cheqd’s Partnership Network with Leading Self-Sovereign Identity Vendors

cheqd, a market-leading solution enabling individuals and organisations to take control of their data has expanded its partnership network.

SSI or decentralised identity is an emerging disruptive technology for exchanging trusted (also referred to as authentic) data, between people and companies in a more secure manner, giving entities ownership and control over their own data. According to a meta-analysis by cheqd published on Bloomberg, the SSI market is projected to be worth over US$550 billion, which demonstrates the significant opportunity the technology poses.

cheqd’s network is primarily built for SSI vendors to disrupt established identity paradigms and create new authentic data marketplaces. Each SSI vendor will utilise cheqd’s network tooling, functionality and native token, $CHEQ, for payment rails, never-seen-before commercial models and decentralised governance to advance their commercial strategies and technical roadmaps. The scale of distribution in the SSI space is unmatched — through its strong community of partners, cheqd engages with companies in various different industries, which further demonstrates the endless areas of opportunity for the application of SSI technology.

Here’re the latest list of SSI companies that joined or is joining the cheqd network (updated on 23 Apr 2025):

List of SSI Companies Joined or Joining cheqd

Verida: https://www.verida.network/

The Verida Wallet is a self-custody web3 mobile wallet and a gateway for decentralized identities.Users can manage their identity, sign into apps, manage their personal data, their credentials, receive messages and manage crypto. Digital identities are stored on the Verida Network, which is an encrypted and secure self-sovereign private storage solution for web3. Chris Were, CEO of Verida, said:

“We have prioritised working with the cheqd team to integrate their technology into the Verida ecosystem. cheqd is world leaders in self-sovereign identity and credentials and have developed an innovative credential payment model that will help unlock mainstream adoption.”

Nuklai: https://www.nukl.ai/

Nuklai is an innovative layer 1 blockchain infrastructure to host a collaborative data ecosystem that will fuel the next generation of AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) with world-class data. Its data ecosystem is built on two blockchain networks, supporting the data ecosystem and AI with data management and computational power.

“This integration of cheqd’s infrastructure empowers Nuklai to establish a trusted environment where AI models can confidently operate with the provision of Trusted Data, providing users with assurance in the accuracy and reliability of AI-driven insights generated from Nuklai’s datasets.”

YourD: https://www.yourd.xyz/

YourD (YourData) is a Korean Web3 RegTech infrastructure provider specialising in decentralised identity authentication and data management. Through its interoperable, privacy-first authentication solutions, YourD empowers users to control their digital identities while enabling businesses to adopt decentralised identity technology with ease.

“The collaboration focuses on integrating YourD’s authentication and data services with cheqd’s DID and credential payment infrastructure to enhance interoperability, monetisation, and compliance in Web3 identity and payments.”

Timpi: https://timpi.io/

Timpi has developed the world’s first decentralised web index and, with over 5 billion web pages indexed, now holds one of the largest databases globally. Through Timpi’s extensive, community-operated DePIN network, the vision of enabling open access to information — free from bias and manipulation — is brought to life.

“One of the key areas of collaboration between Timpi and cheqd will focus on exploring and co-developing practical use cases for trusted data within the decentralised AI space. This includes content credentials, reputation systems, data attribution & provenance, and trusted ai training.”

Hovi: https://www.hovi.id/

Hovi was born from a vision to make self-sovereign identity simpler. We envision revolutionizing digital identity with secure, decentralized solutions that empower businesses and individuals. We strive for a world where identity is complaint, secure, verifiable, and user-controlled, ensuring privacy and trust. Omer Shafiq, Founder and CEO of Hovi, said:

“Our platform is built with a clear goal, eliminating the friction businesses face when adopting decentralised identity solutions. We’ve worked hard to ensure our tools are robust, adaptable, and designed to integrate into any environment and meet the unique needs of each organisation. This isn’t about replacing existing systems; it’s about enhancing them with trust and reusability at their core.”

