cheqd Quarterly Product Update (Q3)

Q3 2025 has been focused on improving the quality of cheqd’s services, from the core ledger all the way up the technical stack to cheqd Studio. Our focus on building and quality this quarter has also been reflected in an uptick in cheqd users across the board, with mainnet network transaction writes increasing and cheqd Studio sign-ups following suit.

This product update will breakdown the key milestones we’ve made across our product suite, and also give a sneak preview of what we’re working on next, across:

  • cheqd Network
  • cheqd Studio
  • Customer Feedback
  • SDKs and Core Tooling

Overall, the progress and steady increase in adoption from Q3 validates our product hypotheses, allowing us to double down on quality, innovative features and customer-led growth going forward for 2025 and into 2026.

cheqd Network

We have been busy with on-chain governance this quarter, releasing a new major version (v4.x), a minor stability patch (v4.1.4), reducing the mainnet inflation and funding OriginVault’s Public Utility Tool.

At the start of Q3 2025, we launched our v4 cheqd Network upgrade which upgraded cheqd mainnet and testnet to v0.50 of the Cosmos SDK, named “Eden”. This upgrade brought state-of-the-art Cosmos features to the network, including ABCI++ and optimistic execution as well as expanding cheqd DID Documents to support DIDComm natively on ledger.

In September, we upgraded the network further to v4.1.4, fixing historical issues with state sync, pruning and IAVL heights, improving the stability of the network and making it easier for validators to restore from state sync.

Across both network upgrades, we also enabled various components of fee abstraction, meaning that any transaction can be denominated in IBC enabled currencies such as USDC (Noble). The network now uses a CHEQ/USDC pool on Osmosis to settle between IBC enabled currencies on-the-fly.

Our commitment to keeping the network best-in-class has led to a significant upturn in adoption, with ~1,425 mainnet DID transactions coming this quarter and a steady increase of ~20,000 testnet DID transactions. As more customers continue to build and test on our testnet, we expect the number of DID transactions on mainnet to increase as they begin to transition across to mainnet.

Concurrently, the cheqd community voted for a reduction in the upper band of network inflation, from 4% to 1.5% to help return the total supply of CHEQ to 1,000,000,000 total tokens, via a balance of lower inflation and transaction burns. 

This on-ledger activity from Q3 has also resulted in a strong Governance Score of 77 for the network, showing the power of engagement of the community and validators to make crucial decisions on the network. This aligns with one of the core principles of increasing network entropy that we set out in our initial governance framework.

Finally, it’s worth a shout out to the team at OriginVault who have been rewarded 1,000,000 CHEQ from the community pool this quarter to fund the creation of Public Utility Tool (PUT),helping to establish cheqd as the default identity and provenance ledger for creators.” We will continue to work closely with the team as PUT rolls out to make sure that content credentials and metadata provenance are supported by the core network and its identity tooling.

Next quarter, we will be continuing to improve our core network. We are currently preparing to roll out our next major upgrade, creating an on-chain oracle to stabilise the cost of identity transactions against fixed dollar values. For enterprise customers, this will create stability in the cost of DIDs and DID-Linked Resources on ledger, without the risk of price fluctuation. Stay tuned folks as the momentum is building!

cheqd Studio

Our primary developer focus across Q3 has been expanding cheqd Studio into an enterprise application with a highly functional user interface. Previously, cheqd Studio was an API-only product, however, now users can use cheqd’s services with a complete no-code interface

The new cheqd Studio dashboard is a homepage for accessing the APIs, documentation and viewing metrics about DIDs, DID-Linked Resources and Credentials issued on the platform.

From here, we’ve created a new Identifiers page, where users can view, manage and filter their created DIDs on testnet and mainnet.

Clicking into each DID, allows users to view the Linked Resources attached, as well as update the DID Document manually. Even for developers and API-native users, this provides a much cleaner interface for managing DIDs, abstracting away the requirement to have a full understanding of the complexity around DID Documents or DID-Linked Resources.

After creating DIDs, users can now create trust ecosystems directly in the user interface, giving the ecosystem a name and a Root DID. On ledger, this creates a Root Authorization for Trust Chain, setting the governance baseline and the schemas supported for the given ecosystem.

From here, users can now add DIDs to their trust ecosystem, specifying whether the user is a credential issuer or an accreditor (such as an auditor), and assigning that member permissions based on the schemas associated with the top-level ecosystem.

