The vocabulary of verifiable credentials.

assertionMethod

A DID document purpose binding that declares which verificationMethods are authorized to sign assertions — the purpose W3C VCs use.

authentication

A DID document purpose binding that declares which verificationMethods are authorized to authenticate the DID subject — separate from assertion signing.

controller

The DID document field declaring who has authority to update the DID — the legal and operational owner of the identifier.

Decentralized Identifier

Also: DID, W3C DID

A self-owned URL-like identifier whose associated public keys and services are declared in a resolvable DID document.

DID Document

Also: DID doc

A JSON-LD document that declares a DID's public keys, services, and relationships; served from a resolvable endpoint.

DID resolution

The process of dereferencing a DID to its DID document — the algorithm for following the identifier to its canonical keys and services.

did:cheqd

A DID method on the Cheqd blockchain — popular in the Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) ecosystem, used by competitors like Dock.

did:key

A W3C DID method that encodes the public key directly in the identifier — no external document to resolve.

did:web

Also: did:web method

A W3C DID method that resolves an identifier to a DID document hosted at a well-known HTTPS path on the domain.

Key rotation

The practice of replacing a signing key with a new one, adding the new key to the DID document while keeping old credentials valid.

Service endpoint

A DID document field declaring services associated with a DID — used for discovery of issuer capabilities, OpenID4VCI endpoints, and similar.

verificationMethod

Also: verification method

A key entry inside a DID document that declares a public key a DID controls and what purposes it can be used for.