC Wallet - A mobile wallet built and maintained by the Government of British Columbia, Canada.
• Spherity Cloud Identity Wallet - An institutional agent by Spherity hosted in the cloud.
• walt.id - white-label wallet solution by walt.id
• SSI Snap - An extension for MetaMask that adds SSI capabilities (DIDs and VCs) by Blockchain Lab:UM.

Software development kits for building an identity wallet.

• Trinsic Mobile Wallet SDK - A SDK by Trinsic to extend self-sovereign identity to mobile app.
• Walt.id Wallet Infrastructure - APIs and SDKs to build embedded, white-label, or mobile wallets.

Notable self-sovereign identity products and services that are in production.

• esatus SeLF - An institutional agent by esatus.
• Evernym Products and Services - Various self-sovereign identity projects by Evernym, such as a mobile wallet, a mobile wallet SDK and an end-to-end SSI platform.
• Lissi Cloud Agent - An institutional agent by Lissi hosted in the cloud.
• Tykn Products and Services - Various self-sovereign identity projects by Tykn, such as a mobile wallet, a web wallet and an end-to-end SSI platform.
• Trinsic Studio - An end-to-end self sovereign identity platform by Trinsic.
• Veramo - APIs for self-sovereign identity.
• walt.id - Build end-to-end digital identity use cases or applications with ease.

🛠 Tools & Technologies

• Aries Cloud Agent Python - An easy to use Aries agent for building SSI services using any language that supports sending/receiving HTTP requests.
• Aries Framework .NET - Provides a universal library for building Aries SSI applications for the cloud, mobile and IoT stack.
• Aries Framework Go - A flexible toolkit to enable the usage of DIDs, DIDComm and verifiable credential exchange.
• Aries Framework JavaScript - A framework for building SSI agents and DIDComm services for desktop, mobile and in the cloud, built using TypeScript.
• Aries Mobile Agent React Native - An open source Aries mobile agent build with React Native and Aries Framework JavaScript.
• Aries Mobile Agent Xamarin - An open source Aries mobile agent build with Xamarin and Aries Framework .NET.
• Aries Toolbox - Tools for developing agents and testing that they are compatible with other agents in the ecosystem.
• Indy SDK - Everything needed to build applications that interact with an Indy distributed identity ledger.
• IOTA Identity - Implementation of the decentralized identity standards such as DIDs and VCs by W3C for the IOTA Tangle.
• walt.id Identity Lib - All-in-one open-source identity and wallet toolkit.
• Universal DID Resolver - Universal DID resolver implementation and method specific drivers.
• Universal DID Registrar - Universal DID registrar implementation and method specific drivers.
• JavaScript: DID Client (did-io) - A DID resolution library for JavaScript.
• JavaScript: DID - A simple library to interact with DIDs that conform to the DID-provider interface.
• JavaScript: vc-js - A JavaScript library for issuing and verifying Verifiable Credentials.
• JavaScript: vc.js - Support Verifiable Credentials in JavaScript.
• JavaScript: DID Resolver - A simple common interface for JavaScript applications to resolve DID documents from Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs).
  • ethr DID Resolver - Use Ethereum addresses as fully self managed Decentralized Identifiers and wrap them in a DID Document.
  • web DID Resolver - Use domains accessed through https as Decentralized Identifiers and retrieve an associated DID Document.
• Rust: did-key.rs - Provide basic support for did:key methods.
• OIDC4VCI - A TypeScript library for OpenID for Verifiable Credential Issuance by Sphereon.
• SIOP-OID4VP - A TypeScript library for OpenID for Verifiable Presentations and Self-Issued OpenID Provider by Sphereon.
• sdjwt.info - A playground environment for decoding and verifying SD-JWTs.
• sdjwt.co - A online tool that allows you to decode, verify, and generate SD-JWTs.
• sd-jwt-js - A TypeScript implementation of the SD-JWT & SD-JWT-VC specification from Open Wallet Foundation.
• sd-jwt-ts - A TypeScript implementation of the SD-JWT specification.
• did-core - A TypeScript implementation of the DID core specification.

🎓 Tutorials & Guides

• Aries Framework JavaScript Tutorials - A playlist of useful beginner tutorials on how to use Aries Framework JavaScript.
• MATTR VII Tutorials - Various tutorials by MATTR on how to work with their VII platform.

🎮 Demo's

High level:

• Animo Demo - Our own demo lets you pick a character and experience digital verification through their world. See how easy it is to work, travel or study using verifiable credentials!
• Evernym Demo - In this demo you'll explore digital credentials with Alice, who just landed her dream job and is preparing to buy her first house using the Connect Me App.
• Lissi Demo - Check into a hotel or enroll in a class in Muster University to experience our favorite wallet for credential storage from our friends at Lissi.
• Uport Demo - Before Veramo and Serto, Uport created this lovely demo in which you play around in a city where verifiable credentials are everywhere.
• Selv demo - At Iota they do it all, including digital identity. This demo uses real partnerships to show you how verifiable credentials will impact day to day life.
• walt.id Demo - Issue and verify credentials via the walt.id portal.
• SSI Snap demo - In this demo, you will be able to obtain a credential presenting proof of competence that you can later use in DAO governance on our extended Snapshot.