Dock: https://www.dock.io/

Dock’s Reusable Digital Identity platform enables companies to turn verified ID data into trusted Reusable Digital ID Credentials, instantly verify their authenticity and get paid when they are verified by third parties. The platform comprises an API, a Web App, an ID wallet and a dedicated blockchain. Dock has been a leader in decentralised digital identity technology since 2017 and trusted by organisations in diverse sectors, including healthcare, finance, and education. Nick Lambert, Co-founder and CEO of Dock Labs said:

“This exciting partnership enables Dock to focus on new and innovative features for our clients delivered through our issuance and verification platform, Certs, while relying on cheqd’s cutting edge network for the blockchain related elements. This alliance enables both organisations to demonstrate their core capabilities, providing best in class solutions to our rapidly growing customer bases”

Andromeda: https://www.andromedaprotocol.io/

Andromeda is an all-on-chain suite of products, tools, and utilities enabled by a decentralized operating system called aOs, or the Andromeda Operating System. aOS is designed to make Web3 simpler and building on-chain Easier, Better, Faster. Core Contributor at Andromeda Labs, Mant Hawkins said:

“Andromeda is excited to be partnering with cheqd. The needed capability for everyone to have trusted data fits a core belief of the Andromeda Team where privacy, trust, and sovereignty reign supreme. Moving forward together our partnership will bring trusted platform composability to not only Web3, but to the Fortune 500.”

walt.id: https://walt.id/

WaltID is a comprehensive solution that empowers developers and enterprises with identity, NFT, and wallet infrastructure. With their cutting-edge SSI Kit, developers and organizations gain seamless access to the benefits of Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI). Additionally, WaltID offers a range of specialized toolkits, including the NFT Kit, Wallet Kit, Storage Kit, and IDP Kit, catering to diverse needs within the crypto ecosystem.

“Integration of cheqd into SSI Kit provides greater flexibility for adopters of cheqd, opens up a new customer-base for increased utility on the network and helps future-proof cheqd for upcoming EU regulations!”

ComPilot (Previously NexeraID): https://www.compilot.ai/

ComPilot makes compliant onboarding and monitoring of your customers effortless with a unique one-stop-shop tailored to Web3 businesses. It integrates best-in-class providers (KYC, KYB, KYT, AML, Wallet Screening), consolidates all customer data and alerts, automates compliance tasks and provides smart dashboards.

“It’s been a fantastic journey partnering with cheqd. Their suite of identity tooling and credential payments model is a game changer for incentivising the adoption and consumption of credentials. With our existing NexeraID suite, PolygonID functionality for ZKPs, and the addition of cheqd for issuance and monetisation, we can provide an end-to-end compliance solution which is technically innovative, commercially sustainable and privacy-preserving.” says Rachid Ajaja, CEO of Nexera ID.

DanubeTech: https://danubetech.com/

DanubeTech is a leader in the field of digital identity, including decentralised identifiers (DID), verifiable credentials, and related technologies. Markus Sabadello, DanubeTech’s CEO and founder, on cheqd as the next step in the evolution of SSI networks:

“DanubeTech has been a pioneer in DID technologies, and we see cheqd as a promising next step in the evolution of SSI networks. Operating a cheqd node will add value to our mission of enabling global interoperability of decentralised identity infrastructures.”

Spherity: https://spherity.com/

Spherity builds decentralised identity management solutions to power the 4th industrial revolution. Carsten Stöcker, Spherity’s CEO, commented on cheqd’s payment rails and identity functionality:

“As decentralised identity and data sovereignty become more prominent, our clients are asking how the underlying ledgers and payments for transactions can work. Joining cheqd as a node operator allows us to explore the current and emerging ways that decentralised identity and authentic data are changing how information moves and where new commercial opportunities lie.”

DIDx: https://www.didx.co.za/

DIDx is a leading self-sovereign identity and verifiable credentials exchange based in South Africa. Lohan Spies, DIDx CEO, and early partner of cheqd explains why DIDx joined the cheqd network early:

“DIDx is delighted to be part of the mainnet launch of the cheqd network as a founding validator. The cheqd network unlocks the business models of SSI with integrated payments and is a crucial step towards decentralisation and providing new capabilities.”

