---
robots: noindex, nofollow
---

# 2025 Tweets

## FROST Meeting

The final @BlockchainComns Gordian meeting for the year was a banger. It was all about FROST, the Schnorr-based next-generation signing system. [1/12] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/meetings/2025-12-frost/

We led off with a presentation on "Learning FROST". If you want to know why you should be using FROST instead of classic multisigs, this is for you. [2/12]

TL;DR: The big win for FROST is aggregation. Multiple signatures simply add together. There's no size increase, and in a big win for privacy you can't tell something is a multisig (or even who signed). It's all in the presentation. [3/12] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/assets/pdfs/2025-12-learning-frost.pdf

The presentation was based on our new course, Learning FROST from the Command Line. It offers hands-on experience working with FROST using the ZF FROST command-line tools. [4/12] https://learningfrost.blockchaincommons.com/

The visceral, hands-on methodology is based on our popular, classic course, Learning Bitcoin from the Command Line. (It's a few years out of date; we're looking for sponsors to support updating it. If that's you, write me!) [5/12] https://github.com/BlockchainCommons/Learning-Bitcoin-from-the-Command-Line

One of the problems we highlighted in our Learning FROST presentation was coordination. You either try and do the ceremonies by hand (which is a mess!), or you have to semi-trust a centralized server (who can't view secret info but can censor). [6/12]

And one possible solution for FROST coordination was the topic of the second part of our meeting: "FROST with Hubert." [7/12] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/assets/pdfs/2025-12-hubert-frost.pdf

Hubert is our "Dead-Drop Hub". It supports the transmission of encrypted messages using BitTorrent Mainline DHT or IPFS. [8/12] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/hubert/

This allows you to create FROST keys and sign with your shares in a way that's automated, yet private and censorship-resistant. We think it's a game-changer for making FROST a reality! [9/12]

The slides & video of both presentations is on our December meeting page. Take a look and you'll see why FROST is something you must develop (or demand!) in 2026. [10/12] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/meetings/2025-12-frost/

If you'd like to support Blockchain Commons in the crypto winter, so we can continue this type of work, become a GitHub sponsor or contact me directly. [11/12] https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons

And thanks to @HRF who funded much of our FROST work in 2025! [12/12] https://hrf.org/

### LinkedIn

#### Image is LinkedIn-Learning-FROST.jpg

The final Blockchain Commons Gordian meeting for the year was a banger. It was all about FROST, the Schnorr-based next-generation signing system.

* MEETING: https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/meetings/2025-12-frost/

We led off with a presentation on "Learning FROST". If you want to know why you should be using FROST instead of classic multisigs, this is for you. TL;DR: The big win for FROST is aggregation. Multiple signatures simply add together. There's no size increase, and in a big win for privacy you can't tell something is a multisig (or even who signed). It's all in the presentation.

* LEARNING FROST PRESENTATION: https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/assets/pdfs/2025-12-learning-frost.pdf

The presentation was based on our new course, Learning FROST from the Command Line. It offers hands-on experience working with FROST using the ZF FROST command-line tools.

* LEARNING FROST COURSE: https://learningfrost.blockchaincommons.com/

The visceral, hands-on methodology is based on our popular, classic course, Learning Bitcoin from the Command Line. (It's a few years out of date, which is an eternity in the cryptocurrency world; we're looking for sponsors to support updating it. If that's you, write me!)

* LEARNING BITCOIN: https://github.com/BlockchainCommons/Learning-Bitcoin-from-the-Command-Line

One of the problems we highlighted in our Learning FROST presentation was coordination. You either try and do the ceremonies by hand (which is a mess!), or you have to semi-trust a centralized server (who can't view secret info but can censor). One possible solution for these problems with FROST coordination was the topic of the second part of our meeting: "FROST with Hubert."

* FROST HUBERT PRESENTATION: https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/assets/pdfs/2025-12-hubert-frost.pdf

Hubert is our "Dead-Drop Hub". It supports the transmission of encrypted messages using BitTorrent Mainline DHT or IPFS. Using it, you can create FROST keys and sign with your shares in a way that's automated, yet private and censorship-resistant. We think it's a game-changer for making FROST a reality!

If you'd like to support Blockchain Commons in the crypto winter, so we can continue this type of work, become a GitHub sponsor or contact me directly. And thanks to HRF who funded much of our FROST work in 2025!

* GITHUB SPONSORS: https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons

## Exodus Meeting

Remember that long-lost Google+ Circle that you carefully curated? Remember that internet radio that's now a lump of metal because the website is gone? That's how easily digital infrastructure can disappear. [1/12]

The topic of this month's Gordian Developers Meeting from @blockchaincomns was how to create Exodus Protocols: digital infrastructure that can't be taken from us. [2/12] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/meetings/2025-10-clubs/

Exodus Protocols are built on five principles:

Operate without external dependencies.
Encode rules in mathematics, not policy.
Make constraints load-bearing.
Preserve exit through portability.
Work offline and across time. [3/12]

Bitcoin offers a great example of an Exodus Protocol. Miners come and go. You can spin up your own node. You can create transactions offline, transmit via QR, and send where and when you want. There isn't any centralized infrastructure! [4/12]

But we need protocols of this type for coordination, collaboration, and identity.

What will your Exodus Protocol be? [5/12]

There's of course an issue with creating infrastructure that doesn't depend on centralization. How do you communicate? That was the topic of the other half of our meeting, on Hubert, the Dead-Drop Hub. [6/12] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/hubert/

Hubert uses technologies such as BitTorrent Mainline DHT and IPFS to transmit messages. It supports encrypted messages and indexes them with ARIDs (apparently random identifiers). [7/12]

The result? Anonymity and security, all without using a centralized server! There's a complete demo in the meeting video. [8/12] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSk67Y0P8Gs

You can also test out Hubert yourself with the Hubert CLI. Frost signing? Activism coordination? Remotely stored credentials? Hubert has plenty of use cases! [9/12] https://github.com/BlockchainCommons/hubert-rust

Take a look at the November Gordian Meeting page for the recorded video, the slides, and other details about Exodus Protocols and Hubert! [10/12] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/meetings/2025-10-clubs/

Sign up for the Gordian Developers announcement-only mailing list, so that you know what we'll be talking about in future months. Our meetings are on the first Wednesday of most months. [11/12] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/subscribe/

If you're interested in using our work, you can! And talk to us if you'd like support in doing so! You can also support us by becoming a Patron! [12/12] https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons

### LinkedIn

### Image: LinkedIn-Exodus-Meeting.jpg

Remember that long-lost Google+ Circle that you carefully curated? Remember that internet radio that's now a lump of metal because the website is gone? That's how easily digital infrastructure can disappear. The topic of this month's Gordian Developers Meeting from Blockchain Commons was how to create Exodus Protocols: digital infrastructure that can't be taken from us.

* MEETING INFO: https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/meetings/2025-10-clubs/
* MEETING VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSk67Y0P8Gs

Exodus Protocols are built on five principles:

1. Operate without external dependencies.
2. Encode rules in mathematics, not policy.
3. Make constraints load-bearing.
4. Preserve exit through portability.
5. Work offline and across time.

Bitcoin offers a great example of an Exodus Protocol. Miners come and go. You can spin up your own node. You can create transactions offline, transmit via QR, and send where and when you want. There isn't any centralized infrastructure! But we need protocols of this type for coordination, collaboration, and identity.

What will your Exodus Protocol be?

There's of course an issue with creating infrastructure that doesn't depend on centralization. How do you communicate? That was the topic of the other half of our meeting, on Hubert, the Dead-Drop Hub.

Hubert uses technologies such as BitTorrent Mainline DHT and IPFS to transmit messages. It supports encrypted messages and indexes them with ARIDs (apparently random identifiers). The result? Anonymity and security, all without using a centralized server! There's a complete demo in the meeting video. You can also test out Hubert yourself with the Hubert CLI. Frost signing? Activism coordination? Remotely stored credentials? Hubert has plenty of use cases!

* HUBERT FOR DEVELOPERS: https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/hubert/
* HUBERT-CLI: https://github.com/BlockchainCommons/hubert-rust

Sign up for the Gordian Developers announcement-only mailing list, so that you know what we'll be talking about in future months. Our meetings are on the first Wednesday of most months.

If you're interested in using our work, you can! And talk to us if you'd like support in doing so! You can also support us by becoming a Patron!

