Spherity Blog

In this #SSI101 glossary entry, we unpack Verifiable Credentials—secure, self-contained data capsules that bundle information with identity and context, making them portable, trustworthy, and ready for encryption, verification, and access control across digital systems.

In our new series Identity in a Circular Future, we explore how decentralized identity can drive the shift to a circular economy by enabling transparency, agility, and new models of open data and governance across IT and global markets.

In the third installment of the Meta-platform series, we move from theory to application—examining how trust-based, decentralized identity systems can reshape the economics of real-world industries. Drawing from Spherity’s own client work and research, this piece explores how cooperative infrastructure and verifiable trust can generate cost savings and unlock new business models across sectors.

This follow-up to the first whitepaper in the Meta-platform series continues to rethink traditional IT power dynamics by examining how trust operates in cooperative digital ecosystems. Building on a critique of Metcalfe’s Law and zero-sum platform models, it explores the role of decentralized identity and shared infrastructure in enabling sustainable, trust-based meta-platforms beyond the limits of aggregation.

In this crash course, we break down how decentralized identifiers (DIDs) and verifiable credentials (VCs) secure data and preserve privacy by design—without needing to be a math expert—so you can assess the tech yourself and understand its real-world value.

This condensed version of a whitepaper from the Rebooting the Web of Trust conference challenges the dominance of centralized platforms in IT valuation and strategy. Written collaboratively by leading thinkers in decentralized identity, it explores how decentralized systems—built as meta-platforms—can foster more cooperative, resilient, and future-proof business models than the closed ecosystems that dominate today.

We can turn to how blockchains differ for DID-anchoring purposes, and to how the blockchain-agnostic, interoperable W3C standard organizes them all to work together.

The evolution of retail is also the evolution of identity—this article traces how today’s global supply chains rely on complex serial number systems, explores longstanding challenges like leakage and binding, and shows how decentralized identifiers (DIDs) and digital twins can power the next generation of intelligent, self-verifiable product identities for circular, on-demand commerce.

Identity systems can be very abstract, heady things to grasp intuitively. One good trick for making glossaries more concrete and human-scaled is to avoid defining nouns and put the emphasis on verbs: who does what, and how, in each system?