Attestations are verified digital statements or claims, often issued by organizations, used as trusted resources for communication and decision-making, providing authenticated information about individuals, events, or processes.
Definition
Attestations in web3 are verifiable claims issued using a decentralized identifier, signed using public-key cryptography, and often stored using a public blockchain (such as Ethereum). Attestations can be used to record any kind of data, and are typically used to prove a relationship, action, preference or property of a related party. In web3 settings, tools like Ethereum Attestation Service and Disco are typically used to facilitate the issuance, discovery and verification of attestations.
At its core, attestation is simply evidence or proof of something. In the case of Web3, it contains digital signatures and cryptographic proofs that state a fact about an identity or entity. These proofs can be used to prove the identity of a user, confirm that a device or system is trustworthy, or to demonstrate that certain conditions have been met.”
Web3 attestations can be made about one’s own self or someone/something else, and can also be corroborated by the attestation’s recipient or a third party. This allows attestations to be used for a wide variety of applications, most of which have not yet been invented. To be successful, the Impact Attestation space needs experimentation with a wide variety of onchain and real-world use cases to develop useful schemas and common practices around which a thriving ecosystem may be built.
‘Let’s take a look at some real-world examples of attestation. In our everyday lives, we use several types of attestation to prove our identity and access certain services or benefits:
Drivers License: Proves that we have permission to drive Passport: Proves our citizenship and ability to travel across borders Educational Certificate: Proves that we have achieved a particular education milestone
Internet Certificate: SSL/TLS certificates, are electronic documents used to verify the identity of websites, servers, and other online entities In the context of Web3, attestations are needed to enable most of the real-world use cases.
In a recent example, JP Morgan used Verifiable Credential, a form of attestation, to execute its first DeFi transaction on a public blockchain. Attestations allow the bridging of Web2 and real-life identity to Web3, while maintaining distributed trust.
In Web3, attestation applications include:
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Proof of Digital Asset Ownership : Generation of digital signatures on the blockchain to attest that a specific address owns a certain quantity or type of digital assets, like NFTs.
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Identity Verification : Obtaining individual identity verification through decentralized identity systems on the blockchain.
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Smart Contract Execution Proof : Smart contracts issue attestations to prove they have executed as expected, triggering certain conditions or events.
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Data Integrity and Provenance : Ensuring data integrity and immutability by generating digital signatures on the blockchain, where signatures are verified successfully only if the data remains unaltered.