* SUBSCRIBE: https://www.blockchaincommons.com/subscribe/
* SUPPORT: https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons

## Exodus Musings (draft 2)

https://x.com/ChristopherA/status/1983958419360076036
https://bsky.app/profile/christophera.bsky.social/post/3m4gkxoawws2g
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/exodus-protocol-building-infrastructure-cant-fail-you-allen-qzhzc/

What would it mean to build infrastructure that can’t fail you? Not one that never has problems, but where someone else can't make it unavailable to you? Where fundamental capabilities exist as rights, not revokable privileges? For this, we need “Exodus Protocols” 🧵… [1/19]

A decade ago my students lost their collaborative learning infrastructure overnight when Yahoo sold del.icio.us and Google killed Reader. No warning. No migration. Gone. A story of the systematic transformation of rights into revokable privileges. [2/19]

Advocacy and activist groups blockaded by Visa, Mastercard, or PayPal without charge or trial. Platforms locking out regions citing “legal risk.” Canadian truckers with frozen accounts, professionals losing workspaces overnight. Access became permission. [3/19]

By now everyone has a story of infrastructural loss. Google Plus circles. Internet radio. MP3s. This pattern has a name: #enshittification. A service becomes essential, companies collect rent, reduce features, increase surveillance, then kill it when profits fade. [4/19]

So how do we create digital infrastructure that can't be taken from us? Bitcoin answered that question. For fifteen years it has demonstrated autonomous infrastructure that works. No servers to shut down, no administrators to pressure, no companies whose failure matters. [5/19]

Bitcoin demonstrated something profound: fundamental capabilities can exist as mathematical rights rather than centralized privileges. When your ability to transact depends on a bank's approval, it's not a right but permission. Bitcoin restored transaction as a right. [6/19]

Bitcoin is an Exodus Protocol: a system that frees us from external control by creating infrastructure without infrastructure. Miners can come and go. Transactions can be signed air-gapped and transferred using QR codes. It's generally hard to censor, unthinkable to kill. [7/19]

Unfortunately Bitcoin only creates an Exodus Protocol for value transfer. We need the same architectural patterns for coordination, collaboration, and identity. We need to protect activists, empower journalists, enable disaster response, preserve long-term archives. [8/19]

In my new Musings article, I lay out five principles required to build Exodus Protocols. They define what makes infrastructure truly autonomous and resilient against centralized control or sudden disappearance. [9/19] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-exodus-protocol/

Principle 1: operate without external dependencies. If it requires permission to operate, it's not autonomous. If it stops working when a company fails or a government objects, it's infrastructure built on sand. We need self-contained cryptographic objects. [10/19]

Principle 2: encode rules in mathematics, not policy. Math doesn’t discriminate, take sides, or change under pressure. Cryptographic proof replaces administrative decision-making: verification is deterministic. Code can be coerced, but mathematics cannot. [11/19]

Principle 3: make constraints load-bearing. Bitcoin can’t reverse transactions, so your funds can’t be seized by fiat. Rule changes require consensus, so your holdings can’t be inflated away. What can’t be changed can’t be weaponized. [12/19]

Principle 4: preserve exit through portability. Bitcoin keys work in any wallet. Open protocol means freedom to switch implementations. Without the ability to walk away, consent collapses into coercion. Lock-in is the opposite of sovereignty. [13/19]

Principle 5: work offline and across time. Bitcoin transactions can be signed offline and broadcast later. The protocol doesn't care about internet connectivity for core operations. True autonomy works with whatever channels remain available when coercion denies others. [14/19]

Gordian Clubs shows these principles: an “Exodus Protocol” built on Autonomous Cryptographic Objects—self-contained, cryptographically secure, resilient when infrastructure fails. Unencrypted data isn’t safe; centralized servers aren’t reliable. [15/19] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-clubs/

Gordian Clubs use a permit system where different people access the same content different ways: private keys, XIDs, or secret shares. Multiple permits mean resilience. Transport neutral: internet, thumb drive, QR code in a newspaper, even @Blockstream Satellite. [16/19]

A journalist stores sources in a Gordian Club. One permit for their key, SSKR shares to their editors. Even if seized, encrypted information is protected. A protest group coordinates when messaging app becomes surveillance. Immigrants have credentials with no phone-home. [17/19]

These aren't Bitcoin-specific features. They're the architecture of autonomy itself. QR codes, Bluetooth, threshold signatures, Gordian Envelope, XIDs. Technologies that enable Exodus Protocols for coordination, identity, and collaboration beyond value transfer. [18/19]

Support our work to create infrastructure that can't be taken from us. Become a GitHub Sponsor of Blockchain Commons. Help us build autonomous infrastructure for coordination, collaboration, and identity beyond Bitcoin. [19/19] https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons

## Exodus Musings

How can we create digital infrastructure that can't be taken from us? That's the question at the heart of today's Musings from a Trust Architect. [1/10] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-exodus-protocol/

My answer is the Exodos Protocol: systems that free us from the control of authorities by creating infrastructure without infrastructure. [2/10]

Bitcoin is an example. It's financial infrastructure, but it's modular and doesn't depend on any centralization. User authority lies on control of keys, not administrative fiat. [3/10]

In my article, I lay out five principles required to build Exodus Protocols right. They're all further described there. [4/10] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-exodus-protocol/

An Exodus Protocol must: 1. Operate Without External Dependencies; 2. Encode Rules in Mathematics, Not Policy; 3. Make Constraints Load-Bearing; 4. Preserve Exit Through Portability; and 5. Work Offline and Across Time. [5/10]

Through these methods we create infrastructure, but we do it in a way that's autonomous, so that it can't just disappear, like a Google+ Circle or your MP3s stored oneline [6/10]

Bitcoin isn't the only example of an Exodus Protocol. Our recently released Club system is an Exodus Protocol too! [7/10] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-clubs/

In fact, many of the @blockchaincomns technologies follow these requirements, we're just writing them down for the first time! [8/10]

Support work that encourages decentralization to create true autonomy for users by becoming a patron of Blockchain Commons. [9/10] https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons

And if you'd like to talk about working with @blockchaincomns directly to develop a new Exodus Protocol, drop me a line! [10/10]

### LinkedIn

How can we create digital infrastructure that can't be taken from us? That's the question at the heart of today's Musings from a Trust Architect.

* EXODUS: https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-exodus-protocol/

My answer is the Exodos Protocol: systems that free us from the control of authorities by creating infrastructure without infrastructure. Bitcoin is an example. It's financial infrastructure, but it's modular and doesn't depend on any centralization. User authority lies on control of keys, not administrative fiat.

In my article, I lay out five principles required to build Exodus Protocols right. An Exodus Protocol must:

1. Operate Without External Dependencies;
2. Encode Rules in Mathematics, Not Policy;
3. Make Constraints Load-Bearing;
4. Preserve Exit Through Portability; and
5. Work Offline and Across Time.

Through these methods we create infrastructure, but we do it in a way that's autonomous, so that it can't just disappear, like a Google+ Circle or your MP3s stored oneline. They're all described more in my Musings article.

Bitcoin isn't the only example of an Exodus Protocol. Our recently released Club system is an Exodus Protocol too! In fact, many of the Blockchain Commons technologies follow these requirements, we're just writing them down for the first time!

* CLUBS: https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-clubs/

Support work that encourages decentralization to create true autonomy for users by becoming a patron of Blockchain Commons at https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons. And if you'd like to talk about working with Blockchain Commons s directly to develop a new Exodus Protocol, drop me a line!

## Quarterly

https://x.com/BlockchainComns/status/1981820290725556454
https://x.com/ChristopherA/status/1981821884523327964
https://bsky.app/profile/christophera.bsky.social/post/3m3xqmt7els2z

(x-only @BlockchainComns) The Q3 2025 Quarterly Report from @BlockchainComns is here! Advancing Bitcoin FROST signing, strengthening provenance, launching Gordian Clubs, and a preview of Hubert ‘secret drops’—each a step toward interoperable, self-sovereign autonomous systems and resilient digital trust.

Explore how we’re engineering autonomy into the next generation of digital trust: 🔗 https://www.blockchaincommons.com/quarterlies/Q3-2025-Report/

(x-only @ChristopherA) Blockchain Commons’ work this quarter pushed further toward resilience and autonomy—showing how cryptographic design can empower people, not platforms. Here’s what stood out to me in our Q3 2025 report. 👇 [1/12] 🧵 (RT of https://x.com/BlockchainComns/status/1981820290725556454)

(bsky only @ChristopherA)
The Q3 2025 Quarterly Report from @BlockchainComns is here! Advancing Bitcoin FROST signing, strengthening provenance, launching Gordian Clubs, and a preview of Hubert ‘secret drops’—each a step toward interoperable, self-sovereign autonomous systems and resilient digital trust.

Blockchain Commons’ work this quarter pushed further toward resilience and autonomy—showing how cryptographic design can empower people, not platforms. Here’s what stood out to me in our Q3 2025 report. [2/13] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/quarterlies/Q3-2025-Report/

Our biggest innovation for the quarter? The Gordian Club, an autonomous cryptographic object. It ensure that information is resilient even when systems are under stress. [2/12] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/clubs/

In association with Gordian Club, we also released Hubert, a dead-drop hub. It's a way to exchange info without dependence on infrastructure. Great for Gordian Clubs, but also for FROST and other MPC projects. [3/12] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/hubert/

We also provided more details on one of our innovations from last quarter: the provenance mark, a forward-commitment hash chain. We've now got a whole provenance mark developer page. [4/12] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/provemark/

We made a few big presentations in Q3. One was on the new Swiss e-ID digital identity, where we presented to governmental and commercial interests alike about how to protect their users' autonomy. [5/12] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/meetings/2025-10-swiss-eid/

There were actually two presentations at TabConf7, one on "Beyond Bitcoin: Engineering Exodus Protocols", the other on "The Sad State of Decentralized Identity, and What To Do About It." [6/12] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/meetings/2025-10-tabconf/

Finally, we made some real progress on FROST work funded by @HRF. If you want to send Bitcoins with a FROST signature, you now can! [7/12] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/meetings/2025-08-frost-cli/

We'll have more on this in a Learning FROST from the Command Line course that we started work on this quarter and will finish up this fall. [8/12] https://github.com/BlockchainCommons/Learning-FROST-from-the-Command-Line?tab=readme-ov-file#learning-frost-from-the-command-line-00

You also might want to take a look at our frost-verify tool for checking FROST signatures (specialized for ZF FROST signing). [9/12] https://github.com/BlockchainCommons/frost-verify-rust

All of that and more is detailed in the newest quarterly report from @blockchaincomns. [10/12] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/quarterlies/Q3-2025-Report/

Support Blockchain Commons and this work by becoming a financial sponsor. [11/12] https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons

And talk to me directly if you'd like to work with us on Gordian Clubs, Hubert, Provenance Marks, or any of the rest of our Gordian autonomy technology stack! [12/12]

### LinkedIn Version

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7387593611942699008/

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/2025-q3-blockchain-commons-report-christopher-allen-qebrc/

## Image is 2025-Q3-Report.jpg

Blockchain Commons' year of innovation continued in Q3 2025, as discussed in the newest quarterly report.

