Cryptographically signed digital attestations representing identity claims (age, KYC status, certification) that can be selectively disclosed and independently verified without contacting the issuer. VCs follow W3C standards and enable privacy-preserving compliance workflows in DeFi. Combined with zero-knowledge proofs, they enable proving credential properties without revealing the credential itself.
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Cryptographically signed digital attestations representing identity claims (age, KYC status, certification) that can be selectively disclosed and independently verified without contacting the issuer. VCs follow W3C standards and enable privacy-preserving compliance workflows in DeFi. Combined with zero-knowledge proofs, they enable proving credential properties without revealing the credential itself.
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Verifiable Credentials (verifiable-credentials) Category: Web3 Definition: Cryptographically signed digital attestations representing identity claims (age, KYC status, certification) that can be selectively disclosed and independently verified without contacting the issuer. VCs follow W3C standards and enable privacy-preserving compliance workflows in DeFi. Combined with zero-knowledge proofs, they enable proving credential properties without revealing the credential itself. Aliases: VC, Digital Credentials Related: Decentralized Identity (DID), Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKP)
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A W3C standard for self-sovereign digital identifiers created, owned, and controlled by the individual rather than a centralized authority. DIDs use public-key cryptography for verification without traditional identity providers. In blockchain contexts, DIDs map to on-chain addresses and enable verifiable authentication across protocols.
A zero-knowledge proof is a cryptographic protocol by which a prover convinces a verifier that a statement is true — for example, that a state transition is valid — without revealing any information beyond the truth of the statement itself, satisfying the properties of completeness, soundness, and zero-knowledge. In Solana's ecosystem, ZKPs are used by ZK Compression (via Groth16 SNARKs) to prove correct state transitions for compressed accounts without storing full account state on-chain, and by the Token-2022 Confidential Transfers extension (via ElGamal encryption and range proofs) to prove token balances are non-negative without revealing the actual amounts. Solana's BPF VM exposes the alt_bn128 elliptic curve syscall to make on-chain Groth16 proof verification computationally feasible within the 1.4M compute unit budget.
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A W3C standard for self-sovereign digital identifiers created, owned, and controlled by the individual rather than a centralized authority. DIDs use public-key cryptography for verification without traditional identity providers. In blockchain contexts, DIDs map to on-chain addresses and enable verifiable authentication across protocols.
A zero-knowledge proof is a cryptographic protocol by which a prover convinces a verifier that a statement is true — for example, that a state transition is valid — without revealing any information beyond the truth of the statement itself, satisfying the properties of completeness, soundness, and zero-knowledge. In Solana's ecosystem, ZKPs are used by ZK Compression (via Groth16 SNARKs) to prove correct state transitions for compressed accounts without storing full account state on-chain, and by the Token-2022 Confidential Transfers extension (via ElGamal encryption and range proofs) to prove token balances are non-negative without revealing the actual amounts. Solana's BPF VM exposes the alt_bn128 elliptic curve syscall to make on-chain Groth16 proof verification computationally feasible within the 1.4M compute unit budget.
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The vision of a decentralized internet built on blockchain technology, where users own their data, identity, and digital assets. Web1 was read-only (static pages), Web2 is read-write (platforms like social media), Web3 is read-write-own (permissionless, user-sovereign). Web3 applications use wallets instead of logins and smart contracts instead of centralized servers.
An application with its backend logic running on a blockchain as smart contracts rather than centralized servers. dApps typically have a traditional web frontend that interacts with on-chain programs via RPC. Users authenticate with wallets instead of username/password. Examples: Uniswap (Ethereum DEX), Jupiter (Solana DEX), Magic Eden (NFT marketplace).
Software or hardware that manages cryptographic keys and enables users to sign transactions, view balances, and interact with dApps. Hot wallets (Phantom, Solflare, Backpack) are internet-connected for convenience. Cold wallets (Ledger, Trezor) store keys offline for security. Wallets don't actually 'hold' tokens—they hold the private keys that control on-chain accounts.
A 12 or 24-word human-readable backup of a wallet's master private key, generated using BIP-39 standard. The seed phrase can deterministically regenerate all derived keypairs (BIP-44 derivation paths). Losing the seed phrase means permanently losing access to all associated accounts. Never share, photograph, or store seed phrases digitally in plain text.