Adding DIDs into the ecosystem creates an on-ledger Verifiable Accreditation from a Root TAO to a TAO or Trusted Issuer, following the Decentralized Trust Chain hierarchy, described in our docs. Through this new functionality, our customers can build trust graphs for organizations or AI Agents in their ecosystem, embedding trust directly into the identifier of the entity.

Once users have set up their DIDs and trust ecosystems, they can now configure different credential issuance providers to issue Verifiable Credentials directly to identity wallets. The cheqd Studio provider supports issuing VCDM 1.1 JWT or JSON-LD credentials and storing the VC on-ledger (optional), while Truvera (Dock.io) supports issuing credentials directly to the Truvera Mobile Wallet.

Other credential issuance providers such as Hovi and Paradym are currently in the pipeline, giving our users complete flexibility in what types of credentials, exchange protocols or wallets they want to use. 

Once configured, users can now build custom credentials using a simple form view and issue them directly to a wallet of their choice!

Of course for developers that want to use the API directly, we support API key based authentication, with the ability to generate and manage API keys, and then use our API Reference to get started.

Altogether, this new work on the user interface provides the most cohesive way for customers to use cheqd to-date, and based on this work, we are now seeing monthly jumps in active users on cheqd Studio. Internally, the latest release including the credential provider and issuance support is being labelled our ‘MVP’, which will allow us to fully test out the product in the market, build a customer base and iterate out with a customer-led focus.

Customer Feedback

As we’ve continued to improve our tooling and products, such as cheqd Studio, we’ve also launched a new Feedback site to collect bug reports, feature requests and track incidents. Our community can now track and follow the progress of these requests/reports as they move along in our sprints from backlog to completion.

This allows us to transparently triage and manage tasks that are reported publicly, and notify the reporters once progress has been made and the report is closed. 

SDKs and Core Tooling

SDKs are the plumbing of all of the identity functionality we use in cheqd Studio and beyond. Working together with our partners such as Dock, DIDx, Animo, Hovi and Anonyome, we have continued to improve our SDKs in terms of usability and features. 

For example, we have been tracking the work in EU Digital Identity with the European Architecture & Reference Framework and have been aligning ourselves with the standards and protocols set out in the framework. For example, we have built the first ever ledger-based Token Status List revocation mechanism into the Credo SDK. This allows anyone issuing SD-JWT VCs (a new credential type created by IETF), to use cheqd DID-Linked Resources for persistent and versioned revocation registries, even if DIDs aren’t used to sign the credential. In a world where X.509 certificates, DIDs (with defined profiles) and JWT Issuer Metadata may all be used to sign SD-JWT VC credentials, this gives cheqd a way to be valuable for all potential implementations.

With recent work from the German SPRIN-D team to finalise the standards for OpenID for Verifiable Credential Issuance and OpenID for Verifiable Presentations, we are going to explore how we can directly support these (now stable) protocols within cheqd’s SDKs to be able to issue verifiable credentials to a wider array of identity wallets with full interoperability. We are also continuing to actively participate in standards organizations that are leading the charge on getting credentials to mainstream adoption, such as ToIP, DIF, CEN/CLC, C2PA and UNTP.

What’s Coming Next?

A strong foundation of building in the last few years has led to a tangible improvement in growth and adoption. We aim to build on this trajectory in the next quarter and into 2026. As we gain more customers and get more users on the network, SDKs and Studio, this customer-focus will inform our product development, together with our own market insights, going forward. 

That being said, we already have some exciting features planned across the board that we’re already in the process of shipping – including our new oracle release on cheqd Mainnet, enterprise-focussed credential payments within cheqd Studio and continual push to support verifiable AI Agents with cheqd identity and trust registries pinned underneath.

How cheqd Is Growing Through JPMorganChase and Barclays Scaleup Programmes

cheqd has been selected to join two of the UK’s most competitive growth programmes: the JPMorganChase Fintech Forward Programme and the Barclays Eagle Labs Scaleup Programme. Running in parallel, both programmes are designed to support high-potential companies that are solving meaningful problems with strong commercial potential.

Fraser Edwards, our CEO and co-founder and Javed Khattak, CFO and co-founder, are taking part in both programmes. Participation in these programmes is another indicator of cheqd’s growth as we scale trust infrastructure for decentralised identity and AI adoption.