* QUARTERLY: https://www.blockchaincommons.com/quarterlies/Q3-2025-Report/

Our biggest innovation for the quarter? The Gordian Club, an autonomous cryptographic object. It ensure that information is resilient even when systems are under stress. In association with Gordian Club, we also released Hubert, a dead-drop hub. It's a way to exchange info without dependence on infrastructure. Great for Gordian Clubs, but also for FROST and other MPC projects.

We also provided more details on one of our innovations from last quarter: the provenance mark, a forward-commitment hash chain. We've now got a whole provenance mark developer page.

* CLUBS: https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/clubs/
* HUBERT: https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/hubert/
* PROVENANCE MARK: https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/provemark/

We made a few big presentations in Q3. One was on the new Swiss e-ID digital identity, where we presented to governmental and commercial interests alike about how to protect their users' autonomy. Then, there were actually two presentations at TabConf7, one on "Beyond Bitcoin: Engineering Exodus Protocols", the other on "The Sad State of Decentralized Identity, and What To Do About It."

* SWISS E-ID MEETING: https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/meetings/2025-10-swiss-eid/
* TABCONF 7: https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/meetings/2025-10-tabconf/

Finally, we made some real progress on FROST work funded by HRF. If you want to send Bitcoins with a FROST signature, you now can! We'll have more on this in a Learning FROST from the Command Line course that we started work on this quarter and will finish up this fall.

You also might want to take a look at our frost-verify tool for checking FROST signatures (specialized for ZF FROST signing).

* SENDING BITCOIN DEMO: https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/meetings/2025-08-frost-cli/
* LEARNING FROST (in progress): https://github.com/BlockchainCommons/Learning-FROST-from-the-Command-Line?tab=readme-ov-file#learning-frost-from-the-command-line-00
* FROST-VERIFY: https://github.com/BlockchainCommons/frost-verify-rust

You can support Blockchain Commons and this work by becoming a sponsor. And talk to me directly if you'd like to work with us on Gordian Clubs, Hubert, Provenance Marks, or any of the rest!

* GITHUB SPONSORS: https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons

## FivE Anchors Musings

How do we ensure that digital identity systems offer true autonomy, whether they're self-sovereign or not? That's the topic of my newest Musings of a Trust Architect. [1/12] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-swiss-eid/

This newest article came out of the discussion about a near-future identity system: e-ID in Switzerland. A referrendum on September 28 OKed it for usage. [2/12]

A week later, a meeting was held to discuss what that meant. I was asked to present. I attacked the problem of how to deploy an identity system that remains safe and functional for its users far into the future. [3/12] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/meetings/2025-10-swiss-eid/

My presentation focused on five "anchors": foundational precepts that can be used to ensure that any digital identity system remains focused on the users who are actually its principals. [4/12]

1. PRESERVE CHOICE BY DESIGN. We need to ensure that users have real choice both within the system and to use it at all. [5/12]

2. BUILD A 20-YEAR ARCHITECTURE, NOT 2-YEAR PRODUCT. Identity systems can't cut corners to be fixed later, and they need to be dynamic. [6/12]

3. MAINTAIN PLATFORM INDEPENDENCE. Platforms like Google and Apple could corrupt our digital identity systems! To prevent that, we need oversight with actual enforcement. [7/12]

4. REQUIRE DUTIES FOR NON-GOVERNMENTAL PARTIES. Commercial entities using the platform must have duties to the users. [8/12]

5. IMPLEMENT INSTITUTIONAL SAFEGUARDS. Even if the institution creating a digital identity system seems trustworthy, there must be safeguards for the future. [9/12]

There's more on all these principles for ensuring autonomy in digital identity systems in my full article. [10/12] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/meetings/2025-10-swiss-eid/

If you're working on Swiss e-ID and would like to hear more, send me a DM. [11/12]

And as always, please support Blockchain Commons so that work like this can continue. [12/12] https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons

### LinkedIn

[[IMAGE IS IN DROPBOX AT LinkedIn-SwissEID.jpg

How do we ensure that digital identity systems offer true autonomy, whether they're self-sovereign or not? That's the topic of my newest Musings of a Trust Architect.

* MUSINGS ARTICLE: https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-swiss-eid/

This newest article came out of the discussion about a near-future identity system: e-ID in Switzerland. A referrendum on September 28 OKed it for usage. A week later, a meeting was held to discuss what that meant. I was asked to present. I attacked the problem of how to deploy an identity system that remains safe and functional for its users far into the future.

* SWISS E-ID MEETING: https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/meetings/2025-10-swiss-eid/

My presentation focused on five "anchors": foundational precepts that can be used to ensure that any digital identity system remains focused on the users who are actually its principals.

1. PRESERVE CHOICE BY DESIGN. We need to ensure that users have real choice both within the system and to use it at all.

2. BUILD A 20-YEAR ARCHITECTURE, NOT 2-YEAR PRODUCT. Identity systems can't cut corners to be fixed later, and they need to be dynamic.

3. MAINTAIN PLATFORM INDEPENDENCE. Platforms like Google and Apple could corrupt our digital identity systems! To prevent that, we need oversight with actual enforcement.

4. REQUIRE DUTIES FOR NON-GOVERNMENTAL PARTIES. Commercial entities using the platform must have duties to the users.

5. IMPLEMENT INSTITUTIONAL SAFEGUARDS. Even if the institution creating a digital identity system seems trustworthy, there must be safeguards for the future.

There's more on all these principles for ensuring autonomy in digital identity systems in my full article.

If you're working on Swiss e-ID and would like to hear more, send me a DM. And as always, please support Blockchain Commons so that work like this can continue.

* SUPPORT: https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons

## Club Musings

What do you do when the government might confiscate a journalist's list of sources? When protest planning leads to arrests? When an immigrant needs to safely store their credentials? [1/12]

That's the topic of today's Musings of a Trust Architect, on Gordian Clubs. It's about Preserving Agency When Infrastructure Fails. [2/12] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-clubs/

Gordian Clubs are built on a concept that I call Autonomous Cryptographic Objects (ACOs). These are the way to ensure that you control the infrastructure rather than the infrastructure controlling you. [3/12]

Autonmous means that the object isn't dependent on external infrastructure: it's self-contained. Cryptographic means that its privileges are based on math (keys & shares), not admin fiat. [4/12]

A Gordian Club is therefore an object containing permissions and information that can be passed around by any means. Internet. Mailed thumb drive. QR in the newspaper. It works WHEN INFRASTRUCTURE FAILS. [5/12] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/clubs/

The Gordian Club is built on Gordian Envelope which provides it with a "Permit" system. Different people can access it in different ways, such as private keys, secret shares, or even stretched passwords. [6/12] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/envelope/features/#encryption-support

The journalist can store his source with a Club and share it with his paper's board of directors. The protestors can organize via a Club. The immigrant can store his credentials in a Club and a human rights organization can help him with access when he reaches safety. [7/12]

There are many other use cases for Gordian Clubs. They can share information during a disaster, when the internet is out. They can preserve data for the future. [8/12]

I talk all about this and more in my new Musings on Gordian Clubs. [9/12] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-clubs/

You may also want to look at our recent real-world Gordian Club demo. [10/12] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/meetings/2025-10-clubs/#media--slides

I want to learn more about real-world use cases. If you have uses for Gordian Clubs, let me know! [11/12] https://github.com/BlockchainCommons/Gordian-Developer-Community/discussions/138

And if this sounds crucial to your own projects, talk to me about becoming a partner, so that we can advance this technology together! [12/12]

### Gordian Club Linked In

[grab image from Linked-clubs.jpg]

What do you do when the government might confiscate a journalist's list of sources? When protest planning leads to arrests? When an immigrant needs to safely store their credentials? That's the topic of today's Musings of a Trust Architect, on Gordian Clubs. It's about Preserving Agency When Infrastructure Fails.

* MUSINGS: https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-clubs/

Gordian Clubs are built on a concept that I call Autonomous Cryptographic Objects (ACOs). These are the way to ensure that you control the infrastructure rather than the infrastructure controlling you. Autonmous means that the object isn't dependent on external infrastructure: it's self-contained. Cryptographic means that its privileges are based on math (keys & shares), not admin fiat.

