Almost a decade has passed since Christopher Allen outlined the principles of Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI). While conceptually transformative, SSI has long struggled with adoption — often reduced to a UX upgrade or a digital proxy for in-person actions.
In the meantime, the previous paradigm — federated identity — consolidated its dominance. Systems like Italy’s SPID (used by nearly 40 million citizens and businesses) became mainstream, proving the value of a user-friendly legally binding digital ID.
But the next evolution is clear: compliant, password-less, peer-to-peer frameworks, where verified user attributes are embedded in the transaction itself — enabling frictionless access to services, without centralised oversight.
Enter eIDAS2, the most advanced global regulation for trust-based digital markets.
Its introduction of Electronic Attestations of Attributes (EAAs) enables modular, privacy-preserving, and legally binding identity artefacts to be shared and verified instantly — reshaping how trust is built online.
Yet SSI still underdelivers on the traditional web, where identity merely unlocks access through a gateway and only afterward do transactions occur.
Web3 changes that.
At NYMLAB, we pioneered the use of decentralised identity and attributes across every layer of our native Web3 infrastructure, from our purpose layer-1 - Dchain - to the securitisation engine dApp - platformD.
In 2022, we introduced TCA – Trusted Crypto Asset, presented at the 11th Rebooting the Web of Trust. It demonstrated how SSI could empower Web3 transactions by injecting intrinsic compliance — for instance, a token transfer between two parties subject to specific compliance requirements expressed via claims.
We leveraged anonCreds and zero-knowledge cryptography to preserve privacy on-chain while proving compliance — such as verifying whether a sender or receiver was a qualified investor, without exposing their full identity.
We evolved that demo into a protocol called AVIDA (Atomic Verification of Identity for Decentralised Application) designed to add identity without reverting to centralised gatekeepers. The key step? Turning the verifier in the classic trust triangle into a smart contract — achieving maximum decentralisation in identity verification.
This journey revealed a truth: the digital identity and Web3 communities have lived in silos, with little overlap. Yet building this bridge is essential for mainstream adoption and consumer protection.
Fast forward to today: platformD enables real-time on-chain securitisation, where identity plays a critical role in collateral origination (e.g., electronic invoices). Digital identity ensures unique asset identification. This enables transaction finality for ownership transfers or the issuance of transferable financial instruments representing those assets.
The potential use cases are vast: composable finance, tokenised assets, regulated DeFi.
Take Buy Now, Pay Later. Today, marketplaces control financing, selecting providers and rates on behalf of users. But imagine a credential-based payment protocol where users bring verified financial attributes directly into the transaction.
This flips the model: the user orchestrates their own pre-funding, connects directly with merchants, and triggers personalised instalment plans — instantly, securely, and compliantly.
At NYMLAB, we’re building this future: where digital payments are intelligent by design, and compliance is not a bureaucratic add-on — but a native attribute of the transaction itself.
The convergence of SSI and Web3 isn’t a trend — it’s the missing layer for compliant, privacy-preserving, and truly decentralised finance.
NYMLAB is committed to making that layer real.
If you’re working on identity, compliance, or financial innovation, let’s talk about how to bridge these worlds — together.
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