Aggregating Digital Identities through Bridging. An Integration of Open Authentication Protocols for Web3 Identifiers

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Biedermann, Ben, Scerri, Matthew, Kozlova, Victoria, Ellul, Joshua
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2025
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author Biedermann, Ben
Scerri, Matthew
Kozlova, Victoria
Ellul, Joshua
author_facet Biedermann, Ben
Scerri, Matthew
Kozlova, Victoria
Ellul, Joshua
contents Web3's decentralised infrastructure has upended the standardised approach to digital identity established by protocols like OpenID Connect. Web2 and Web3 currently operate in silos, with Web2 leveraging selective disclosure JSON web tokens (SD-JWTs) and Web3 dApps being reliant on on-chain data and sometimes clinging to centralised system data. This fragmentation hinders user experience and the interconnectedness of the digital world. This paper explores the integration of Web3 within the OpenID Connect framework, scrutinising established authentication protocols for their adaptability to decentralised identities. The research examines the interplay between OpenID Connect and decentralised identity concepts, the limitations of existing protocols like OpenID Connect for verifiable credential issuance, OpenID Connect framework for verifiable presentations, and self-issued OpenID provider. As a result, a novel privacy-preserving digital identity bridge is proposed, which aims to answer the research question of whether authentication protocols should inherently support Web3 functionalities and the mechanisms for their integration. Through a Decentralised Autonomous Organisation (DAO) use case, the findings indicate that a privacy-centric bridge can mitigate existing fragmentation by aggregating different identities to provide a better user experience. While the digital identity bridge demonstrates a possible approach to harmonise digital identity across platforms for their use in Web3, the bridging is unidirectional and limits root trust of credentials. The bridge's dependence on centralised systems may further fuel the debate on (de-)centralised identities.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2501_13770
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Aggregating Digital Identities through Bridging. An Integration of Open Authentication Protocols for Web3 Identifiers
Biedermann, Ben
Scerri, Matthew
Kozlova, Victoria
Ellul, Joshua
Cryptography and Security
Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing
C.2.4; K.4.1; J.1; H.3.3; K.6.5
Web3's decentralised infrastructure has upended the standardised approach to digital identity established by protocols like OpenID Connect. Web2 and Web3 currently operate in silos, with Web2 leveraging selective disclosure JSON web tokens (SD-JWTs) and Web3 dApps being reliant on on-chain data and sometimes clinging to centralised system data. This fragmentation hinders user experience and the interconnectedness of the digital world. This paper explores the integration of Web3 within the OpenID Connect framework, scrutinising established authentication protocols for their adaptability to decentralised identities. The research examines the interplay between OpenID Connect and decentralised identity concepts, the limitations of existing protocols like OpenID Connect for verifiable credential issuance, OpenID Connect framework for verifiable presentations, and self-issued OpenID provider. As a result, a novel privacy-preserving digital identity bridge is proposed, which aims to answer the research question of whether authentication protocols should inherently support Web3 functionalities and the mechanisms for their integration. Through a Decentralised Autonomous Organisation (DAO) use case, the findings indicate that a privacy-centric bridge can mitigate existing fragmentation by aggregating different identities to provide a better user experience. While the digital identity bridge demonstrates a possible approach to harmonise digital identity across platforms for their use in Web3, the bridging is unidirectional and limits root trust of credentials. The bridge's dependence on centralised systems may further fuel the debate on (de-)centralised identities.
title Aggregating Digital Identities through Bridging. An Integration of Open Authentication Protocols for Web3 Identifiers
topic Cryptography and Security
Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing
C.2.4; K.4.1; J.1; H.3.3; K.6.5
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.13770