A Gordian Club is therefore an object containing permissions and information that can be passed around by any means. Internet. Mailed thumb drive. QR in the newspaper. It works WHEN INFRASTRUCTURE FAILS. It's built on Gordian Envelope which provides it with a "Permit" system. Different people can access it in different ways, such as private keys, secret shares, or even stretched passwords.

* CLUB FOR DEVELOPERS: https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/clubs/
* PERMITS FOR DEVELOPERS: https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/envelope/features/#encryption-support

The journalist can store his source with a Club and share it with his paper's board of directors. The protestors can organize via a Club. The immigrant can store his credentials in a Club and a human rights organization can help him with access when he reaches safety. There are many other use cases for Gordian Clubs. They can share information during a disaster, when the internet is out. They can preserve data for the future.

Besides the Musings, you may also want to look at our recent real-world Gordian Club demo.

* CLUBS DEMO: https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/meetings/2025-10-clubs/#media--slides

I also want to learn more about real-world use cases. If you have uses for Gordian Clubs, let me know!

* TALK ABOUT CLUBS USES: https://github.com/BlockchainCommons/Gordian-Developer-Community/discussions/138

And if this sounds crucial to your own projects, talk to me about becoming a partner, so that we can advance this technology together!

## Clubs Meeting Followup

We've now held that meeting on Gordian Clubs. It's fully documented at Blockchain Commons' meetings pages. 6/5 https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/meetings/2025-10-clubs/

We were thrilled to have @marksammiller and other luminaries from the Xanadu and ocap communities, who brought the discussion on Gordian Clubs up to the next level. 7/5

TL;DR: What if you could have an autonomous cryptographic object that enabled decentralized access control without servers or infrastructure? That's the vision of Gordian Clubs. 8/5

Take a look at the whole Gordian Clubs meeting, with video, slides, key quotes, and more. 9/5 https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/meetings/2025-10-clubs/

Sign up for our announcement-only Gordian Developer Meeting list, to make sure you hear about our next meeting! (We have more on FROST in the near future!) 10/5 https://www.blockchaincommons.com/subscribe/#gordian-developers

## FROST-CLI

FROST is the next generation of resilience for digital assets. You can create sharded keys, and then use those shares for signing without ever bringing them together. [1/12]

Recently, @blockchaincomns held a demo showing how to use command line tools to create a Bitcoin wallet controlled by a FROST quorum and use that quorum to sign PSBTs. [2/12] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/meetings/2025-08-frost-cli/

The FROST side of things came courtesy of Zcash, who produced ZF FROST and some tools to go with it. [3/12] https://frost.zfnd.org/

We've issued a PR that implements full support for the Secp256K1-TR ciphersuite across all FROST tools. [4/12] https://github.com/ZcashFoundation/frost-tools/pull/537

The Bitcoin side of things came courtesy of BDK, which allows command-line access to a PSBT. [5/12] https://bitcoindevkit.org/

The trick with using FROST for Bitcoin Taproot is that a "tweak" is needed. [6/12] https://hackmd.io/@bc-community/H1MfEMdvel#Why-Does-the-Taproot-Tweak-Exist

We had to write two helper tools, one to extract the hash from the PSBT, before we tweak things, and another to insert the FROST signature into the PSBT. [7/12] https://hackmd.io/@bc-community/BJ2VtYKUxl#Build-the-sighash-helper-tool

But it all works! Take a look at the demo and you can see the exact process for sending .5 BTC to a FROST wallet and back (using regtest!). [8/12] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/meetings/2025-08-frost-cli/

Our first demo covered Trusted Dealer, but we've since released a demo using FROST DKG to sign Bitcoin Taproot transactions as well. [9/12] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13skzOvWklk

We've got more to come on FROST this year. More meetings are planned for this fall. If you're an implementer, we'd love to hear about your tech; if you're a developer, we'd love to hear about your needs. Message me if you'd like to give a short presentation! [10/12]

Thanks to @HRF for their support of our FROST work both last year and this year! [11/12]

You too can become a Blockchain Commons sponsor. [12/12] https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons

## Q2 Report

The @BlockchainComns Q2 report is out today & it talks about our work with Zcash, FROST, dCBOR, identity, and lots more. [1/11] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/quarterlies/Q2-2025/

The ZeWIF project for Zcash was one of our most intense interop projects ever. We envisioned a world where Zcash users could freely move among wallets and made it a reality. [2/11] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/chains/zcash/zewif/

In contrast, we've been advocating for FROST for years, as we think it's the next generation of resilience and usability for digital assets. With a new grant, we've begun work on CLI apps and a tutorial course. [3/11] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/frost/

There were some major @blockchaincomns presentations in Q2. One was on interop: why is it important to us? How does it create independence for users? [4/11] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/meetings/2025-05-interop/

Another was on provenance marks. This is a new @blockchaincomns technology that offers an innovative method of authenticity verification for a chain of content. [5/11] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/meetings/2025-06-provenance-marks/

We also did quite a bit of scattered work on identity. This included a thoughtful article on fair witnessing: a new way to think about credentials. [6/11] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-fair-witness/

I also personally attended the Bitcoin Policy Summit when I was invited after my inclusion in Bitcoin Policy Institute’s recent white paper on “Building a Trustworthy Digital Future”. [7/11] https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/627aa615676bdd1d47ec97d4/687a499421889311e03d759e_Digital%20IDentity%20in%20the%20land%20of%20the%20free%20June%205%202025.pdf

Finally, we had tons of library and app updates to make it easier to use our technologies. The biggest expansion was the new dcbor-cli, which validates and formats dCBOR input. [8/11] https://github.com/BlockchainCommons/bc-dcbor-cli

But check out the @blockchaincomns quarterly report for all of our app and library updates. [9/11] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/quarterlies/Q2-2025/#cli-updates

Blockchain Commons is focused on resilience, independence, privacy, and openness. Message me if you'd like to partner on a project to bring these elements to your tech! [10/11]

You can also support us by becoming a patron on GitHub. [11/11] https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons

### LinkedIn

Image is https://www.blockchaincommons.com/images/2025-Q2-Report-linkedin.jpg

---

The Blockchain Commons Q2 report is out today & it talks about our work with Zcash, FROST, dCBOR, identity, and lots more.

* https://www.blockchaincommons.com/quarterlies/Q2-2025/

Here's some of the highlights:

**ZeWIF:** The ZeWIF project for Zcash was one of our most intense interop projects ever. We envisioned a world where Zcash users could freely move among wallets and made it a reality.

* https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/chains/zcash/zewif/

**FROST:** In contrast, we've been advocating for FROST for years, as we think it's the next generation of resilience and usability for digital assets. With a new grant, we've begun work on CLI apps and a tutorial course.

* https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/frost/

**Interop:** We made a major presentation on interop. Why is it important to us? How does it create independence for users?

* https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/meetings/2025-05-interop/

**Provenance Marks:** We also introduced provenance marks. This is a new Blockchain Commons technology that offers an innovative method of authenticity verification for a chain of content.

* https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/meetings/2025-06-provenance-marks/

**Identity:** Identity is a long-term interest of mine. I personally attended the Bitcoin Policy Summit when I was invited after my inclusion in Bitcoin Policy Institute’s recent white paper on “Building a Trustworthy Digital Future”. I also released a thoughtful article on fair witnessing: a new way to think about credentials.

* https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-fair-witness/

**DCBOR-CLI & Other Releases:** Finally, we had tons of library and app updates to make it easier to use our technologies. The biggest expansion was the new dcbor-cli, which validates and formats dCBOR input.

* https://github.com/BlockchainCommons/bc-dcbor-cli

Check out the Blockchain Commons quarterly for all the specifics on this and more!

Blockchain Commons is focused on resilience, independence, privacy, and openness. Message me if you'd like to partner on a project to bring these elements to your tech! You can also support us by becoming a patron on GitHub.

* https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons

## When Technical Standards Meet Geopolitical Reality

Reports have been coming back from the Global Digital Collaboration conference (GDC25), and they're pretty discouraging for those of us in the decentralized tech community. I wrote about a lot of the problems today. [1/13] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/gdc25/

Bottom line: we're seeing a lot of lip service to decentralized principles but applications are instead inverting our goals of independence and self-sufficiency. [2/13]

GDC25 encapsulated it perfectly with its representatives for the US. On the one hand, you had a RealID proponent—all 9/11 and Patriot Act rah-rah. State control, not decentralization. [3/13]

On the other hand, you had Google and Apple. That's our representation? Corporations with their own interests!? (With those interests mostly being making money and achieving corporate lock-in.) [4/13]

Europe is doing superificially better. The Swiss presentation was all about privacy, democratic involvement, and achieving public buy-in. These are the right things to rah-rah about. [5/13]

But Germany is simultaneously cutting deals with Google for a ZKP library—and though it could be a theoretical great foundation for our work, it currently ties you to the Google surveillance apparatus. [6/13]

As for eIDAS and EUDI, I've written about their shortcomings before. [7/13] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/articles/eidas/

This isn't just this one conference. We're having increasing problems even defining what decentralization is within our community. [8/13]

The self-sovereign identity community is caught between philosophical purity and practical irrelevance. We're at a time of reckoning where we're going to succeed with our ideals or fail. (Spoiler: Not looking great for the good guys right now.) [9/13]

I talk about all of this and more in my newest Musings ... but this isn't just Musings. We need solutions. We need action. And we need it now. [10/13] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/gdc25/

If you want to support true decentralization, amplify this message. Talk about what's wrong, what you don't like, and how you'd like to see it resolved. [11/13]

Join me at the @blockchaincomns Gordian Developer Meetings, propose a topic where we can hash out these issues. [12/13] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/subscribe/

And of course you can always support @blockchaincomns itself by becoming a financial patron, to help us fight for our principles. [13/13] https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons

### LinkedIN

#### IMAGE IS AT LinkedIn-GDC25.jpg

Reports have been coming back from the Global Digital Collaboration conference (GDC25), and they're pretty discouraging for those of us in the decentralized tech community. Bottom line: we're seeing a lot of lip service to decentralized principles but applications are instead inverting our goals of independence and self-sufficiency.

