Credentials
Bitstring Status List
Also known as: StatusList2021, W3C Bitstring Status List
A W3C-standardized compressed-bitstring credential that lets any verifier check revocation status without contacting the issuer's API.
A Bitstring Status List is a credential whose payload is a compressed bit-array, with one bit per position. Each credential that references the status list also declares an index and a statusPurpose (for example, "revocation"). A verifier downloads the status list once, decompresses the bitstring, and checks the bit at the indexed position — no request to the issuer required.
This is the W3C-standardized mechanism for standards-discoverable revocation. Previous drafts of the same idea were called StatusList2021; the current W3C Verifiable Credentials v2.0 ecosystem settled on "Bitstring Status List" as the normative name.
LearnCoin credentials do not ship Bitstring Status List entries today. Revocation is available via the LearnCoin /v1/credentials/verify endpoint and the public verification page — both reliable, but both require LearnCoin's infrastructure. Bitstring Status List is on the roadmap so third-party verifiers operating on the raw JSONLD alone can detect revocation.
Related terms