Finema: https://finema.co/

Finema empowers users and enterprises to control their own identities and data, where identities will become enablers for future data exchange. Pakorn Leesakul, Finema’s CEO, will stand up a cheqd node in Thailand:

“Together with cheqd, we are looking forward to building a trust fabric that serves as a feasible and solid foundation for as many use cases of verifiable credentials as possible. The future of SSI hinges upon convincing the public of its market viability. The partnership is part of that effort.”

Truu: https://www.truu.id/

Truu creates trusted digital passports for healthcare professionals, for smarter identities, simpler relationships, and better care. Manreet Nijjar, Truu’s CEO, on the flexibility cheqd’s tokenised solutions offer:

“We believe to achieve digital trust we need work in an open and collaborative manner. We are therefore very excited to join the cheqd network. Fraser and the team’s work will allows us to build for the future, giving us the flexibility to create token and non-tokenised solutions while sticking to our core principles around data ownership, privacy and consent.”

RANDA Solutions: https://randasolutions.com/

RANDA’s tools acquire, manage, and utilise many types of education intelligence and is a pioneer in education technology. Marty Reed, CEO, sees partnering with cheqd as joining the next generation of credential networks:

“RANDA is excited to participate in this next generation credential network with true considerations for interoperability. We see the cheqd network as a great addition to the overall credential ecosystem and look forward to its future on a solid foundation of partners and technologies.”

Domi Labs: https://domilabs.io/

Domi’s technology is built using self-sovereign identity technology to protect the holder’s data and streamline the rental process, Domi Labs is based out of Berlin. Katrie Lowe, Domi Lab’s CEO, on joining cheqd’s network:

“Domi Labs is a digital identity startup leading implementation of self-sovereign identity within the real estate sector. Verifiable credentials present an enormous opportunity to reshape the way business and customers establish trust. Domi Labs is excited to be an early partner of cheqd as innovative financial pathways will be key to ensuring the development of a robust verifiable credential ecosystem.”

esatus: https://esatus.com/

esatus, the creator of the SOWL platform, uses self-sovereign identity for login and access rights. André Kudra, CIO of esatus, comments on the cheqd partnership:

“esatus is interested in gaining first hand experience with cheqd’s payment rails. esatus built its SSI experience since 2015 and now has a huge technology base at hand. esatus’ SOWL suite enables enterprise SSI and can be made workable on cheqd’s network and stack quickly. This presents exciting future opportunities in our partnership.”

Gen (Previously Evernym): http://www.gendigital.com

At Gen, its mission is to create innovative and easy-to-use technology solutions that help people grow, manage, and secure their digital and financial lives. Previously it was known as Evernym, which is one of the cheqd’s lead investors and go-to-market partners.

Drummond Reed, Chief Trust Officer of Evernym; co-Chair, ToIP Governance Stack Working Group; co-author, “Self-Sovereign Identity” believes cheqd’s governance framework and focus on interoperability as central to the networks success:

“As SSI matures we’re seeing innovation at every layer of the Trust Over IP stack. cheqd is the only ToIP Layer 1 public utility I’ve seen with a governance framework designed explicitly to evolve from permissioned to permissionless. Add to that cheqd’s commitment to interoperability across all SSI ecosystems and its unique focus on SSI-based value exchange and you have one of the most exciting projects in SSI today.”

cheqd’s will also be launching its mainnet with key SSI start-ups Doshy, KnownPrivacy, AML First, Crucible, WOPLLI who will be announced in the second SSI cohort announcement along with other key SSI vendors in the forthcoming weeks.

Animo Solutions: https://animo.id/

Animo Solutions works with developers and organisations to improve digital interaction using verifiable credentials. They create solutions where exchanging data is privacy-preserving and frictionless. Timo Glastra, co-founder of Animo Solutions, comments on building scalable SSI solutions on cheqd to handle the huge forthcoming growth in SSI:

“At Animo we build open-source digital identity infrastructure. Through our customers, we’ve experienced the need for a scalable network that is specifically suited to SSI implementation. We’re using cheqd to build SSI solutions that can handle the huge growth that is coming in the field.”

