KILT Protocol & Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs)
KILT Protocol is a blockchain-based protocol that offers secure and private digital authentication for unique assets, identity included.
KILT Protocol provides a blockchain framework that supports issuing and managing self-sovereign decentralized digital credentials and identifiers for anything needing decentralized and user-powered authentication. KILT Protocol is one of the parachains to be integrated into the Apillon Web3 development platform.
From the real world to online authentication: Trusted identity elements
Personal identity is comprised of many identity elements. If a face or a fingerprint is an identifier, the passport and ID, for example, would be the credentials linked to the identifier. When a trusted authority issues these identification documents, the individual can then decide how to store and manage the credentials that make up their identity.
But people are not the only ones with identifiers and linked credentials. A machine or a device can have an identifier, too — it could be a very long number that’s unique to it. In the digital world, assets also have identifiers and credentials. An NFT can contain an identifier, the transparent tracking of which can reduce the risk of counterfeit digital or tangible assets. An IoT service’s identifier can be a standard the service is compatible with. By adding another certificate or capability to it, more credentials are linked to the identifier.
KILT’s blockchain-based authentication mechanism builds upon the elements of trust from the physical world where credentials are issued by trusted authorities. By enabling a decentralized issuing of digital credentials and identifiers, KILT Protocol transfers the trust into the Web3 world where the owner of the key to the issued credential or identifier can then decide how to manage them.
What is KILT Protocol and how does it work?
As a blockchain-based authentication protocol, KILT supports issuing, creating, claiming, and verifying revocable, and anonymous digital decentralized credentials and identifiers for people, machines, services, and IoT use cases.
Instead of needing to trust a central authority to manage digital credentials and identifiers, the trust is shifted to the code in the back-end, protocols, smart contracts, and other utilized blockchain technologies.
With KILT’s supporting framework, an attester (trusted party) can issue a credential upon the request of the user (claimer). After the attester determines and verifies the credential based on certain claimer’s attributes, it sends it to the claimer who can add the credential to the decentralized identifier (DID) in their wallet, where it’s only accessible with a private key.
KILT never stores the user’s personal data on its blockchain, only a checksum (hash) of issued credentials. The service (verifier) the user wants to unlock can verify the credential by generating the hash value and comparing it to the one written on the blockchain.
What is a DID?
A DID can be thought of as a digital fingerprint at the core of a decentralized digital identity or an authentication process. Several credentials can be linked to a single DID — just like in the real world, where an entity can have more than one credential.
The credential’s hash is anchored on the blockchain, where it can’t be tampered with or deleted — unless the entity with the key to the DID decides to remove it. DIDs can be created for individual entities, machines, services, and anything needing an identity or authentication.
By storing DIDs in their wallets, users are in total ownership of their data. An authentication process via DIDs enables the owner of the DID to verify their identity or unlock a service by using only the selected section of their credentials, adding trust and privacy to online authentication standards.
Integrate KILT Protocol into your dapps and services with the Apillon platform
With the Apillon Web3 development platform, developers and businesses will be able to seamlessly implement wallet-based user authentication to their dapp or decentralized identifiers to their dapp’s assets.
Let’s say you want to build an NFT platform, GameFi, DeFi, or any other Web3 application. With KILT Protocol integrated into your platform, the users will be able to create a DID and log in securely with their wallet or equip their assets with decentralized credentials.
About KILT Protocol
KILT Protocol is a blockchain identity protocol for generating decentralized identifiers (DIDs) and verifiable credentials, providing secure, practical identity solutions for enterprises and consumers. The brand shares the name of the traditional Scottish garment that lets people share which Scottish clan they belong to without revealing other parts of their identity.
Built on Polkadot, KILT Protocol won one of the first parachain slots on Kusama in September 2021. Since then, it has become the first parachain to migrate from Kusama to Polkadot, being on the cutting edge. The use cases for KILT’s decentralized credentials span gaming, healthcare, media, IoT, academia, energy, and many others.
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⧓ About Apillon
The Apillon platform serves as a unified gateway to the Web3 services provided by linked Polkadot parachains. Following the multi-chain vision, Apillon powers the transition of developers to Web3, simplifying its adoption in the real economy, and expanding its versatility as the ecosystem grows. With Apillon, Web3 services are within reach for every developer, regardless of their background and experience with blockchain technology.