Verifiable credentials grant us agency over our data

These enable individuals to share data as they see fit and can do away with large back-end systems

- RAHUL MATTHAN

Back in the day, all we had to rely on were paper records. When we visited a doctor, we carried along with us a file containing all our medical records—prescriptions, diagnostic results, etc., for the doctor to review before treating what currently ailed us. When we went to our bank, it was always with our passbook in hand, so that the history of our transactions could be manually updated in its pages for our record. This allowed us to do with this information what we pleased. If we needed a second opinion, we carried that same file to a new doctor so that he or she could read through it without needing to speak to our primary physician. If we applied for a loan from some other bank, we simply showed them our passbook so that they could assure themselves of our creditworthiness.

Over time, as these systems became more digital, the organizations we interacted with offered us new conveniences. They built digital systems that stored our data and designed internet portals and mobile applications we could use to access and interact with them. Eventually, these organizations came to realize that this data was valuable and, in order to preserve their competitive advantage, began to make the data hard for others to access. In the process, it also denies us, those to whom that data pertains, the ability to properly avail ourselves of it.