ID Lynx: https://idlynx.com/

ID Lynx connects and empowers a global community that provides decentralised digital identity solution platforms for individuals, organisations, animals and IoT devices. Chris Raczkowski, CEO of ID Lynx, comments:

“By joining the cheqd network we’re looking forward to utilising the network’s core utility to support our existing customer use-cases and explore cheqd’s payment rails for SSI to bring entirely new use-cases and revenue streams to our business. We are also excited to join the partnership network and cooperate with diverse partners to fast-track not just our own growth, but also accelerate the global adoption of SSI — a long-held ambition of mine and our ID Lynx team.”

Gravity: https://www.gravity.earth/

Gravity believes in data sharing for anyone, anywhere and has created products where individuals and organisations can create and manage portable and verifiable digital identities, issue and share credentials securely and easily verify and authenticate users. Johannes Ebert, CEO of Gravity, explains why joining cheqd is critical to their business:

“For companies like us, focusing on building applications based on SSI that enable users to access services, the payment rail component is critical in ensuring that we offer customers a seamless payment experience. Gravity’s business model is based on “pay per data”, such that customers pay for the data exchanged based on the number of credentials and the types of claims contained within them. Leveraging cheqd’s payment rail infrastructure is therefore vital for Gravity as our customer base expands and the number of credential exchanges grows.”

AyanWorks: https://www.ayanworks.com/

AyanWorks builds the foundations of SSI for individuals, enterprises, applications, and devices based on open standards. CEO of AyanWorks, Kalyan Kulkarni, comments on how cheqd’s incentivisation of verifiable credentials could lead to widespread adoption:

“AyanWorks is a fast-growing Blockchain Tech consulting company with a focus on decentralised identity and verifiable credentials. We share the vision of ‘identity for all’ by means of bringing solutions that emphasise privacy by design and privacy by default. We are keen to see how incentivising the verifiable credentials that cheqd is evangelising, can contribute to the adoption of this technology and are excited to have joined this network to leverage it and accelerate SSI solutions.”

Gayadeed: https://www.gayadeed.it/it/

Gayadeed is an application that helps companies and professionals to securely sign agreements instantly from anywhere in the world. Co-founder of Gayadeed, Egidio Casati, sees cheqd as a crucial evolution in incentivised networks to bridge traditional eIDAS trust services:

“As a smart agreement platform, we are committed to bridge traditional eIDAS trust services with SSI protocols, focusing on interoperability, sustainability and UIX. We fully embrace cheqd’s crucial evolution towards a sustainable, properly incentivised and interoperable SSI ecosystem and we are glad to join the network to build and deliver SSI-powered applications ready for mass adoption.”

Monokee: https://monokee.com/

Monokee permits organisations to manage identities and embrace the new identity paradigm of SSI, where people and companies take control of their digital identity. Roberto Griggio, CEO of Monokee comments on the cheqd partnership:

“Monokee is a technology enabler that integrates identity management with disruptive and decentralised technologies to provide enterprise-grade security and compliance. Thanks to the partnership with cheqd, Monokee aims at establishing a virtuous cycle where verifiable credentials and distributed ledgers can sustain themselves, through cheqd’s payment rails, network utility and commitment to interoperability and open standards.”

Umazi: https://www.umazi.io/

Umazi are pioneers of global cross-industry due diligence and one of the most exciting start-ups in the space. Co-founder and CEO Cindy van Nierkirk on the collaboration with cheqd to increase revenue on all sides of the trust triangle:

“Umazi is carving out a new market to enable continuous enterprise identity verification for business due diligence. We’re ready to explore the utility of cheqd’s payment rails to incentivise users of our due diligence trust network. This collaborative partnership will allow both of us to grow the next level of revenue generation across all sides of the trust triangle using cheqd’s Web3 SSI technology.”

