The SSI Orbit Podcast – Self-Sovereign Identity, Decentralization and Digital Trust

#52 - Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs): DID Methods, DID Documents and DID Resolution (with Markus Sabadello)

Apr 7, 2023

01:08:43

Markus Sabadello has been a pioneer and leader in the field of digital identity for many years and has contributed to cutting-edge technologies that have emerged in this space. He is co-editor of the Decentralized Identifiers specification at W3C and co-chair of the Identifiers and Discovery Working Group at the Decentralized Identity Foundation. Markus is founder of Danube Tech, a consulting and development company that works on DID-related infrastructure and products, including the Universal Resolver, Universal Registrar, and the Godiddy.com platform.

About Podcast Episode

Read more about the episode by heading to ⁠⁠https://northernblock.io/decentralized-identifiers-did-methods-did-documents-did-resolution

The full list of topics discussed between Markus and I in this podcast conversation include:

An overview of Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) - how DIDs came about, their history and evolution.
The core properties of DIDs - what sets them apart from other types of identifiers.
DID Methods. As of this post, there are 160+ DID Methods listed in this registry. Are they all decentralized? Why are there so many? What are some popular ones that have been adopted?
What things to consider in your selection criteria for the right DID Method(s).
When would one use DIDs for abstraction purposes vs vanilla public-key cryptography?
DID Documents - what can be stored in them? How are they linked to a DID? What are some examples of things you can store in the authentication and service endpoints. How do you interact with them?
Using blockchain vs non-blockchain (e.g., DNS server) implementations for storing DID Documents. What are some key elements to take into consideration when looking at these different options?
Do DIDs disrupt or enhance existing certificate business models?
The power of DID Resolution - how has it evolved, how does it work? (see video below for a great explainer)