Skip to content
Blockchain LabBlockchain LabTHE VENTURE STUDIO

LibraryData and agents2022Design paperCorpus record

Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) v1.0

Decentralized identifiers. W3C.

A DID is an identifier whose document, including keys, can be resolved by a method. The method says where the document lives. The standard does not pick one blockchain.

A reading of the public document. Not a copy of it, and not a claim about a later network that reused the name.

A product that says 'we use DIDs' should name the method and what a verifier does when resolution and the key the user just used disagree.
Evidence
Primary paper
Re-measured
No
Assumptions
3
Records linked
2

Code

Source, repository, and what is actually hosted

  • W3C Recommendationhttps://www.w3.org/TR/did-core/
  • The source URL is not a GitHub repository. No code remote is invented.
  • Full text is not mirrored. Public availability is not a licence to copy the file onto this site.
  • Add to a reading list

01 Claim ledger

What the paper is allowed to say

Each row is a sentence already in the study. The status is the same on every row: a model claim, not a live measurement.

  1. Claim 01 · Paper model

    The defect

    A username lives on a server. When the server dies or turns hostile, the name dies with it.

  2. Claim 02 · Paper model

    The rule

    A DID is an identifier whose document, including keys, can be resolved by a method. The method says where the document lives. The standard does not pick one blockchain.

  3. Claim 03 · Paper model

    How it is put together

    The identifier and the document are different. A method is a scheme, like a registry on a particular ledger. Control is proved by keys in the document, not by an account at a website.

  4. Claim 04 · Paper model

    Where the claim stops

    The standard does not put personal data on a chain.

02 Three cuts

Observation, model, falsifier

A desk does not stop at the summary. Each claim is cut three ways, using only this study's own assumptions and checks. Nothing here is a new figure.

  1. 01 The defect

    Observation

    What the study says

    A username lives on a server. When the server dies or turns hostile, the name dies with it.

    Model

    What has to hold

    The standard does not put personal data on a chain.

    Falsifier

    What would retire it

    Which method resolves this identifier?

  2. 02 The rule

    Observation

    What the study says

    A DID is an identifier whose document, including keys, can be resolved by a method. The method says where the document lives. The standard does not pick one blockchain.

    Model

    What has to hold

    Resolution can fail, or return a document the subject no longer controls, if the method allows it.

    Falsifier

    What would retire it

    Which method resolves this identifier?

  3. 03 How it is put together

    Observation

    What the study says

    The identifier and the document are different. A method is a scheme, like a registry on a particular ledger. Control is proved by keys in the document, not by an account at a website.

    Model

    What has to hold

    Resolution can fail, or return a document the subject no longer controls, if the method allows it.

    Falsifier

    What would retire it

    Which method resolves this identifier?

  4. 04 Where the claim stops

    Observation

    What the study says

    The standard does not put personal data on a chain.

    Model

    What has to hold

    The standard does not put personal data on a chain.

    Falsifier

    What would retire it

    Which method resolves this identifier?

03 Sequence

One action, as an operating tape

  1. 01Create a DID using a method.
  2. 02Resolve it to a document.
  3. 03Authenticate by proving control of a key the document lists.
  4. 04Which method resolves this identifier?

04 Load-bearing

The argument, and where a pitch drops it

  1. Why it is still on the desk

    The cut

    A product that says 'we use DIDs' should name the method and what a verifier does when resolution and the key the user just used disagree.

    Why it carries weight

    If this cut is skipped, the paper's name is being used without the mechanism that makes the name mean anything.

    Where it is dropped

    Resolution can fail, or return a document the subject no longer controls, if the method allows it.

  2. After the text

    The cut

    Many ledgers defined methods. The useful question is the method, not the acronym.

    Why it carries weight

    If this cut is skipped, the paper's name is being used without the mechanism that makes the name mean anything.

    Where it is dropped

    A method can be centralised and still speak DID.

05 Register

What has to be true

  • Data · Not re-measured

    The standard does not put personal data on a chain.

  • Model · Not re-measured

    A method can be centralised and still speak DID.

  • Model · Not re-measured

    Resolution can fail, or return a document the subject no longer controls, if the method allows it.

06 Divergence

What happened after the paper

Many ledgers defined methods. The useful question is the method, not the acronym.

A later client, parameter set, or reward formula is a different object. Cite this paper for the mechanism. Cite a primary release for the network. This desk has not re-run the proof.

07 Pre-mortem

What to check before you use the idea

  4. 0 of 3 marked on this browser. A mark is a reading note, not a pass, a rating, or a recommendation.

08 Anatomy

The paper, in the order a builder needs

The problem it names

A username lives on a server. When the server dies or turns hostile, the name dies with it.

What the design proposes

  • The identifier and the document are different.
  • A method is a scheme, like a registry on a particular ledger.
  • Control is proved by keys in the document, not by an account at a website.

How the mechanism is specified

  • Create a DID using a method.
  • Resolve it to a document.
  • Authenticate by proving control of a key the document lists.

What this page does not treat as proven

  • The standard does not put personal data on a chain.
  • A method can be centralised and still speak DID.
  • Resolution can fail, or return a document the subject no longer controls, if the method allows it.

Why the desk still reads it

A product that says 'we use DIDs' should name the method and what a verifier does when resolution and the key the user just used disagree.

09 Lexicon

Terms, opened into the record

DID
An identifier resolved by a named method to a document.
DID document
The keys and endpoints a verifier is told to use.

10 Repository

Every linked record on this page

Underlined words open a page that already exists: a concept, a protocol profile, a failure record, or another paper. If a word is not underlined, this desk does not have a record for it.

This is Blockchain Lab's reading of a public design paper. It is not the paper, not a copy of it, and not an offer of tokens, equity, custody or a partnership. Later network behaviour can diverge from the text. Nothing here is investment, legal or technical advice.

Research status: Design paper. Last reviewed: 1 October 2026. This is a reading of a public paper, not investment, legal or security advice.