W3C Digital Credentials API Verifiable Credentials

The W3C Digital Credentials API, shipped in Chrome 141 and supported in Safari 26, lets a website request a credential — a mobile driver’s license, a national ID — from a wallet already on the visitor’s device. It solves a different problem than verifying a physical item’s provenance record, and the two get conflated because both use the phrase “verifiable credential.”

Why AuthiChain

• The Digital Credentials API mediates a live presentation from a person’s wallet to a website — it exists to move identity documents into the browser, not to check a signed record about a physical item
• protocol/SPEC.md §5 verifies a record with no wallet, no browser API, and no user present at all: the record and the reference verifier are sufficient, which is the entire point of offline verification
• The EUDI Architecture Reference Framework now conditionally requires wallet units and relying parties to support the DC API for remote presentation — a person-to-website flow, distinct from resolving a GS1 Digital Link record

How it works

Issue a unique identifier per unit, anchor its record on-chain for tamper-evidence, and let anyone verify it with a single scan. Plans start at $49/mo.

FAQ

Does verifying an AuthiChain record require the Digital Credentials API?

No — verification runs against the record and its Ed25519 signature directly, per protocol/SPEC.md §5. No wallet, browser support, or user interaction step is involved.

Could AuthiChain use the Digital Credentials API in the future?

It would apply to a person presenting an identity-linked credential through a wallet, which is a different flow from verifying a product’s provenance record — not something the protocol specifies today.