W3C DIDs and VCs gain as five-layer agent stack emerges

It binds AI agents to verifiable, scoped, auditable identities

A Universal Identity and Trust Layer for Agentis ties each AI agent to a cryptographically provable identity and an explicit operating mandate. It uses decentralized identifiers (DIDs) and verifiable credentials (VCs) to issue “cryptographic agent passports” that describe who the agent represents, what data it may handle, and what actions it is permitted to perform.

These passports are enforced through scoped authorization and runtime controls. Sponsorship links an agent to a verified human or organization, while tamper-evident logs, key rotation, and rapid revocation support non-repudiation and incident response.

Why this layer matters now: risk, accountability, interoperability

Agentic AI is moving from prototypes to production workflows, but deploying autonomous software without identity and trust controls increases fraud, brand impersonation, and compliance exposure. According to Express Computer, GoDaddy has launched a global trusted identity framework to help verify AI agents and curb “imposter bots,” underscoring market demand for verifiable provenance and policy-bound operation.

As reported by IT Brief Asia, Ping Identity introduced a “Universal Trust Layer” that treats trust as continuous, including non-human and agentic identities, with identity verification and re-checks at high-risk junctures like account recovery or sensitive transactions. That model aligns with risk-based authentication and zero-trust principles, where trust is re-evaluated as context changes rather than assumed after login.

Industry commentary has emphasized that identity for agents is a lifecycle challenge spanning issuance, permissions, monitoring, and revocation. As reported by Forbes, Stu Solomon, CEO at HUMAN Security, said, “The internet is no longer dominated by humans… [Agentic AI] requires us to rethink how we define and protect trust in real time.”

Immediate impact: a five-layer stack mapped to open standards

Passports: Issue cryptographic agent passports using DIDs for unique identifiers and VCs for attestations about purpose, data access, or compliance posture. Each passport is bound to strong keys with rotation policies and maintains revocation status to disable compromised agents.

Verification: Establish human or enterprise sponsorship through identity proofing and attestations that can be selectively disclosed. Privacy-by-design controls, such as minimizing attributes and supporting zero-knowledge proofs, limit overexposure while preserving auditability.

Authorization: Enforce least-privilege scopes across services with standard protocols (for example, OAuth 2.0 and OIDC patterns) and policy-as-code. Fine-grained entitlements, time-boxed tokens, and step-up checks at sensitive actions reduce blast radius if credentials are misused.

Monitoring: Capture immutable, time-sequenced logs of agent prompts, decisions, and transactions to support forensic review and non-repudiation. Continuous risk evaluation and anomaly detection enable rapid suspension or permission downgrades when behavior deviates from the declared mandate.

Governance: Define lifecycle controls for issuance, renewal, rotation, and revocation, plus separation of duties and change management. Clarifying terms also matters for discoverability: a “universal agent” typically refers to a generalist autonomous system, while “universal identity” concerns a consistent, interoperable trust layer that can represent many different agents and contexts.

At the time of this writing, contextual market data provide a sense of adjacent ecosystem activity. Based on data from Yahoo, Okta (OKTA) last showed $88.86 in pre-market indications, up 0.77%, after closing at $88.18; figures were flagged as delayed and subject to update.

The five layers: passports, verification, authorization, monitoring, governance

The passports layer provides an agent’s cryptographic identity and intent, using decentralized identifiers and verifiable credentials to make identity assertions tamper-evident and revocable. Verification binds the agent to a responsible human or enterprise with attestations that can be checked at runtime and selectively disclosed to protect privacy.

Authorization translates intent into enforceable, least-privilege permissions across APIs, data, and payments, with scoped, expiring tokens and just-in-time elevation for high-risk operations. Monitoring adds continuous controls, immutable logs, risk scoring, anomaly detection, and behavioral safeguards, to surface misuse early and support incident response.

Governance spans the full lifecycle: issuance criteria, key management, policy-as-code, attestation renewal, and emergency revocation. Together, these layers create a universal identity and trust foundation for Agentis that is auditable, privacy-aware, and interoperable with existing standards and enterprise controls.