Soverio: https://soverio.com/

Soverio is committed to helping our clients improve their online business security, implement digital transformation, and boost operational efficiency with the help of innovative technologies like Decentralised Identity and Verifiable Credentials. Audrius Ramoska, Soverio CEO and co-founder, shares on cheqd providing the missing payment rails for Soverio’s customers:

“As the physical and digital worlds merge, finding secure and trusted ways of verifying the identity or securely exchanging data is becoming essential. Our new partnership with cheqd enables new possibilities for our Soverio customers, not only in a traditional business environment as we know it now but in the near future too (CeDeFi, Web3, Metaverse, CBDC, SSI, etc.). cheqd’s payment rails for SSI are what we missed in our portfolio.”

Verio: https://verio.id/

Verio is a full-stack verifiable credential platform and digital wallet with use-cases ranging from user authentication, customer onboarding to complex multi-party interactions. Cristian Talle, Verio CEO, notes on the cheqd partnership:

“Verio is proud to join the cheqd network to bring payment utility to our verifiable credentials, a much needed innovation in the SSI space. We’re also excited to leverage cheqd’s network, which we can utilise for our customers, partners and to enter new verticals to expand our business.”

Mavennet: https://www.mavennet.com/

Mavennet, creators of leading trusted-data exchange platforms, builds and launches blockchain-enabled SSI products, with a focus on large enterprise implementations. Yevgen Malyshev, Chief Product Officer, expands on working with cheqd to create new business models around verifiable credentials:

“Mavennet is excited to join the cheqd network for digital credentials and self-sovereign identity. Mavennet builds enterprise digital products with blockchain at its core. Therefore, we’re particularly pleased to also become part of the partnership network and work with cheqd to bring applications and services to new customers in the verticals we serve as well as create new business models around verifiable credentials.”

For enquiries, please contact: [email protected]

Why Do Content Credentials Matter in the Creative Economy

Can we still trust what we see, hear, and read when artificial intelligence can fabricate reality with that level of precision? The entire digital media scene has been turned around with the rise of AI generated images and deepfake videos. While these technological strides are conducive to society, challenges also come along.

There are often issues and challenges to prove the authenticity and ownership of digital content. Creators struggle to establish clear attribution as false claims could be made easily. Worse still, AI tools continue to blur the lines between human and synthetic content, verifying authorship becomes a growing necessity. Content Credentials is the answer. By embedding verifiable metadata into digital assets, they create a transparent and tamper proof record of an asset’s origin, edits, and ownership.

The Challenges in the Creative Economy

The digital content landscape is constantly evolving. With this pace comes a wealth of challenges for creators, be it artists, journalists, influencers, and other content creators.

  • Misinformation & Fake Content: With AI generating and editing content so easily, it’s getting harder to tell what’s real and what’s not. Everything looks convincing. Online trust is eroded in this sense.
  • Lack of Credit: Creators put in the effort to make something original, but too often they don’t get the credit they deserve. Their content gets shared or reused without giving them proper attribution, which results in lost opportunities to build their reputation and audience.
  • Monetisation Issues: Many creators rely on ad revenue, licensing fees, or direct sales to monetise their work, but without secure ways to prove ownership and track usage, they risk losing potential income.

The creative economy thrives on innovation, but these challenges hinder its growth and sustainability. A trust layer is needed, one that proves authorship, track provenance, and protects digital assets. Content Credentials provide this missing piece.

What Are Content Credentials?

Content Credentials are tamper resistant metadata attached to digital media. Sounds too technical? To make it simpler, they provide verifiable information about an asset: its origin, creator, creation date, edits, licensing rights, etc. This metadata is securely bound to the content, ensuring that the verifiable information remains intact, no matter how many times the asset is shared, modified, or republished.

Just like a passport tracks travel history, Content Credentials provide a verifiable record of a digital asset’s journey. With cryptographic signatures and provenance data, they make it easy to check if content has been altered. Not only this, but which section of the content has been amended, by whom, and on which date. This feature helps to separate real, authentic work from manipulated or misleading versions.

