🔖SBT Certificates

Blockchain integration has ushered in a revolutionary approach to issuing and verifying academic credentials in the educational sector. At the heart of this transformation are SBTs, or soulbound tokens, a pivotal component of the Web3 decentralized ID system.

SBTs are a unique form of non-transferable NFT (non-fungible token). Once issued and assigned to an entity’s wallet — whether a person, company, institution, or other organization — these tokens become permanently linked to it, unable to be transferred elsewhere. They serve as a digital representation of the owner’s identities and various credentials including educational and employment histories, qualifications, medical records, or proof of attendance, setting them apart from transferable assets like other NFTs or fungible tokens such as ETH.

In education, universities can issue graduation certificates as SBTs, effectively replacing traditional paper documents. This SBT graduation certificate would be sent to the student's wallet, becoming a permanent aspect of their identity. Students can then allow third-party verifiers, like professors from other institutions or company HR departments, to authenticate the certificate upon request, thus speeding up and enhancing the ID issuance and verification process.

Not only do SBTs digitize traditional paper-based systems, but they also promote a higher degree of credential integrity. Leveraging the immutable nature of the underlying blockchain, it becomes technologically impossible to forge or alter the data represented by a token once it has been issued, thereby increasing verifiers’ trust in the issued certificates or credentials. Recipients of SBT certificates can rest assured that issuers cannot tamper with their records post-issuance.

This innovative ID system accentuates the decentralized nature, substantially bolstering user privacy. Since SBTs are stored in a crypto wallet and are only manageable through the use of a private key, they assure that the owner has exclusive access to their information. Furthermore, recipients of SBTs maintain full control, with the ability to selectively decide which details to disclose and to whom.