Self-Sovereign Identity
Self-Sovereign Identity.
An identity model where the user holds their credentials in a personal wallet and controls when and how they're shared — without dependence on any single issuer or platform for ongoing access.
SSI is partly an aspiration and partly a deployed reality. The aspiration: users hold cryptographic credentials, present them at their discretion, and no single provider can cut off their digital life. The reality: most production SSI is government-driven (EU, US state DMVs) where the issuer is still a central authority, just one the user is presumed to need anyway. The "sovereign" in SSI describes credential portability and presentation control, not freedom from authoritative issuers.
Common questions
What does self-sovereign identity actually mean?
Is SSI replacing federated identity?
What are the principles of SSI?