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| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2026
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.20716 |
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| _version_ | 1866914287218327552 |
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| author | Satybaldy, Abylay Tylinski, Kamil Xu, Jiahua |
| author_facet | Satybaldy, Abylay Tylinski, Kamil Xu, Jiahua |
| contents | Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) are increasingly deployed on distributed ledgers, yet systematic cross-platform evidence on their operational behavior remains limited. We present an empirical benchmarking study of three prominent ledger-based DID methods - Ethereum, Hedera, and XRP Ledger - using reference Software Development Kits (SDKs) under a unified experimental setup. We measure latency, transaction cost, and on-chain metadata exposure, normalizing latency by each platform's block or consensus interval and cost by its native value transfer fee. Privacy leakage is quantified using a Metadata-Leakage Score (MLS), an entropy-based measure expressed in bits per operation.
Our results reveal distinct architectural trade-offs. Ethereum enables near-instant, off-chain DID creation, but incurs the highest latency and cost for on-chain lifecycle operations. XRPL delivers deterministic and stable latency with fixed, low fees, yet exhibits higher metadata leakage due to more verbose transaction payloads. Hedera achieves the lowest on-chain latency and low fees with minimal metadata leakage, while occasional variance arises from SDK-side processing and confirmation pipelines.
Overall, the findings show that ledger architecture and SDK workflows play a major role in shaping DID latency, cost, and metadata exposure, complementing the effects of the underlying consensus mechanism. These results provide evidence-based insights to support informed selection and configuration of DID systems under performance and privacy constraints. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_20716 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Decentralized Identity in Practice: Benchmarking Latency, Cost, and Privacy Satybaldy, Abylay Tylinski, Kamil Xu, Jiahua Cryptography and Security Emerging Technologies Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) are increasingly deployed on distributed ledgers, yet systematic cross-platform evidence on their operational behavior remains limited. We present an empirical benchmarking study of three prominent ledger-based DID methods - Ethereum, Hedera, and XRP Ledger - using reference Software Development Kits (SDKs) under a unified experimental setup. We measure latency, transaction cost, and on-chain metadata exposure, normalizing latency by each platform's block or consensus interval and cost by its native value transfer fee. Privacy leakage is quantified using a Metadata-Leakage Score (MLS), an entropy-based measure expressed in bits per operation. Our results reveal distinct architectural trade-offs. Ethereum enables near-instant, off-chain DID creation, but incurs the highest latency and cost for on-chain lifecycle operations. XRPL delivers deterministic and stable latency with fixed, low fees, yet exhibits higher metadata leakage due to more verbose transaction payloads. Hedera achieves the lowest on-chain latency and low fees with minimal metadata leakage, while occasional variance arises from SDK-side processing and confirmation pipelines. Overall, the findings show that ledger architecture and SDK workflows play a major role in shaping DID latency, cost, and metadata exposure, complementing the effects of the underlying consensus mechanism. These results provide evidence-based insights to support informed selection and configuration of DID systems under performance and privacy constraints. |
| title | Decentralized Identity in Practice: Benchmarking Latency, Cost, and Privacy |
| topic | Cryptography and Security Emerging Technologies |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.20716 |