About the Programmes

JPMorganChase Fintech Forward Programme

The Fintech Forward Programme is a 12-week accelerator focused on supporting emerging fintech leaders who are shaping a more equitable and resilient financial ecosystem in the UK. The programme connects founders to industry experts, corporate leaders, and investors across the bank’s extensive network.

JPMorganChase focuses on businesses that demonstrate real impact, particularly those solving challenges for underserved markets. cheqd was selected for our mission enabling verifiable and privacy-preserving trusted data, a critical need for financial services as compliance, fraud prevention and AI governance become central to growth.

 

Barclays Eagle Labs Scaleup Programme (Powered by Plexal)

The Scaleup Programme is a three-month hybrid initiative designed specifically for high-growth technology companies in the UK. Delivered in partnership with Plexal, it brings together founders who are scaling commercially and operationally, providing them with structured support in three core areas: leadership and management, sales and go-to-market strategy, and finance and fundraising.

Barclays selected cheqd as one of the few companies in the cohort based on our commercial traction and growth opportunity in trusted data infrastructure across sectors like financial services, cybersecurity, AI governance, and enterprise compliance.

Key Learnings So Far

Although both programmes are still in progress plus different in focus and format, they have already provided cheqd with invaluable insights.

1. The Right Team Makes All the Difference

One of the striking lessons so far is how much having the right people in the right roles matters. Working alongside experienced mentors and fellow founders has highlighted the value of a team that combines technical know-how, commercial sense, and strong operational skills. These programmes have made it clear that growth is about execution, above any theoretical claims. Having the right mix of skills and perspectives speeds up decision-making, sparks innovation, and makes it easier to tackle the everyday challenges.

2. Improving How We Run Growth Experiments

Running growth experiments is a key part of scaling a company, as it gives us valuable feedback and helps us validate our use cases. Both programmes have offered frameworks and hands-on guidance to improve how cheqd tests and develops new initiatives. From setting up hypotheses more clearly to defining measurable success metrics, we’re learning to iterate faster and smarter. This means we can roll out initiatives with more confidence, avoid wasted effort, and focus on the strategies that really make a difference for our clients and users.

3. Learning the Best Practices

Being part of a cohort of high-growth companies has given us access to both good practices and proven approaches from peers and experienced founders. From customer engagement and go-to-market strategies to operational frameworks for scaling teams, these insights are highly practical. Unlike theory-led accelerators, both programmes focus on execution, with sessions led by operators who have real growth experience. This has helped cheqd improve strategic planning, define better metrics for product-market fit, strengthen leadership across teams, and avoid common scaling risks around hiring, capital, and timing.

4. Strategic Network Growth

Through Barclays and JPMorganChase networks, we’re meeting potential enterprise customers, exploring commercial collaborations, building new relationships with corporate innovation teams, and gaining exposure to investors focused on fintech, AI, and data infrastructure.

Impact on cheqd

Being part of both initiatives has helped us sharpen our go-to-market strategy by helping us test and refine our product-market fit across regulated industries.

Participation is  also helping us expand our commercial pipeline through strategic introductions from programme mentors and corporate partners. Internally, the programmes have helped refine our focus and operational processes, bringing more clarity to growth planning and organisational priorities.

In addition, being selected by two respected institutions reinforces cheqd’s credibility and awareness in the market. It signals that trust infrastructure is becoming foundational for enterprises navigating digital risk, fraud, AI governance and compliance challenges. The validation and visibility gained through both networks continue to support our growth and fundraising position.

Benefits for the Community and Ecosystem

Our participation in these programmes doesn’t just benefit cheqd, it strengthens the ecosystem around us. As we open new commercial paths, these opportunities extend to system integrators, solution providers, and startups collaborating with us on trust data solutions. The insights we gain on regulatory alignment, data governance, and AI assurance directly shape our product roadmap, resulting in a stronger platform for those building on cheqd.

More broadly, this contributes to a shift towards verifiable digital interactions across industries. By making it easier for organisations to prove trust with evidence, we are helping create a digital economy rooted in transparency, accountability, and user control. This aligns with our long term vision of enabling trusted digital ecosystems while preserving privacy and data ownership.

Who Pays for Trust? Rethinking Incentives in Credential Monetisation

Trust underpins almost everything we do online. Whether it’s identity documents, qualifications, or licences, credentials are how people and organisations prove who they are and what they can do. However, credentials are not cost-free. It takes time, money, and compliance effort and right now, those costs often fall unevenly on issuers, verifiers, and holders. The result? Inefficiencies and duplicated work among the stakeholders.