* GDC25: https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/gdc25/

GDC25 encapsulated it perfectly with its representatives for the US. On the one hand, you had a RealID proponent—all 9/11 and Patriot Act rah-rah. State control, not decentralization. On the other hand, you had Google and Apple. That's our representation? Corporations with their own interests!? (With those interests mostly being making money and achieving corporate lock-in.)

Europe is doing superificially better. The Swiss presentation was all about privacy, democratic involvement, and achieving public buy-in. These are the right things to rah-rah about. But Germany is simultaneously cutting deals with Google for a ZKP library—and though it could be a theoretical great foundation for our work, it currently ties you to the Google surveillance apparatus.
As for eIDAS and EUDI, I've written about their shortcomings before.

* eIDAS: https://www.blockchaincommons.com/articles/eidas/

This isn't just this one conference. We're having increasing problems even defining what decentralization is within our community. As a whole, the self-sovereign idenity community is caught between philosophical purity and practical irrelevance. We're at a time of reckoning where we're going to succeed with our ideals or fail. (Spoiler: Not looking great for the good guys right now.)

I talk about all of this and more in my newest Musings ... but this isn't just Musings. We need solutions. We need action. And we need it now.

If you want to support true decentralization, amplify this message. Talk about what's wrong, what you don't like, and how you'd like to see it resolved.

You can also:

* Join me at the Blockchain Commons Gordian Developer Meetings, where we can hash out these issues: https://www.blockchaincommons.com/subscribe/
* Support @blockchaincomns itself by becoming a patron, to help us fight for our principles: https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons

## No Phone Home

Credentials must be verifiable without enabling surveillance. That's why I signed the No Phone Home Initiative this week. 🧵…[1/10] https://nophonehome.com/

I wrote more about "No Phone Home" and its importance in a blog post at @BlockchainComns. [2/10] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/news/No-Phone-Home/

The biggest problem addressed by No Phone Home is this: if a digital credential is required to be verified by the issuer, the issuer knows where the holder is and what they're doing. It allows surveillance. [3/10]

As Manu Sporny of Digital Bazaar says, it creates conversations like: 'I’ve got Steve here at booze-hut.com, is he over 21?' Yikes! [4/10] https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-credentials/2025Jun/0008.html

Worse, as Kim Hamilton Duffy of DIF says: "This isn’t an unintended consequence." It's the way the system is expected to work! We have to change that! [5/10]

Daniel Hardman of Provenant looks at the problem concisely: "Verifiable credentials verify without issuer coordination; that is what the ‘verifiable’ in ‘verifiable credential’ means." [6/10] https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-credentials/2025May/0050.html

There are some tricky situations involving the verification of credentials, but there are also solutions, as I write in my article [7/10] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/news/No-Phone-Home/

This is one of those situations where we need to nip the problem in the bud before it suddenly become an industry expectation. We need to do so NOW: No Phone Home for credentials. [8/10]

If you're an identity expert and you want to sign on, let @TimRuffing know. If you'd like to understand the problem more, I'll be glad to schedule a call to help you do so. [9/10]

If you want to more broadly support our digital civil and human rights advocacy to fulfills these goals, consider becoming a sponsor of Blockchain Commons. [10/10] https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons

### LinkedIn
#### See LinkedIn-NoPhoneHome.jpg in Dropbox for image

Credentials must be verifiable without enabling surveillance. That's why I signed the No Phone Home initiative this week. I wrote more about No Phone Home and its importance in a blog post at Blockchain Commons:

* https://www.blockchaincommons.com/news/No-Phone-Home/

The biggest problem addressed by No Phone Home is this: if a digital credential is required to be verified by the issuer, the issuer knows where the holder is and what they're doing. It allows surveillance.

As Manu Sporny of Digital Bazaar says, it creates conversations like: 'I’ve got Steve here at booze-hut.com, is he over 21?' Yikes! Worse, as Kim Hamilton Duffy of DIF says: "This isn’t an unintended consequence." It's the way the system is expected to work! We have to change that! Daniel Hardman of Provenant looks at the problem concisely: "Verifiable credentials verify without issuer coordination; that is what the ‘verifiable’ in ‘verifiable credential’ means."

There are some tricky situations involving the verification of credentials, but there are also solutions, as I write in my article. This is one of those situations where we need to nip the problem in the bud before it suddenly become an industry expectation. We need to do so NOW: No Phone Home for credentials.

If you're an identity expert and you want to sign on, let me know and I'll help you do so.

If you want to more broadly support work that fulfills these goals, consider becoming a sponsor of Blockchain Commons.

### Mail to Community Groups

Hi Folks,

I wanted to bring some attention to the No Phone Home initiative, for anyone who hasn't already seen it. This is a statement that starts off "We, the undersigned, believe that identity systems must be built without the technological ability for authorities to track when or where identity is used." which I have signed on to.

I wrote an article discussing more of the details of why I think it's important here:

* https://www.blockchaincommons.com/news/No-Phone-Home/

The biggest problem addressed by No Phone Home is this: if a digital credential is required to be verified by the issuer, the issuer knows where the holder is and what they're doing. It allows surveillance. We want our wallets to be working for us, not for a surveillance society!

The actual (brief) statement is here:

* https://nophonehome.com/

If you want to sign on, let me know and I'll help you do so.

Christopher

## Fair Witness Article

https://x.com/ChristopherA/status/1932377105234596337

Verifiable Credentials are not truth. That shouldn't be a controversial statement, but it is because the core intent of verifiable credentials has been confused following our early work. [1/11]

A Verifiable Credential (VC) is just a cryptographically signed statement. You can verify who signed it, but not the truth of its content. However the confusion over VCs has made it obvious we want more. That's where Fair Witnessing comes in. [2/11] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-fair-witness/

Fair Witnessing is an idea from Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land. It says that statements should be precise and unbiased, which is a simple enough start. [3/11]

IMG: https://www.blockchaincommons.com/images/posts/fw-stranger.jpg

But a Fair Witness statement also needs to hold context. Who is the witness? What is their expertise? What are their unconscious biases? These are required so that when the Witness signs a statements, others can decide what it means. [4/11]

The major issue with making Fair Witnessing a reality is privacy. Context can offer a LOT of information, and you don't necessarily want to release it all to everyone. [5/11]

Blockchain Commons has a solution for this: Gordian Envelope. It's a way to elide information while maintaining signatures and still being to prove the information exists. [6/11] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/envelope/

Gordian Envelope Elision allows a fair witness to release information over time, to release information to certain people, or to release just a proof of information. [7/11]

Even if the intent of Verifiable Credentials were better understood, the confusion reveals a gap in their current usage. We need context, and we need to be able to keep that context private until it's needed. [8/11]

Read my article on fair witnessing for all the details. [9/11] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-fair-witness/

Sign up for our Gordian Developer Meetings too, as we'll likely discuss fair witnessing at a future meeting. (They're the first Wednesday of most months. Today at 10am PT we're discussing provenance marks.) [10/11] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/subscribe/

To support the next generation of self-sovereign identity and other self-sovereign technologies, become a sponsor of @BlockchainComns (or talk to me about a more direct relationship). [11/11] https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons

### LinkedIn
#### See LinkedIn-FairWitness.jpg in Dropbox for image

Verifiable Credentials are not truth. That shouldn't be a controversial statement, but it is because the core intent of verifiable credentials has been confused following our early work. Nonetheless, a Verifiable Credential (VC) is just a cryptographically signed statement. You can verify who signed it, but not the truth of its content. However, the confusion over VCs has made it obvious we want more. That's where Fair Witnessing comes in, as I wrote in today's "Musings of a Trust Architect."

* https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-fair-witness/

Fair Witnessing is an idea from Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land. It says that statements should be precise and unbiased, which is a simple enough start. But a Fair Witness statement also needs to hold context. Who is the witness? What is their expertise? What are their unconscious biases? These are required so that when the Witness signs a statements, others can decide what it means.

The major issue with making Fair Witnessing a reality is privacy. Context can offer a LOT of information, and you don't necessarily want to release it all to everyone. Fortunately Blockchain Commons has a solution for this: Gordian Envelope. It's a way to elide information while maintaining signatures and still being to prove the information exists. It allows a fair witness to release information over time, to release information to certain people, or to release just a proof of information.

* https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/envelope/

For more, see the original article. You may want to sign up for our Gordian Developer Meetings too, as we'll likely discuss fair witnessing at a future meeting. (They're the first Wednesday of most months.)