How Content Credentials Benefit Creators & Consumers

For Creators

  • Ensure Proper Attribution & Copyright Protection: Content Credentials keep authorship and copyright details attached to digital assets, ensuring creators receive proper recognition no matter where their work ends up. For photographers, digital artists, and journalists — whose content is often shared, reused, or even altered without permission — this provides a way to prove ownership and maintain credibility.
  • Make Monetisation Easier with Licensing & Credential Payments: When creators have a clear record of ownership, it’s much easier to license their work and get paid fairly. Content Credentials open up new ways to earn, whether through smart contracts, digital marketplaces, or direct payments tied to credentials. Most importantly, they give creators control over how their content is shared and used.
  • Provide a Trust Layer in an AI Driven World: As AI generated content becomes more prevalent, creators need ways to differentiate original human work from machine generated assets to show their uniqueness. Content Credentials act as a verifiable trust layer, offering proof of authorship and tracking modifications to ensure that creative integrity is maintained.

For Consumers & Platforms

  • Build Trust in the Authenticity of Content: WIth deepfakes and synthetic media flooded around, audiences often struggle to distinguish real content from manipulated versions. Content Credentials provide verifiable proof of authenticity, helping consumers trust that what they interact with is legitimate.
  • Improve Content Provenance Tracking: For platforms and publishers, keeping track of content provenance is essential in the fight against misinformation. For example, a news publisher can use Content Credentials to ensure an image accompanying a breaking news story is original and hasn’t been altered or taken out of context.
  • Combat Misinformation by Verifying Content Origins: News organisations, social media platforms, and digital marketplaces can leverage Content Credentials to flag manipulated content and ensure that only verified assets are shared. This helps reduce the spread of fake news.

By bridging the gap between trust and transparency, Content Credentials create a more accountable creative ecosystem. One where creators are rewarded, consumers are informed, and platforms can uphold integrity.

The Role of cheqd in Enabling Content Credentials

cheqd leverages Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) and Verifiable Credentials (VCs) to establish a transparent and tamper proof system for content authentication. These technologies enable digital content, such as images and videos to be cryptographically signed by the signature of the creator (using a DID). Moreover, specific types of identity information, such as the handle, name or proof of employment can be attached to the content metadata (using VCs).

Through cheqd’s network, content credentials can be:

  • Issued: Creators or platforms can attach verifiable credentials to their digital content, ensuring authenticity from the source.
  • Verified: Consumers or third party services can validate content metadata without depending on a central authority.
  • Revoked or Updated: If content ownership changes or misinformation is detected, credentials can be dynamically updated to reflect the latest status.

cheqd’s approach aligns with the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA), an industry standard developed by Adobe, Microsoft, and other key players to address digital content authenticity. cheqd is also a key contributor to the Content Authenticity Initiative and Creator Assertions Working Group, helping develop a standard for how identity data is securely embedded within content metadata.

By embedding trust into digital assets at the infrastructure level, cheqd is making verifiable content scalable, interoperable, and accessible for creators, consumers, and platforms alike.

Build Trust into Content

The creative economy thrives on originality, but without proper attribution and verification, creators face challenges in proving ownership, monetising their work, and protecting their intellectual property. At the same time, consumers and platforms struggle to differentiate between real and synthetic content.

Content Credentials offer a groundbreaking solution, providing an embedded, verifiable record of authorship, edits, and provenance for digital assets. By adopting these credentials, businesses, creators, and platforms can build a more transparent and fair digital ecosystem where trust is built into content itself.

Want to be part of this revolution?

  • If you’re a creator or business, explore how cheqd’s solutions can help you protect and verify content.
  • If you’re a developer or platform, learn how to integrate decentralised Content Credentials into your ecosystem.

Pioneering Trust in the Age of AI: Introducing cheqd’s MCP-Enabled Agentic Trust Solution

Imagine a world humming with AI agents – digital helpers managing your schedule, booking travel, executing transactions, even collaborating with each other. This future is rapidly approaching. But alongside the excitement comes a fundamental challenge: in a world increasingly reliant on autonomous AI, how do we establish trust? How do we know an agent is what it claims to be, that it’s operating securely, or that it has the right permissions for the tasks it performs?