Low level:

• AJF Demo - Walk through the AFJ flow yourself together with agents Alice and Faber in this demo.
• ACA-Py Demo - There are several demos available for ACA-Py mostly (but not only) aimed at developers learning how to deploy an instance of the agent and an ACA-Py controller to implement an application.
• Aries OpenAPI demo

📡 Networks

• Sovrin Network - A decentralized identity network based on Hyperledger Indy.
• Cheqd Network - An identity network that enables payment rails between issuer, holder & verifier.

📚 Resources

Resources that are not about specific concepts such as meetups, newsletters, etc.

• In Search of Self-Sovereign Identity Leveraging Blockchain technology - Article about finding a mathematical definition for SSI.
• Verifiable Credentials Use Cases - Concrete example scenarios that make use of Verifiable Credentials.
• Self-Sovereign Identity: Why Blockchain? - Exploration of the place blockchain has in SSI.
• W3C DID use cases - List W3C requirements and specifications.
• Matching Identity Management Solutions to Self-Sovereign Identity Principles - A list and comparison of nearly 50 identity management solutions based on SSI requirements.
• Become a Hyperledger Aries Developer - Quick course on how to get started with Hyperledger Aries.
• Become a Hyperledger Indy Developer - Quick course on how to get started with Hyperledger Indy.
• Identosphere - A newsletter providing the latest news in decentralized identity to your inbox each week.
• Technometrica - Phil Windley's attempt to make sense of the technology that interests him.
• Tykn newsletter - A monthly curated compilation of digital identity content.
• Verifiable Credentials 101 (SSI Meetup) - A SSI Meetup webinar by Tyler Ruff about VCs.
• SSI Wallets - An overview of SSI wallets, by Gimly
• Introduction to Digital Identity
• Me, myself & (SS)I - co-authored by the Boston Consulting Group
• Introduction to NFTs for Identity
• The Future of Decentralized Identity: SSI vs. NFTs
• The Pilot Playbook - How to build SSI Pilots
• eSSIF-Lab Glossary - A glossary by eSSIF-Lab describing various terms commonly used in the space of SSI.
• Overview of Frameworks & SDKs - An overview of various SSI frameworks and SDKs by the European Blockchain Association.
• Overview of SSI Wallets - An overview of various SSI wallets by the European Blockchain Association.
• Best-of-digital-identity - Ranking, popularity and activity status of open-source digital identity projects, including decentralized identity projects.

📄 Technical Specifications

• W3C Verifiable Credentials - Specification of verifiable credentials (VCs).
• W3C Verifiable Credentials Implementation Guidelines - Implementation guidelines for verifiable credentials.
• SD-JWT - Specification for selective disclosure for JWT based verifiable credentials.
• SD-JWT-VC - Specification for using SD-JWT as verifiable credentials.
• W3C Decentralized Identifiers - Specification of decentralized identifiers (DIDs).
• DIF Presentation Exchange - Credential format and transport agnostic specification to articulate proof requirements and submit proofs.
• DIF Linked Verifiable Presentation - A mechanism to publicize Verifiable Credentials for easy discovery and access via a service entry in a DID Document.
• DIF Credential Manifest - Common data format for describing the inputs a subject must provide for credential issuance.
• DIF DIDComm Messaging - A secure, private communication methodology built atop the decentralized design of DIDs.
• DIF Well Known DID Configuration - A DID Configuration resource provides proof of a bi-directional relationship between the controller of an Internet domain and a DID.
• OpenID for Verifiable Credential Issuance (OID4VCI) - A specification that allows for the issuance of verifiable credentials using OpenID.
• OpenID for Verifiable Presentations (OID4VP) - A specification that allows for presenting verifiable presentations using OpenID.
• Self-Issued OpenID Provider v2 (SIOPv2) - A specification that allows the end-user to control a OpenID Provider. This specification is commonly used in combination with OpenID for Verifiable Presentations.
• OpenID for Verifiable Presentations over BLE - A specification that allows for exchanging OpenID Verifiable Presentations over BLE.
• Hyperledger Aries RFCs - Specifications of Aries protocols and standards.
• Hyperledger Indy Improvement Proposals - Specifications of Indy protocols and standards.
• Key Event Receipt Infrastructure (KERI) collected resources - Collected list of resources on Key Event Receipt Infrastructure.

🎧 Podcasts

• The SSI Orbit Podcast - A podcast presented by Northern Block about self-sovereign identity, decentralized technologies and web3.
• The Rubric - A podcast aimed at helping you understand the technologies behind decentralized identity such as decentralized identifiers (DIDs), DID documents and DID methods.
• The Future of Identity - The Future of Identity podcast talks to the people building the IDtech products of tomorrow. In every episode, you'll gain invaluable insights as founders and product builders share how they have successfully gone-to-market with an identity product.

📆 Events

Notable events concerning self-sovereign identity.

• SSIMeetup - An open, collaborative community to help SSI evangelists around the world, independent of company interests or standards.
• Internet Identity Workshop - An event that is held twice every year that discusses user-centric identity related topics and technologies.

🖋️ License

To the extent possible under law, Animo Solutions has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this work.