* https://www.blockchaincommons.com/subscribe/

To support the next generation of self-sovereign identity and other self-sovereign technologies, become a sponsor of @BlockchainComns (or talk to me about a more direct relationship).

* https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons

## Meeting

The Gordian Developer Meeting this month dealt with interoperability and why it's important. [1/10] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/meetings/2025-05-interop/

Interop is one of the most important things we work on at @BlockchainComns because of how it supports the Gordian principles. [2/10] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/principles/

Interop creates INDEPENDENCE: users don't get locked into proprietary platforms. [3/10]

Interop creates RESILIENCE: data is more likely to be recoverable because of the known, mature format. [4/10]

Interop creates OPENNESS: new creators can enter an ecosystem and improve it through innovation. [5/10]

Our most recent interop work has been with Zcash on an extensible wallet interchange format (ZeWIF). As its adoption increases, it'll allow free user movement among Zcash wallets. [6/10] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/chains/zcash/zewif/

We've of course worked on interop for Bitcoin for years. Our biggest success is Animated QRs, which allows for the transmission of large data files over airgaps. [7/10] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/animated-qrs/

Or maybe it's SSKR, a secure, reliable method for sharding and restoring seeds. [8/10] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/sskr/

The video of today's meeting talks about all of these initiatives plus some of our philosophy and methodology for interop. [9/10] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kD2PV8bLFhw

Have an ecosystem that could be improved by interop? Drop me a line, Blockchain Commons would love to work with you! [10/10]

## Outrage

(I doubt I'm going to tweet this, but I wanted to get it off of my chest. )

Outrage can be an instinctive emotional response, providing short-term relief and social validation. It taps into our brain’s reward systems, but this feeling, while powerful, often fails to create lasting change.

Outrage isn’t limited to politics—it’s pervasive in tech culture, art culture, and other sectors. The tendency to focus on emotional reactions or performative gestures rather than systemic change is everywhere.

In many areas of our society, outrage has been leveraged to mobilize people, typically to challenge existing systems. But it is often more effective at tearing things down than building up. This is where the real problem lies.

Our system has somewhat become resistant to outrage for positive change. Instead, it has been commodified and manipulated, allowing some groups and industries to use it to rally support, but without addressing the deeper issues that persist.

Rather than continuing to rely on outrage as a reactive tool, we must shift toward solutions that focus on rebuilding what is broken. This requires moving beyond emotional responses to strategic, long-term action.

Real change isn’t about fueling short-term anger. It’s about implementing functional policies and solutions that address root causes and provide tangible, sustainable benefits. The challenge is to break free from the cycle of frustration and stagnation.

We need to channel the energy of outrage into something more productive. The focus must shift from creating noise to creating meaningful progress, from symbolic acts to structural reconstruction.

This means moving from reaction to action. Only by doing so can we rebuild systems—whether in politics, tech, or art—that work for everyone, based on long-term stability, not fleeting emotional highs.

## Interop Article

Today's "Musings of a Trust Architect" asks an important question: "Interop, What Is It Good For?" Does interoperability really have a purpose? [1/14] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-interop/

We know that some interoperability is necessary, because it's what allows systems to communicate. SMTP. TCP/IP. DNS. [2/14]

But the further you get into an app, the less interoperable it becomes. You can somewhat reliably deliver a piece of mail using the standards, but ensuring that mail ends up in the "Important" folder and not "Spam", that's tough! [3/14]

IMAGE:

That's a great example of why we need a lot more interoperability than what we have right now! Because if mail can land in Spam folders for arbitrary, non-standardized reasons, the whole email system can become useless! (It kind of has for small senders!) [4/14]

Blockchain Commons builds its architectures upon the Gordian principles: privacy, independence, resilience, openness. Three of those are closely interrelated to interoperability. [5/14] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/principles/

Independence means that users should not be locked into a single system but able to freely choose among possible options. Interop ensures that choice. [6/14]

Resilience means that data won't get lost. With interoperable data structures, someone can look at that data in the far future and know how it's encoded and what it means. (If you don't believe it's important, try to read a Wordstar doc.) [7/14]

Openness means that new projects can come into an ecosystem thanks to interoperable standards. This creates innovation and "coopetition": cooperative competition. [8/14]

That's the purpose of interoperability! User choice, data resilience, and ecosystem openness. It really benefits everyone! [9/14]

We're just finishing a project with the Zcash community called ZeWIF. It's an interoperable format for migrating data among wallets. [10/14] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/chains/zcash/zewif/

Zcash had a very specific need due to the deprecation of their old zcashd server, but they saw the bigger picture and accepted our proposal to create an interop format that will serve them far into the future. [11/14]

Of course, @BlockchainComns has been working on BitCoin interop for years. SSKR sharding, UR data formatting, and Animated QRs are some of our most successful interop measures for preserving data and enabling communication. [12/14] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/

My new Musings talks more about all of these interop advantages, the work we've done so far, and why some people are resistant. It also highlights some of the folks who strongly support this work, especially our friends at @FOUNDATIONdvcs. [13/14] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-interop/

We'd love to extend our interop work to other ecosystems. If you'd like to have more interoperable wallets or data for your blockchain (or other ecosystem), drop me a line! I'd love to work with you directly. [14/14]

### LinkedIn


Today's "Musings of a Trust Architect" asks an important question: "Interop, What Is It Good For?" Does interoperability really have a purpose?

* MUSINGS: https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-interop/

We know that some interoperability is necessary, because it's what allows systems to communicate. SMTP. TCP/IP. DNS. But the further you get into an app, the less interoperable it becomes. You can somewhat reliably deliver a piece of mail using the standards, but ensuring that mail ends up in the "Important" folder and not "Spam", that's tough! And that's a great example of why we need a lot more interoperability than what we have right now! Because if mail can land in Spam folders for arbitrary, non-standardized reasons, the whole email system can become useless! (It kind of has for small senders!)

Blockchain Commons builds its architectures upon the Gordian principles: privacy, independence, resilience, openness. Three of those are closely interrelated to interoperability.

* **Independence** means that users should not be locked into a single system but able to freely choose among possible options. Interop ensures that choice.
* **Resilience** means that data won't get lost. With interoperable data structures, someone can look at that data in the far future and know how it's encoded and what it means. (If you don't believe it's important, try to read a Wordstar doc.)
* **Openness** means that new projects can come into an ecosystem thanks to interoperable standards. This creates innovation and "coopetition": cooperative competition.

That's the purpose of interoperability! User choice, data resilience, and ecosystem openness. It really benefits everyone!

We're just finishing a project with the Zcash community called ZeWIF. It's an interoperable format for migrating data among wallets. Zcash had a very specific need due to the deprecation of their old zcashd server, but they saw the bigger picture and accepted our proposal to create an interop format that will serve them far into the future.

* ZeWIF: https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/chains/zcash/zewif/

Of course, Blockchain Commons has been working on BitCoin interop for years. SSKR sharding, UR data formatting, and Animated QRs are some of our most successful interop measures for preserving data and enabling communication.

* Animated QRs: https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/animated-qrs/
* SSKR: https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/sskr/
* UR: https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/ur/

We'd love to extend our interop work to other ecosystems. If you'd like to have more interoperable wallets or data for your blockchain (or other ecosystem), drop me a line! I'd love to work with you directly.

## Quarterly

https://x.com/ChristopherA/status/1912579798733582370
https://bsky.app/profile/christophera.bsky.social/post/3lmxd5i5yss27

Today's quarterly report from @BlockchainComns covers our three big initiatives in Q1, 2025: ZeWIF for Zcash, Open Integrity for GitHub, and Post-Quantum Cryptography. It was a busy quarter! [1/12] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/quarterlies/Q1-2025/

ZeWIF is the Zcash extensible wallet interchange format. It's an interoperable initiative that will allow users to freely move funds among Zcash wallets. [2/12] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/chains/zcash/zewif/

Interoperability supports Gordian principles such as openness, resilience, and independence. We want to give users true control over their digital assets and make it less likely they lose them. [3/12] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/principles/

Open Integrity is a system to create a new level of trust for Git repositories, something that's vital as they're used for increasingly critical software. [4/12] https://github.com/openintegrityproject

Not only do inception commits reveal who the originator of a project was, but transition commits can trace repo authority over time. [5/12] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/open-integrity/

Post-Quantum Cryptography is the crypto that's necessary to protect against the quantum computers of the future. They're not there yet, but maybe in 5-10 years! It was the topic of our March Gordian meeting. [6/12] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/meetings/2025-03-pqc/

We largely talked about work with @FOUNDATIONdvcs in Q1 that introduced PQC algorithms into the Blockchain Commons stack so that they could create QuantumLink for secure Bluetooth communication. [7/12] https://community.foundation.xyz/t/quantumlink/291

There was lots more going on in Q1. The Right to Transact. The SSI Podcast. Developer page updates. Rust crate doc updates. a Lifehash port to Rust. It's all in the quarterly report. [8/12] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/quarterlies/Q1-2025/

Q1 also saw the debut of provenance marks, a way to create secure verification chains. We'll have more on them in upcoming quarters! [9/12] https://github.com/BlockchainCommons/Research/blob/master/papers/bcr-2025-001-provenance-mark.md

If you would like us to work on interoperable protocols to help support your digital-asset work, drop us a line! We're always looking for new partners. [10/12]

You can also become a sponsor of @BlockchainComns at GitHub. [11/12] https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons

Keep up to date on all of the @BlockchainComns work and have a say in our specifications by joining our Gordian Developers announcement list, which announces our upcoming meetings. [12/12] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/subscribe/

### LINKED IN

IMG: https://www.blockchaincommons.com/images/2025-Q1-Report-linkedin.jpg

Today's quarterly report from Blockchain Commons covers our three big initiatives in Q1, 2025: ZeWIF for Zcash, Open Integrity for GitHub, and Post-Quantum Cryptography. It was a busy quarter!

