Understanding credentials for holding

The Credentials resource exposes functionality to issue, revoke, and retrieve credentials.

A credential is an assertion of a claim, or a set of claims, about a subject. Physical credentials are plentiful: driver's licenses, library cards, university diplomas, passports, and so forth. Various authorities issue these physical credentials to holders and holders are able to share these credentials with other entities (individuals or organizations) asking for proof of a status or relationship. These entities can then make a decision about the validity of the credential and whether they accept it for the relevant purpose.

Procivis One enables the holding of digital credentials. The holder can keep these credentials in a digital wallet and share them selectively with entities just as with physical credentials. Because the credentials are machine-readable, processing and verification is rapid.

Credential states and lifecycle

For the system as a holder, credentials exist in one of six states.

The holder uses the QR code to connect to the offered credential (PENDING).

From the offered state, there are three possible state changes:

• The holder accepts the offered credential (ACCEPTED)
  • Once accepted, the credential remains in this state until the issuer revokes it (REVOKED)
• The holder rejects the offered credential (REJECTED)
• An error occurs (ERROR)
  • The offer times out before the holder makes a decision
  • Some other kind of error occurs

Credential deletion

A credential can be deleted. This action removes the credential from the wallet but has no impact on the credential in the issuer's system or on previous interactions with verifiers.