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## Announcing did-eth... dao?

At IIW 35 (link), prompted by some of the team members of Spherity, a number of teams and individuals gathered to discuss their experiences with the `did:ethr` DID method ([https://github.com/decentralized-identity/ethr-did-resolver/blob/master/doc/did-method-spec.md](https://github.com/decentralized-identity/ethr-did-resolver/blob/master/doc/did-method-spec.md)), which the Veramo team developed (back when the team was known as uPort) and continues to maintain. 

The `did:ethr` DID method provides a relatively full-featured DID method that supports key rotation[[https://www.w3.org/TR/did-core/#verification-method-rotation](https://www.w3.org/TR/did-core/#verification-method-rotation)] and service endpoints[[https://www.w3.org/TR/did-core/#services](https://www.w3.org/TR/did-core/#services)], at a somewhat low cost. It’s possible to create a `did:ethr` DID for free by simply generating an Ethereum account. It is also possible to easily control this DID with an existing Ethereum account, such as the one in a user’s web3 wallet. This makes `did:ethr` a remarkably powerful DID Method, but it does have some drawbacks.

The most glaring issue is simply that `did:ethr` relies on a specification and smart contract that were written nearly 5 years ago. The specification was written well before the DID core spec itself was finalized, and there are a couple of minor vulnerabilities present in the contract version deployed on certain chains.

On the other hand, there have been countless advancements in both the Ethereum and DID ecosystems since the development of `did:ethr`. Since the creation of `did:ethr`, DIDs (v1) became an official W3C Recommendation, Meta Transaction and Account Abstraction standards are maturing, and new L2s have come online.

So the group that met at IIW 35 decided that there was both a need and an opportunity to build a successor to `did:ethr`. Since then, we’ve been meeting (almost) weekly to discuss what we’d like to see in a new DID method. We’re a group made up of members from about 10 different organizations, and we’d like to invite you to join us.

We think it’s important that as many developers in the Ethereum and DID space have an opportunity to make their voices heard so that we can find consensus on a modern DID method for the Ethereum ecosystem and reduce the likelihood that new DID methods will need to be created for unforeseen use cases in the future.

There are 2 main ways you can contribute to (or simply observe) this work:

- Contribute to or review our work on our Github ([https://github.com/veramolabs/did-eth](https://github.com/veramolabs/did-eth))
- Join our Discord ([https://discord.gg/FRRBdjemHV](https://discord.gg/FRRBdjemHV)) and watch for updates in the #did-eth-dao channel
    - Join the #did-eth-dao-live voice channel Thursdays at Noon Eastern Time for our weekly meeting. It’s fine to join just as a “fly on the wall” if you’d like!