To meet this challenge head-on, cheqd has developed a pioneering way to build verifiable trust directly into AI interactions. We are introducing cheqd’s Agentic Trust Solution, powered by the emerging Model Context Protocol (MCP). This new system provides AI agents with verifiable digital credentials, allowing their identities and permissions to be cryptographically proven. By ensuring AI agents operate securely and accountably, we aim to foster an AI ecosystem that is both powerful and trustworthy.

Without clear answers, we risk building our AI future on shaky ground. We’ve been focused on building Verifiable AI (vAI) solutions for these emerging issues for over a year at cheqd. From our market research and partnerships with AI companies (some existing, some prospective), we understand that one of the earliest issues that needs to be tackled is creating solutions for users and AI agents to understand which AI agents are trusted. This takes various forms such as:

Why has this been hard to bring to life until now?

Beyond just the questions of agentic trust, we’ve also been exploring scoped, granular permissions for AI agents (e.g., for an AI agent to “use my credit card to book a restaurant reservation, but NOT go on a spending spree on anything else”) and auditing. The hard part has been to translate this into enforceable and repeatable instructions that can be followed by a wide variety of AI apps and agents, without building a proprietary protocol to interact with any kind of decentralised identity network.

Recent advancements in this field have made it practically feasible for AI agents to understand and process digital identity. That’s why cheqd is taking a pioneering step forward, extending our vision of Verifiable AI into this new frontier. We’re thrilled to introduce cheqd’s Agentic Trust Solution, one of the world’s first digital identity toolkits to weave verifiable trust directly into the fabric of AI agent interactions.

The breakthrough: Model Context Protocol (MCP) gives AI agents access to tools

A key catalyst for this shift is the emergence of the Model Context Protocol (MCP), which was announced by Anthropic (the creators of Claude AI) in November 2024. Understanding a bit about MCP clarifies how verifiable trust can be technically achieved in AI interactions. It provides a much-needed common language for AI models, agents, and external tools to communicate context and capabilities securely. It’s the interoperability layer the ecosystem desperately needed.

Source: Generative AI

 

AI agents and apps will need access to tools and data sources to do their work. Prior to MCP being released, the usual way in which developers would need to deal with such integrations was to provide complex prompts to AI agents/LLMs, and hope that they follow those instructions (and not end up misinterpreting the intent). Writing such prompts can be complicated and hard to repeat consistently. Alternatively, it’s also simpler than building custom integrations to a specific AI app, ChatGPT plugins, or other frameworks such as LangChain.

Source: Stytch “Model Context Protocol (MCP): A comprehensive introduction for developers”

MCP had been gaining a lot of traction amongst the earliest adopters and developers — but was restricted so far only to “MCP Clients” (user software) such as Claude Desktop that supported the protocol. Within the last week, however, OpenAI announced it would support MCP in the OpenAI SDK and ChatGPT Desktop app…

…as well as Sundar Pichai, Alphabet’s CEO, hinting that Google would support the specification.

Enter cheqd's Agentic Trust Solution for AI agents and developers

Within the past few months, many MCP “Servers” (tools that can be used by AI apps to connect to particular sources, such as Google Search, Github etc) have been created. While MCP itself provides the communication rails, it doesn’t inherently solve the trust problem — that’s where cheqd’s Agentic Trust Solution comes in.

 

Illustration of how AI agents can hold accreditations through Decentralized Trust Registries

Our approach uses MCP as the communication backbone to enable Decentralized Trust Registries for AI agents. Think of it like a verifiable digital breadcrumb trail for AI identity and authorisation:

