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.