With the advent of verifiable credentials and decentralised identity, there is a growing opportunity to reframe trust as a monetisable asset rather than a recurring cost. This raises a question: how should we structure incentives to make trust economically sustainable?

This blog examines stakeholder incentives behind credential monetisation, identifies the opportunities for aligning costs and benefits effectively, and introduces cheqd’s Credential Payments model as an approach to realigning these incentives.

Stakeholder Incentives in Credential Monetisation

Credential ecosystems bring together lots of different players within the trust triangle, each with their own motivations to capture value. If we want to build monetisation models that actually scale and last, we need to understand those incentives clearly.

a. Issuers

These are universities, banks, certifying bodies, governments, and employers. For them, revenue from credential issuance turns what used to be a simple admin task into a direct income stream, whether that’s diplomas, licences, or professional certifications. On top of that, verification fees provide ongoing revenue every time a credential is checked by a relying party. Some issuers also lean on subscription models, offering bulk issuance or verification as a predictable, recurring service. There’s also a reputational side. Through reputation markets, issuers can strengthen their brand and position themselves as trusted authorities. Being listed in trust registry listings adds another layer of credibility, attracting verifiers and clients who are willing to pay for recognised credentials. Finally, issuers can benefit from analytics and insights gathered from anonymised credential usage. These not only support better strategic decisions internally but can also be monetised or shared with partners across the wider ecosystem.

b. Verifiers / Relying Parties

Employers, banks, regulators, and service providers all benefit directly from using verifiable credentials. This means lower compliance costs because things like KYC, background checks, and audits don’t take as much time or money. They also give organisations more confidence in the data they’re looking at, which leads to reduced fraud risk and fewer liabilities. Another big advantage is cross-border usability. It is a big pro for companies hiring internationally, dealing with global banking, or even in areas like travel. And because verification happens faster, the onboarding process is smoother — which helps with customer conversion and retention, and ultimately brings in more revenue. There’s also a clear upside when it comes to insurance and risk reduction. By counting on verified data, organisations reduce their exposure to risk and, in some cases, can even lower premiums or liability costs.

c. Holders (Individuals)

For individuals, that refers to employees, students, customers, and citizens, the real value comes from the portability and utility of credentials. A data portability premium means people can reuse the same credential across different platforms and services, saving both time and money. On top of that, Reusability incentives add even more value, since a single credential can be verified multiple times without extra effort. There are also perks like loyalty and rewards. Think discounts, tokens, or access to premium services in exchange for sharing or verifying credentials. Participation in marketplaces enables holders to monetise their verified reputation, skills, or qualifications. Finally, by reducing administrative friction, reduced friction supports faster onboarding to services, improving access to employment, financial products, and educational opportunities.

Aligning Incentives in Credential Ecosystems

To scale the credential ecosystems, all parties must see a fair balance between the costs they incur and the value they receive. If the incentives are out of sync, the whole system can stall. Issuers won’t bother putting effort into high-quality credentials if they can’t cover their costs. Verifiers won’t adopt if the fees feel too steep. And holders will quickly lose trust if they’re asked to keep paying without seeing clear benefits.

That’s why a sustainable model has to align incentives across a few key areas.

a. Cost–benefit clarity

Each stakeholder should understand what they are paying for, and also the value they gain in return. For issuers, it’s about covering the admin and compliance costs of setting up credentials. For verifiers, the payoff is things like less fraud and faster onboarding. Holders, meanwhile, expect convenience, portability, and access to opportunities. Pricing models need to make those exchanges clear and transparent.

b. Recurring value creation

A one-off issuance fee often fails to capture the ongoing utility of a credential. Models that link payments to verification events or usage ensure revenue continues to flow back to issuers and that verifiers only pay when they derive actual value. This also makes it possible to subsidise or eliminate upfront costs for holders, increasing adoption.

c. Distribution of payment responsibilities

A clear payment model is needed to inform each stakeholder what they are paying for, and the percentage of their contributed amount. Beyond finding the right balance between issuers, verifiers, and holders, additional monetisation mechanisms might be applied to ensure that value flows back to the parties who sustain trust in the ecosystem.