* https://www.blockchaincommons.com/quarterlies/Q1-2025/

ZeWIF is the Zcash extensible wallet interchange format. It's an interoperable initiative that will allow users to freely move funds among Zcash wallets. Interoperability supports Gordian principles such as openness, resilience, and independence. We want to give users true control over their digital assets and make it less likely they lose them.

* https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/chains/zcash/zewif/

Open Integrity is a system to create a new level of trust for Git repositories, something that's vital as they're used for increasingly critical software. Not only do inception commits reveal who the originator of a project was, but transition commits can trace repo authority over time.

* https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/open-integrity/

Post-Quantum Cryptography is the crypto that's necessary to protect against the quantum computers of the future. They're not there yet, but maybe in 5-10 years! It was the topic of our March Gordian meeting. We largely talked about work with Foundation Devices in Q1 that introduced PQC algorithms into the Blockchain Commons stack so that they could create QuantumLink for secure Bluetooth communication.

* https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/meetings/2025-03-pqc/

There was lots more going on in Q1. The Right to Transact. The SSI Podcast. Developer page updates. Rust crate doc updates. a Lifehash port to Rust. It's all in the quarterly report. Q1 also saw the debut of provenance marks, a way to create secure verification chains. We'll have more on them in upcoming quarters!

* https://github.com/BlockchainCommons/Research/blob/master/papers/bcr-2025-001-provenance-mark.md

If you would like us to work on interoperable protocols to help support your digital-asset work, drop us a line! We're always looking for new partners. You can also become a sponsor of Blockchain Commons at GitHub. [11/12]

* https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons

## Open Integrity [POST: April 7th]

https://x.com/ChristopherA/status/1909147935884956107
https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:cmufsae3qffnm5bkrzobnrxs/post/3lm7hcwmg2k25
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/can-you-trust-git-repo-christopher-allen-ut1tc/
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7314926899804131331/

## Foremembrance 2025

(posted twitter, bluesky, linkedin, twitter)

Last year, I talked about the identity tragedy of World War II on #Foremembrance Day (March 27th). It was a harsh example of the damage that we can do when we record identity. This year, I fear things are getting worse. Remember: "Regime change happens"…🧵[1/5]

[RETWEET https://x.com/ChristopherA/status/1770857165848244592 ]

104,000 Jews were murdered by Nazis in The Netherlands because of over identification and centralized registries. Whereas in France, subversives delayed a census, records were destroyed, and far fewer died. [2/5] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/articles/echoes-history/

Today, self-sovereign identity #SSI should be part of the solution to perils of regime change. But we are failing to uphold its core values. [3/5] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-ssi-bankruptcy/

If anything self-sovereign identity is more important than ever in 2025, with governments centralizing personal identity, turning against vulnerable populations or against other countries, while records are being hoovered up by corporate interests. [4/5] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/articles/eidas/

Is it too late already? I hope not. But we need to very seriously consider what happened in the 1940s and double-down on our commitment to ensuring it never happens again. #Foremembrance [5/5] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/meetings/2024-03-foremembrance/

## March Gordian Meeting

(Posted on X at: https://x.com/ChristopherA/status/1897747543842603080, blsky and linkedin WIP)

Yesterday's Gordian Developer Meeting focused on Post-Quantum Cryptography with a special presentation from @KenOfFoundation on Passport Prime's QuantumLink. [1/13] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfsH2fIHCIA

There's a full page on the Post-Quantum Cryptography meeting at @BlockchainComns, with video, presentations, key quotes, and links. [2/13] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/meeting/2025-pqc/

Post-Quantum Cryptography is a reaction to Quantum Computing, which threatens RSA, ECC, and other public-key cryptography. They may not be endangered for 5-10 years, but we need to be ready. [3/13]

That's what Foundation is doing with Passport Prime, as @KenOfFoundation discusses in his presentation [4/13] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/assets/pdfs/202503-quantumlink.pdf

Passport Prime introduces a quantum-resistant communication method called QuantumLink, which builds on @BlockchainComns protocols such as Envelope, GSTP, and XID to create Post Quantum Cryptography (PQC). [5/13] https://foundation.xyz/buy-passport-prime/

This is a next-generation protocol for airgapped devices that goes beyond QRs, instead using Bluetooth (or other mechanisms). [6/13]

But how do you keep Bluetooth secure? That's where QuantumLink comes in. ML-KEM (PQC) keys protect constantly updating ChaCha20Poly1305 keys. Users get the protection of PQC, but the size advantages of classic crypto [7/13].

There's lots more in Ken's presentation (https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/assets/pdfs/202503-quantumlink.pdf) and the video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfsH2fIHCIA) [8/13].

Thanks to Foundation's support, Post Quantum Cryptography is now in the Blockchain Commons' Rust stack! ML-KEM and ML-DSA are both available. [9/13] https://github.com/BlockchainCommons/bc-components-rust

The meeting also included some discussion of Blockchain Commons' work with Zcash on the ZeWIF standard to create interoperability for wallets and therefore independence for users. [10/13] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/chains/zcash/zewif/

It was Foundation who approached us to work with them on incorporating Post-Quantum Crypto into their stack. If you'd like to do the same, or need support to work with our specs, contact us about becoming a patron! [11/13]

To be included in Gordian Developer Meetings, sign up for our announcements-only Gordian Developers Mailing List. We schedule them for the first Wednesday of most months [12/13]. https://www.blockchaincommons.com/subscribe/#gordian-developers

All of the information on today's Post-Quantum Cryptography meeting is available at our developer website. [13/13] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/meeting/2025-pqc/

### LinkedIn: Post-Quantum Cryptography @ Blockchain Commons

[[IMAGE IS LinkedIn-Gordian-PQC.jpg]]

Yesterday's Gordian Developer Meeting focused on Post-Quantum Cryptography with a special presentation from Ken Carpenter of Foundation on Passport Prime's QuantumLink. There's a full page on the Post-Quantum Cryptography meeting in Blockchain Commons' developer pages, with video, presentations, key quotes, and links.

* Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfsH2fIHCIA
* Page: https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/meeting/2025-pqc/

Post-Quantum Cryptography is a reaction to Quantum Computing, which threatens RSA, ECC, and other public-key cryptography. They may not be endangered for 5-10 years, but we need to be ready. That's what Foundation is doing with Passport Prime.

Passport Prime introduces a quantum-resistant communication method called QuantumLink, which builds on Blockchain Commons protocols such as Envelope, GSTP, and XID to create Post Quantum Cryptography (PQC). This is a next-generation protocol for airgapped devices that goes beyond QRs, instead using Bluetooth (or other mechanisms).

But how do you keep Bluetooth secure? That's where QuantumLink comes in. ML-KEM (PQC) keys protect constantly updating ChaCha20Poly1305 keys. Users get the protection of PQC, but the size advantages of classic crypto. There's lots more in Ken's presentation.

* Presentation Slides: https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/assets/pdfs/202503-quantumlink.pdf

Thanks to Foundation's support, Post Quantum Cryptography is now in the Blockchain Commons' Rust stack! ML-KEM and ML-DSA are both available.

* bc-components reference library: https://github.com/BlockchainCommons/bc-components-rust

The meeting also included some discussion of Blockchain Commons' work with Zcash on the ZeWIF standard to create interoperability for wallets and therefore independence for users.

* ZeWIF: https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/chains/zcash/zewif/

It was Foundation who approached us to work with them on incorporating Post-Quantum Crypto into their stack. If you'd like to do the same, or need support to work with our specs, contact us about becoming a patron!

To be included in Gordian Developer Meetings, sign up for our announcements-only Gordian Developers Mailing List. We schedule them for the first Wednesday of most months.

