ONT ID Framework Upgraded: Ontology’s Verifiable Credentials SDKs Now Open Source for All Go and Java Developers

As the project that has focused on the Decentralized Identity (DID) field for over 4 years, Ontology’s goal is to build the infrastructure to provide trusted access to Web3, allowing individuals and enterprises to rest assured that through robust digital identity solutions, users and their privacy come first, industry wide. To achieve this mission, the full set of ONT ID frameworks have been comprehensively upgraded.

The integration of digital identity solutions is core to the creation of a Web3 that is secure and trusted. That’s why today, we are announcing that our bespoke Verifiable Credentials Software Development Kits (VC SDKs) are now open source and accessible to all Go and Java developers on GitHub. This includes the VC-SDKs as well as the VC-With-ONTID-SDKs, of which you can find more information below.

We are proud to invite developers to join the Ontology community and create new use cases for digital identity solutions. This news comes alongside the extension of our Dorahacks hackathon to the end of May, which aims to promote privacy and digital identity, offering a prize pool of up to $100K USD.

Applicable in both Web2 and Web3 ecosystems

Most importantly, developers do not have to be building on Ontology; the SDKs are available for use in all circumstances, and we encourage the developer community to glean the benefits of doing so.

VC-SDKs should be applied in any blockchain ecosystem, making it easy for dApp developers to implement verifiable-credential-related Web3 applications or embed verifiable credential functionalities into existing Web2 applications. Via GitHub, developers can edit content and code inline, make pull requests, file issues and send content suggestions to the documentation and SDK teams in question.

Understanding VC-Go and VC-Java SDKs

The SDKs are for verifiable credentials written in the Golang and Java languages. It conforms to the W3C recommendation for Verifiable Credentials Data Model, a specification endorsed by W3C and its members.

This SDK is identifier-agnostic. It supports a variety of identifiers, such as the decentralized identifier (DID) methods defined in the W3C DID Specification Registries, as well as identifiers from the Ethereum Name Service (ENS) or other domain naming systems. In terms of proof methods, this SDK supports common cryptographic signature algorithms and will support zero-knowledge proofs in the future. It will also support range proofs and existence proofs that will allow for selective disclosure in a sequence.

This SDK does not deal with the revocation of verifiable credentials. Because the information in a VC needs to be adjustable for security reasons, the statuses of a verifiable credential include, as a minimum, “normal” and “revoked”. This presents a use case opportunity for application developers.

VCs can be used in many business scenarios. When applying for a job, job-seekers can provide a verifiable presentation, which has necessary information and the signature generated by the job-seekers, derived from their VCs issued by a university, for example. The employer can cryptographically verify that the individual’s presentation is not fraudulent by checking both the verifiable presentation itself (such as checking the signature and the period of validity), as well as the university’s revocation services.

Understanding VC-With-ONTID-SDKs for Go and Java

Using the VC-With-ONTID-SDKS over VC-SDKs has the added advantage of allowing anyone that does not have access to their own DID protocols to apply the SDK and access the ONT ID protocols, opening up a realm of new possibilities.

This is an SDK for using ONT ID in a VC system. ONT ID is decentralized, self-sovereign, privacy-preserving, and easy to use, enabling users to fully control their own data and identities.

These SDKs should be used with the VC-SDKs which implement the main functionalities of a verifiable credential system. Besides using ONT ID to identify the various parties in a VC system, this SDK also supports rerecording the VC status in the Ontology blockchain.

With the help of these SDKs, issuers can change the verifiable credentials from “normal” to “revoked” if the issued credentials need to be revoked. It is worth noting that trying the opposite direction will not work due to security concerns. Holders can also revoke their credentials on their own.

For example, ABC is a vocational training institution that issues VCs, which can be used as vocational training certificates, to trainees. ABC records the status of these VCs on the Ontology blockchain using this SDK. Let’s say a trainee at ABC obtains a VC from ABC and its status is “normal”. However, following this, the trainee suspects their private key has been compromised. At this point, the individual can then update the status of their VC and label it as “revoked”. As a result, verifiers that received verifiable presentations derived from the compromised VCs will be notified that the verifiable presentations are invalid.

Developers can download the SDKs directly here. We are proud to be sharing our code with developers all over the world and we look forward to seeing greater integration of digital identity globally across all business cases, be it with end users or within enterprise use cases.