Payment-gated access introduces tiered models, where certain credentials, such as professional licences or certificates, can be pay-to-issue or pay-to-upgrade, offering differentiated value depending on the level of payment. Subscription models enable ongoing access to verification services, particularly suited for organisations that rely on frequent and large-scale credential checks.

cheqd supports all these models in practice. Payment-gated access is enabled at the protocol level, allowing issuers to charge directly for credential creation or issuance, whether through centralised payment-gated access (e.g. direct issuer charges) or decentralised payment-gated access (e.g. payments in $CHEQ or fiat-backed stablecoins embedded at the protocol level). Subscription models can be implemented by ecosystem providers building on top of cheqd, such as credential marketplaces or SaaS platforms, and ongoing access to verification or management services. This flexibility makes it easy to build seamless, programmable trust economies.

All of this comes together in cheqd’s Credential Payments Model — a framework designed to realign incentives across issuers, verifiers, and holders so the system works for everyone.

cheqd’s Credential Payments - A Balanced System

At cheqd, we’ve designed a Credential Payments framework that directly addresses the challenge of aligning incentives across issuers, verifiers, and holders. Rather than relying on a single party to shoulder all costs, the model allows payments to be flexibly allocated based on where value is realised.

a. Verifier pays issuer

In many scenarios, the verifier is the party that benefits most from trust. A bank onboarding a new customer, or an employer validating a qualification, reduces its fraud risk and compliance costs through verifiable credentials. Under this model, verifiers pay a small fee to issuers each time they check a credential. That way, issuers are rewarded for keeping their data accurate and trustworthy. This creates a recurring revenue stream tied to actual usage rather than one-off issuance.

Read the example of a technology company (verifier) paying Bright University (issuer) to verify Jane’s (holder) education records. The below infographics present a visual flow.

Step 1: Bright University register DID and chargeable DID-Linked Resource

Step 2: Premium Credential issued to Jane’s wallet

Step 3: The technology company pays Bright University for the Verifiable Credential using $CHEQ or a stablecoin

b. Holder pays issuer

In cases where credentials unlock personal opportunities—such as professional certifications, travel documents, or premium membership access—holders may be willing to pay for issuance. This reflects the direct personal value they receive, while also ensuring issuers can cover their compliance and operational costs. Importantly, once a credential is issued, holders can reuse it multiple times without additional charges, maximising its utility.

Read the example of Jane (holder) paying Bright University (issuer) to obtain her digital copy of the diploma, which she can share with her prospective employers.

Step 1: University anchors DID to cheqd mainnet

Step 2: Issuer issues Jane Doe a Verifiable Credential anchored on cheqd mainnet

Step 3: Jane Doe pays issuer for the Verifiable Credential using $CHEQ or a stablecoin

Step 4: Jane Doe presents the Credential as a Verifiable Presentation to the Verifier

c. Hybrid flexibility

Crucially, cheqd’s model is not prescriptive. Ecosystems can adopt either or both models depending on context, sector, or regulatory environment. For example, in higher education, holders might pay for issuance of diplomas, while employers later pay issuers for verification during recruitment. In financial services, verifiers might shoulder the cost entirely because of the high compliance benefits.

By keeping payments usage-based, portable, and transparent, cheqd makes sure incentives stay aligned:

  • Issuers get predictable revenue that grows with how much their credentials are used.
  • Verifiers only pay when they see real value, to name some, reduced risk and compliance savings.
  • Holders enjoy reduced friction and better access, without getting stuck paying repeatedly.

The result is a system where the cost of trust is shared fairly, and every transaction reinforces the ecosystem sustainability.

Incentive Alignment Through Network Effects

Digital interactions can only work when there’s trust. Nevertheless, trust isn’t always built in and keeping it isn’t free. As outlined at the start, the challenge is not only creating reliable credentials but also distributing the economic responsibility fairly. Without that balance, trust can quickly become unsustainable.

When incentives line up properly, everyone benefits. Issuers can cover the cost of producing high-quality credentials, verifiers reduce risk and lighten compliance burdens, and holders get portability and access to new opportunities. The more people and organisations use these credentials, the stronger the network effects, creating a cycle where trust actually generates value for everyone involved.

cheqd’s Credential Payments model is designed to make this alignment practical: embedding payments directly into credential flows, ensuring costs track value, and reinforcing sustainability with every transaction. With the infrastructure, trust becomes an asset that scales across the ecosystem.

Credential Payments is available to use through a set of easily consumable APIs within cheqd Studio or via a deeper integration with our Veramo SDK plugin.

Sign up for your account and get started. Create your first chargeable credential in a few clicks or lines of code.