We're excited to announce that the Vidos Universal Resolver now supports did:webvh, the latest evolution in decentralized identifier technology that's already powering Switzerland's national digital identity system. This addition strengthens our commitment to providing comprehensive, standards-based identity verification infrastructure for enterprises navigating the rapidly evolving digital identity landscape.
did:webvh (pronounced "did web vee-aitch") stands for "DID Web with Verifiable History." It builds upon the familiar did:web method by adding a cryptographically verifiable audit trail of all changes made to a digital identifier over time. Think of it as did:web with a built-in, tamper-proof changelog that proves exactly how an identity has evolved.
Where traditional did:web identifiers look like did:web:example.com, did:webvh identifiers include a unique cryptographic fingerprint: did:webvh:abc123xyz:example.com. This fingerprint, called a Self-Certifying Identifier (SCID), ensures the identity remains verifiable even if the hosting domain changes or experiences security issues.
If you’re evaluating identity verification solutions, you're likely in a product-related role balancing several critical requirements: security, auditability, user experience, and integration complexity. did:webvh addresses each of these concerns:
Every update to a did:webvh identifier creates a permanent, cryptographically signed record. This means you can verify not just the current state of a credential, but its entire lifecycle. For KYC processes, this provides an auditable trail showing when and how customer identities were verified. For regulatory compliance, it provides legally admissible evidence of all identity-related actions.
To illustrate, let’s consider tracking premium coffee beans from farm to cup. Each participant in the supply chain has their own did:webvh identifier: the farm, exporter, importer, roaster, and retailer. When they issue credentials about products or shipments, those credentials are cryptographically signed by their DID.
A Colombian farm creates a harvest credential with details about organic certification. An exporter adds shipping credentials with export permits. The UK importer confirms receipt with customs clearance. The roaster adds processing details with batch numbers.
Here's the critical difference: with regular did:web, if the farm's website goes offline or the exporter updates their DID, the verification chain breaks. With did:webvh, the cryptographic history ensures every credential remains permanently verifiable. You can prove the farm was certified organic at harvest time, the exporter was licensed when shipping, and the roaster had valid food safety certifications during processing. This verification remains possible even years later, even if companies change ownership or cease operations.
This unbreakable chain of trust enables authenticity verification, compliance demonstration, efficient recall management, and premium pricing justification through proven provenance.
Switzerland's selection of did:webvh for their national e-ID system (SWIYU) validates its enterprise readiness. When a nation known for precision and security chooses this technology for citizen identity, it signals maturity beyond experimental protocols. The Government of British Columbia has similarly adopted did:webvh for their digital trust initiatives.
Starting immediately, you can both resolve and verify credentials from did:webvh issuers with no code changes required. This is crucial: you're not just looking up identifiers, you're validating credentials issued by those identifiers with full cryptographic verification of their history.
Our platform automatically:
Full integration across Vidos servicesThe did:webvh support integrates with our complete verification stack, enabling you to verify credentials end-to-end:
This means if a university issues a diploma using did:webvh, you can verify not just that the diploma is valid, but that the university's identity and accreditation status were valid when the diploma was issued, even decades later.
did:webvh is designed as a proper superset of did:web. This means:
For technical teams, here's what you need to know:
When your application calls our Universal Resolver with a did:webvh identifier:
API usage remains unchanged
GET https://api.vidos.id/resolver/1.0/identifiers/did:webvh:abc123xyz:example.com
The response format matches our existing DID resolution responses, maintaining consistency across your integration.
Need to verify a credential as it existed six months ago? Use the versionTime parameter:
GET https://api.vidos.id/resolver/1.0/identifiers/did:webvh:abc123xyz:example.com?versionTime=2024-07-01T00:00:00Z
When verifying credentials, our Verifier service automatically handles the historical resolution, ensuring the issuer's identity is validated at the time of issuance.
The addition of did:webvh to our Universal Resolver represents is another milestone on our journey to support the future of digital identity. As organizations worldwide seek more trustworthy verification methods, did:webvh provides the foundation for:
Your existing Vidos integration already supports did:webvh resolution and credential verification. No action required. To begin working with did:webvh:
For organizations interested in resolving did:webvh identifiers or migrating from did:web, our technical team can provide guidance on implementation strategies.
Our team is ready to help you understand how did:webvh can enhance your identity verification workflows. Whether you're building supply chain verification, modernizing KYC processes, or implementing professional credentialing, did:webvh provides the verifiable history and trust assurance your stakeholders demand.
Contact our team to discuss your specific use case or schedule a technical deep-dive session.
