Major Identity Update Coming to XRP Ledger: Details

XRP Ledger (XRPL) is set to introduce a groundbreaking feature that will bring lightweight identity verification to the network.

According to Mayukha Vadari, RippleX senior software developer, the new “Credentials” feature will allow institutions to achieve KYC (Know Your Customer) and AML (Anti-Money Laundering) compliance without sacrificing privacy or decentralization.

Credentials is a new feature that offers a secure, lightweight framework for issuing, managing and verifying user credentials directly on XRP Ledger, enabling strong compliance while protecting user privacy.

Upon activation, developers can use the Credentials feature to optimize user onboarding processes. It will first work with deposit authorization, which allows senders to be automatically approved rather than going through a manual process. Credentials can also be used to authorize off-ledger transactions in conjunction with a decentralized identifier.

More on credentials

Credentials are intended to complement the recently introduced Decentralized Identity (DID) standard. The Credentials standard adds a new Credential ledger object and new transaction types for creating, accepting and deleting credentials.

Credentials can be viewed as a modular building block for DID. It can be used to certify a user’s compliance with certain criteria (for example, KYC) and issued to their DID. This may lay the groundwork for a simple onboarding procedure for accessing products such as tokenized RWAs.

When combined, DIDs serve as a basic “fingerprint” for each user, whereas credentials provide the identification and compliance layer needed for various scenarios.

According to Vadari, the Credentials amendment is now up for voting, and it will be enacted if, after meeting the required vote threshold, more than 80% of trusted validators continue to support it for two weeks.