did:key
Protocolo de Identidade
Comunidade
Detalhes
Licença Open specification (W3C CCG document licence); numerous permissively licensed independent implementations across JavaScript, Rust, Python, Java, Go and Swift
Status de Dev 🟢 Ativo
Proprietário W3C Credentials Community Group — specification authors Manu Sporny, Dmitri Zagidulin and Dave Longley (as listed in the W3C DID Extensions methods registry)
Proprietário - Lista
- World Wide Web Consortium
Órgão de Governança W3C Community Group (Credentials Community Group)
País International (W3C Community Group process; contributors principally USA-based)
Ano de Início 2019
Stack Language-agnostic specification; resolution is a pure function over multicodec/multibase encoding with no network dependency
Financiamento N/A — no ongoing funding required; specification work carried out by W3C CCG participants
Última Investigação 31 de jul. de 2026
Protocolo de Identidade Atributos
Proprietário - Lista
- World Wide Web Consortium
Origens Self-sovereign identity — created to provide the simplest possible conformant DID method, usable for ephemeral and pairwise identifiers, testing, and any case where no persistent infrastructure should be required
Banco de Dados N/A — no storage of any kind. The DID document is computed from the identifier itself
Linguagem de Consulta N/A — resolution is a local deterministic transformation requiring no query or network request
Formatos de Dados W3C DID Document generated deterministically; identifier is multibase-encoded multicodec public key material. Supported key types include Ed25519, X25519, secp256k1, P-256/P-384/P-521 and RSA
Suporte Móvel Library-level — implemented inside resolver libraries and wallets; no standalone application
Suporte Web N/A as infrastructure — resolution requires no web request at all; resolver libraries run in browsers, but the method depends on no web service
Aplicativos Nativos Library-level — embedded in resolver libraries; no standalone application
Termos Free — no fees, no registration, no infrastructure
Fundos N/A
Baseado Em W3C DID Core 1.0; multicodec and multibase (Multiformats) for key encoding; the underlying signature algorithms themselves
Permissões Cryptographic — key control is the whole of the authorization model
Autenticação e Identidade Self-certifying in the strongest sense — the identifier is the public key, so binding between identifier and key material is definitional and requires no verification step, no registry and no third party
Modelo de Armazenamento None — nothing is stored. The DID document exists only as a derivation performed at resolution time
Interoperabilidade Universal within the W3C DID ecosystem — supported by essentially every DID resolver, wallet and VC library; commonly used as the default method in test suites and as the fallback where no infrastructure is available
Portabilidade de Dados Complete but immutable — the DID is portable everywhere because it depends on nothing, but it can never be updated, so portability and rigidity are the same property
Governança e Tomada de Decisão W3C Credentials Community Group — open participation, consensus process, public repository
Maturidade / Padronização do Protocolo Registered W3C DID method with universal implementation support, but the specification remains a W3C CCG draft rather than a Recommendation. Maturity in practice comes from ubiquity of implementation rather than formal status
Padrões de Identidade W3C DID Core 1.0; Multiformats (multicodec, multibase); registered in the W3C DID Extensions methods registry
Padrões de Identidade - Lista
Métodos DID Suportados did:key (defines this method)
Gestão de Chaves None — no rotation, no update, no deactivation. A compromised or lost key means the identifier is permanently unusable; the only remedy is to issue a new DID. This is the method's defining limitation
Tipos de Credenciais N/A — a DID method specification; defines no credential types. Compatible with W3C Verifiable Credentials issued against identifiers of this method
Tipos de Credenciais - Lista
Método de Verificação Deterministic derivation — the verification method is computed directly from the identifier, so verification requires no external lookup and cannot be tampered with in transit
Recursos de Privacidade Well suited to pairwise and ephemeral identifiers — since creation costs nothing and touches no registry, a fresh did:key can be generated per relationship or per interaction, avoiding correlation. Nothing is ever published
Métodos de Autenticação Cryptographic signature by the private key corresponding to the identifier
Mecanismo de Revogação None — a did:key cannot be revoked or deactivated. Revocation must be handled at the credential or relationship layer instead
Tipos de Agentes Suportados Any key-controlling entity — individuals, organizations, services and devices
Tipos de Carteira/Cliente SDK / library integration — resolver implementations across the SSI tooling ecosystem; no method-specific wallet
Mecanismos de Recuperação None — no recovery is possible by design; loss of the private key is terminal for that identifier
Conformidade / Regulamentações Not addressed by the specification. Its lack of rotation and revocation makes it unsuitable on its own for regimes requiring key lifecycle management
Protocolos de Troca de Credenciais Compatible with any protocol that resolves W3C DIDs, including DIDComm and OpenID4VC; frequently used for ephemeral holder-binding keys in credential presentation
Protocolos de Troca de Credenciais - Lista
Estrutura de Confiança Pure cryptography — no trust anchor exists or is needed; the identifier and the key are the same object
Modelo de Custo Free — zero marginal cost per identifier; creation is a local key generation
Resistência à Censura Maximal — there is no registry to block, no host to seize, no operator to compel and no network request to intercept. Resolution works offline and indefinitely
Relacionamentos
Como esta ferramenta se conecta a outras ferramentas e organizações, a partir de relacionamentos revisados pelo responsável pelos dados do OpenHaven. Descrevem como os projetos se conectam, não a qualidade deles.
- Desenvolvido por
- World Wide Web Consortium
- Fala o protocolo
- Hospedado em
- World Wide Web Consortium
- Interopera com
- Armazenamento para
- Primitiva de identidade para
- Protocolo falado por