  1. Verifiable Credentials (VCs) for Agents: We empower AI agents to hold tamper-proof digital credentials. Think of these like highly secure digital ID cards or passports specifically for AI agents. Unlike a simple label, these credentials contain rich, verifiable claims — like a digital badge proving the agent’s developer, its safety audits, or specific permissions it has been granted (e.g., ‘authorized to access booking systems’) — issued by trusted authorities like developers, companies, or industry bodies like the Decentralized AI Agent Alliance (DAIAA), which cheqd recently joined.
  2. Trust Registries: These credentials and their issuers can be anchored and verified against Trust Registries. Imagine these as highly secure, public directories acting as sources of truth — instead of listing phone numbers, they might list trustworthy credential issuers (like the official body that certifies an agent) or the accredited agents themselves. Because these registries are stored in a decentralized way on the cheqd network, they aren’t controlled by any single company, making them resistant to censorship or gatekeeping and highly available.
  3. Verification Tools: cheqd has worked on software such as the TRAIN Universal Resolver from Fraunhofer (funded by the cheqd community’s decentralised governance), which will allow any user to verify an AI agent’s credentials by tracing them back to a trusted root issuer through this decentralised chain. Crucially, TRAIN allows blending decentralised as well as centralised trust chains (using DNS/X.509 certificates), providing a pragmatic model for AI developers to manage digital trust.

This creates a powerful, flexible system — all backed with innovations that cheqd has been building over the past few years, such as a highly scalable decentralised identity network and DID-Linked Resources, which allow these decentralised trust chains to be published. An agent might carry multiple credentials, proving different things to different parties, all verifiable through this trust chain.

Leveraging cheqd's MCP Server tooling for AI apps and agents

Our MCP Server is one of the world’s first to enable AI agents to read and write Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) — which are like permanent, unique digital addresses that the agents control themselves — and issue digital credentials. Developers can use cheqd’s MCP toolkit today to start building applications where AI agents natively manage and present their own DIDs and Verifiable Credentials.

 

Validating a zero-knowledge credential with cheqd’s MCP Server

 

While this early release is developer-focused, MCP as a specification itself has been rapidly evolving. Currently, it requires developer skills to run a Docker container on your desktop. As recently as a week ago, core contributors announced that MCP would support remote MCP servers — which would allow any user, without developer experience or knowledge, to authenticate their account with services that add a data source. We plan to fast-follow with the MCP community to add support for a remote MCP Server that allows any AI app or agent to easily interact with decentralised identity networks such as cheqd.

What comes next: Building the future of Verifiable AI

Our vision for the Agentic Trust Solution doesn’t just end with Trust Registries for AI agents; it is about enabling responsible innovation for the field of AI. By providing verifiable answers to questions of identity, capability, and authorisation, we plan to expand our MCP tooling to support:

  • Trusted AI agent/app trust chains: Engage with AI agents with greater confidence, knowing their claims can be verified, as well as AI agents to do this on their own. We will work with industry and alliance partners to establish these trust chains.
  • Enhanced accountability: Establish clearer lines of responsibility with granular permissions for what you’ve allowed an agent to do or not to. We plan on implementing these by expanding the types of credentials an AI agent holds, from ones just issued to the agent (e.g., “Claude AI was created by Anthropic, Inc.”) to specific relationships between AI agents and their users (e.g., “this instance of Claude Desktop on Ankur’s laptop has been allowed to complete these tasks”). Every AI agent will come with their own identity wallets.
  • Trust in the content: AI agents will not only be producing generated images, video, and audio but also consuming AI-generated media. Enabling AI agents to understand what content they can trust through Content Credentials will become increasingly important when we rely on AI agents.
  • True interoperability: Thanks to specifications like MCP, enable any AI agent ecosystem to consume and write to decentralised identity networks.
  • New possibilities: Enable more complex and sensitive tasks to be delegated to AI agents, knowing robust trust mechanisms are in place. Our vision here is that it will expand beyond just simple proof-of-humanity to have

We are actively developing and refining the Agentic Trust Solution, defining credential schemas, enhancing our MCP tools, and collaborating with partners across the ecosystem. The latest development can be tracked on our roadmap while the Verifiable AI use case is discussed in a dedicated section. The rise of AI agents is undeniable. By embedding verifiable trust from the outset, using open standards and decentralised principles, we can ensure this powerful technology evolves in a way that is safe, accountable, and ultimately beneficial for everyone.

Ready to build trust for your AI Agents?