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W3C Decentralised Identifiers 1.0

W3C · DID Core SIGNET support: Normative mapping

What it is

Decentralised Identifiers are the W3C standard for stable, resolvable identifiers that require no central registration authority. A DID such as did:web:supplier.example.com resolves to a document describing its subject and the cryptographic material needed to verify claims made by it — the identifier layer on which the Verifiable Credentials ecosystem rests.

The standard is maintained by the W3C. Official reference →

How SIGNET supports it

DIDs sit in SIGNET's normative mapping tier. The canonical Identifier object supports the did scheme, and the specification RECOMMENDS DIDs for parties and agents — the participants whose identity must be verifiable across organisational boundaries without a central registry.

This is a working default, not a decoration: the worked examples identify buyers, needs, policies, contracts, and decisions with did:web identifiers throughout, demonstrating a full procurement thread — from demand signal to awarded contract — in which every governed participant and artefact is decentrally identified. Synthetic agents are identified the same way as human organisations, which is what allows an agent's mandate, decisions, and provenance to bind to a verifiable identity rather than a platform account.

The Identifier scheme registry is deliberately plural: DIDs coexist with established schemes such as GLEIF LEIs and GS1 GLNs, so networks adopt decentralised identity at their own pace rather than by flag-day migration.

Where it lives in the standard