The XLS-40 amendment on the XRP Ledger, which introduces a recent standard for Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs), was activated on October 30. Approved by 28 out of 35 validators (85.71%), the amendment went live yesterday.
Mayukha Vadari, a Senior Software Engineer at RippleX, announced the activation via X (formerly Twitter), stating: “The XRPL DID amendment goes live today! DIDs (Decentralized Identifiers) in web3 might be pretty confusing, when looking into how they work. Here’s an explainer for XLS-40 and DID on the XRPL!”
XRP Ledger Gets Decentralized Identifiers
DIDs are unique, user-owned identifiers that should not controlled by any central authority. Vadari explained, “A DID is roughly reminiscent of a fingerprint in the actual world. Everybody has one, and though it doesn’t really do anything by itself, it’s useful in other contexts. For instance, it could possibly hook up with Verifiable Credentials (VCs) or other data that prove who you might be without counting on a centralized authority.
These identifiers are designed to be “persistent, globally resolvable, cryptographically verifiable,” and compatible with any distributed ledger or network, adhering to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) specifications.
The XLS-40 DID specification was developed by Aanchal Malhotra and Vadari. She elaborated on the implementation: “A DID is represented on-chain via a series of two-way links (bidirectional pointers). The user creates a DID document and links to it of their on-chain DID object on the XRPL. The DID document also refers back to the on-chain DID object, so there’s no way for another person to forge your identity. In other words, the document says your account is an element of its identity, and the account says that the document is its identity.”
When users sought clarification on the mechanics, one asked, “Creates when and the way?” Vadari responded, “There’s a recent transaction called DIDSet.” This recent transaction type enables users to ascertain their DIDs on the XRP Ledger, facilitating the creation and association of a DID with an XRPL account.
Addressing concerns about potential identity forgery, a user inquired, “Okay, so what’s stopping me from copying another person’s document and assigning that to my recent DID identity?” Vadari clarified, “Their document won’t point back to your identity, so it won’t be valid.” The bidirectional linking between the DID document and the on-chain DID object ensures the authenticity and integrity of the identity, stopping unauthorized duplication.
One other user, BitCrypto, posed a matter about managing multiple identities: “What prevents a one that has multiple accounts from making a DID for every of them, making that person a unique person every time they use certainly one of those accounts?” Vadari acknowledged the chance: “If you would like to try this, that’s totally positive. Similar to how you most likely have some social media accounts that aren’t connected to your real-world identity.”
In line with information from xrpl.org, a Decentralized Identifier (DID) is a recent kind of identifier defined by the W3C that permits verifiable, digital identities. DIDs are fully under the control of the DID owner, independent from any centralized registry, identity provider, or certificate authority.
The important thing principles of a DID include decentralization, verifiable credentials, and interoperability. Decentralization ensures that no central issuing agency controls the DID, allowing the owner to update, resolve, or deactivate it independently. This also enhances availability, as DIDs are often stored on a blockchain and at all times available for verification.
Verifiable Credentials (VCs) are crucial because, while anyone can create a DID and potentially falsify information, the authenticity is established through a VC that’s cryptographically secure and tamper-evident. Within the DID ecosystem, there are three parties involved: the user (who controls the DID), the issuer (a trusted entity that verifies the data offline and provides the VC), and the verifier (who needs to verify the user’s identity).
Interoperability implies that DIDs are open to any solution that recognizes the W3C DID standard, enabling them for use to authenticate and establish trust in various digital transactions and interactions.
On the XRP Ledger, the implementation of DIDs conforms to the necessities within the DID v1.0 specification. The method involves an XRPL account holder generating a DID that’s controlled by their account. The DID is related to a DID document as defined by W3C specifications. When a user provides their DID and VC to a verifier for a digital task, the verifier resolves the DID to its document and uses the VC to confirm its authenticity.
At press time, XRP traded at $0.5181.
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