* Gordian Developers Sign-Up: https://www.blockchaincommons.com/subscribe/#gordian-developers

## March Gordian Meeting Announcement

(posted with changes at https://x.com/ChristopherA/status/1892495164628689244)

## Zcash ZeWIF Report

This week, @BlockchainComns and @ZingoLabs published a report on @Zcash wallets, with the intent on creating an extensible wallet interchange format. [1/9] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/chains/zcash/zewif/report1/

Though @BlockchainComns is new to the Zcash ecosystem, interopability has been its mission since day one: we've created specifications such as Animated QRs, LifeHash, and SSKR to support crypto-wallets [2/9] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/animated-qrs/

Interoperability supports two core Gordian principle: Independence & Openness. You should be able to move your funds to different wallets or services without worrying about losing them! [3/9] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/principles/

That's why we took on a project to create the Zcash extensible Wallet Interchange Format (ZeWIF). We want @Zcash users to have that freedom. [4/9]

The report is the end product of Phase 1 of the ZeWIF project. Following a survey of wallets and a spreadsheet of that data, we wrote up some of the most important lessons learned for creating a specification. [5/9] https://github.com/zingolabs/zcash-wallet-formats/blob/master/README.md

One of the most interesting results? Unexpected consequences! Because @Zcash shields transactions, wallets store additional tx information, but there's no standard, so transactions in wallets ending up being one of the most inconsistent elements. [6/9] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/chains/zcash/zewif/report1/

Mostly, we highlighted challenges and flagged early decisions about what to do, the latter courtesy in part of a meeting for Zcash wallet developers. [7/9] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/chains/zcash/zewif/meeting1/

The next step in the ZeWIF project is to actually create a specification for the interchange format. That's our goal for February, with libraries to follow in March. The intent is to have wallet devs reading and writing ZeWIF in April! [8/9]

This project is supported by @ZcashCommGrants. If you'd like to support other work like this, bringing openness and freedom to cryptocurrency, talk to me about becoming a patron of @BlockchainComns [9/9]

## SSI Orbit Podcast Episode

Last week, I spoke with Mathieu Glaude at the SSI Orbit Podcast on the controversial topic "Has Our SSI Ecosystem Become Morally Bankrupt?" The whole video is now on YouTube. [1/14] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4La6wDQ2JGk

The legitimacy of the modern self-sovereign identity industry is a vital question to ask, because in the last year I've become to wonder if DIDs and VCs could actually lose. [2/14]

In my opinion, the main threat is that we made compromises in the development of these new self-sovereign technologies that led to them not being differentiated from centralized identity. We betrayed our principles. [3/14] https://www.lifewithalacrity.com/article/ssi-bankruptcy/

But that was actually a pretty small portion of a wide-ranging discussion of identity between myself and Mathieu that I hope you'll listen to. [4/14] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4La6wDQ2JGk

I talked about my history: meeting the founders of the Xanada Project, working with RSA, writing SSLRef, coauthoring TLS, and working with elliptic curves. This history all offers ideas for digital identity! [5/14]

For example, Xanadu was one of the inspirations for my ideas of edge identifiers & cryptographic cliques. [6/14] https://www.lifewithalacrity.com/article/cliques-1/

I also talked about how self-sovereign identity, DIDs, and VCs all matured at Rebooting the Web of Trust. Early on, we worked with experts from the UN and people working with the refuge crisis. We had all the right ingredients! [7/14] https://www.weboftrust.info/events/#rwot-2-id2020-2016

But it's so easy to lose the ideals behind a technology. Groupware lost its collaborative processes. TLS became centralized. We had ten principles for self-sovereign identity, but they've been somewhat lost. [8/14] https://www.lifewithalacrity.com/article/the-path-to-self-soverereign-identity/#ten-principles-of-self-sovereign-identity

I always intended those principles to be a starting point. I was surprised when folks at RWOT weren't interested in reviewing and revising them. Now, that disinterest has resulted in SSI technology that's losing against MDLs and other centralized tech. [9/14]

Part of the problem is that privacy doesn't seem important to people. I think it's a vocabulary disconnect. Privacy allows us to avoid violence and coercion. Maybe those are the words we need to concentrate on! [10/14]

Unfortunately, we've seen what happens if we walk this path. Jacobus Lentz's enthusiastic identity work leading up to WWII led to genocide in the Netherlands. That's what happens when identity is centralized. [11/14] https://www.lifewithalacrity.com/article/echoes-history/

We need to talk more about all of these aspects of identity, so that the digital identity of the 21st century protects our basic human rights. I hope you'll join me in discussion here or in the Youtube comments. [12/14] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4La6wDQ2JGk

If you prefer text articles, I've linked to a number of my articles on these topics throughout this thread. One of the specifically covers the topic "Has Our SSI Ecosystem Become Morally Bankrupt?"[13/14] https://www.lifewithalacrity.com/article/ssi-bankruptcy/

My work on digital human rights is done through Blockchain Commons. Become a sponsor so this work can continue. [14/14] https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons

### LinkedIn

Last week, I spoke with Mathieu Glaude at the SSI Orbit Podcast on the controversial topic "Has Our SSI Ecosystem Become Morally Bankrupt?" The whole video is now on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4La6wDQ2JGk

The legitimacy of the modern self-sovereign identity (SSI) industry is a vital question to ask, because in the last year I've become to wonder if DIDs and VCs could actually lose. In my opinion, the main threat is that we made compromises in the development of these new self-sovereign technologies that led to them not being differentiated from centralized identity. We betrayed our principles.

But that was actually a pretty small portion of a wide-ranging discussion of identity between myself and Mathieu that I hope you'll listen to. It also covered my history, the history of SSI, the ideals of SSI, how we're losing them, and where that could lead us. (Spoiler: it's not a good place.)

My own history in the cryptography & identity field dates back to meeting the founders of the Xanada Project, working with RSA, writing SSLRef, coauthoring TLS, and working with elliptic curves. This history all offers ideas for digital identity! For example, Xanadu was one of the inspirations for my ideas of edge identifiers & cryptographic cliques that I recently released.

I also talked about how self-sovereign identity, DIDs, and VCs all matured at Rebooting the Web of Trust. Early on, we worked with experts from the UN and people working with the refuge crisis. We had all the right ingredients! But it's so easy to lose the ideals behind a technology. Groupware lost its collaborative processes. TLS became centralized. We had ten principles for self-sovereign identity, but they've been somewhat lost.

I always intended those principles to be a starting point. I was surprised when folks at RWOT weren't interested in reviewing and revising them. Now, that disinterest has resulted in SSI technology that's losing against MDLs and other centralized tech. Part of the problem is that privacy doesn't seem important to people. I think it's a vocabulary disconnect. Privacy allows us to avoid violence and coercion. Maybe those are the words we need to concentrate on!

Unfortunately, we've seen what happens if we walk this path. Jacobus Lentz's enthusiastic identity work leading up to WWII led to genocide in the Netherlands. That's what happens when identity is centralized.

We need to talk more about all of these aspects of identity, so that the digital identity of the 21st century protects our basic human rights. I hope you'll join me in discussion here or in the Youtube comments.

If you prefer text articles, I've linked to a number of my articles on these topics below:

* [Echoes from History](https://www.lifewithalacrity.com/article/echoes-history/)
* [Echoes from History II](https://www.lifewithalacrity.com/article/eidas/)
* [Has our SSI Ecosystem Become Morally Bankrupt?](https://www.lifewithalacrity.com/article/ssi-bankruptcy/)
* [How My Values Inform Design](https://www.lifewithalacrity.com/article/ValuesDesign/)
* [The Origins of Self-Sovereign Identity](https://www.lifewithalacrity.com/article/origins-SSI/)
* [The Path to Self-Sovereign Identity](https://www.lifewithalacrity.com/article/the-path-to-self-soverereign-identity/)
* [Edge Identifiers & Cliques](https://www.lifewithalacrity.com/article/cliques-1/
)
* [Open & Fuzzy Cliques](https://www.lifewithalacrity.com/article/cliques-2/)

My work on digital human rights is done through Blockchain Commons. Become a sponsor so this work can continue.

* https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons


### Blog

TBD

### Notes for this:

SSI Orbit Podcast
mac software
human consensus & electronic
-> Consensus Development

Met Xanadu Project
- early work on autonomous agents, smart contracts
- Netscape, RSA, Apple

Wrote digital signatures for RSA, "VeriSign"
- had sublicense for RSA for RSARef
- PGP, DigiCash, Red Hat all early licensees
- for standards

Wrote SSLRef
- implementation of Netscape design of SSL, led to TLS

Certicom, Elliptic Curves
- needed for smaller devices like Palmpilot
- Bitcoin
- Revocation issues with TLS certs
- revoking by spending Bitcoin dust

Web of Trust
- RWOT
- Needed Blockchain people
- collaborative experience, what can we do to make a difference
- Led to UN Conference on Digital Identity (ID2020)

Refugue (ID2020)
- Decentralized Identifiers

DECENTRALIZED IDENTIFIERS
- Evolved? Happy?

Things out of control going into ID2020
HAD PREVIOUSLY SEEN Groupware lose its intentional group processes
Had previously seen recentralization that happened with TLS
- had broken by 2015
- so came up with Self-Sovereign Identity, name with baggage, had ambassadors understand it right away.
- TEN PRINCIPLES, always a beginning, tried to update, but never really happened, adopted by industry

NOW NINE OR TEN YEARS LATER
- activites, engineering compromises
- not getting traction we were expecting
- VCs and DIDs could lose!

"In fact, [I'm] really coming to understand in the last year that DIDs and VCs could complete lose."
[27:50 or so]
- even though they were incrementally better than federations

MDL, fairly centralized, digital identity
- and it's winning

Why is it winning?
- Expediency of publishing things
- - we're not different enough!

Talked about Lents & Carnille

"We've seen what happens when you have too much control in a single authority ... and we're forgetting those lessons."

"We have to minimize the risks when [authorities] are wrong or their powers are abused."
[35:00 or so]

"It's really anti-violence."

"Somehow we disconnect our words from where the real power is, which is anti-coercion and anti-violence."
[36:57]

it makes people think we don't need privacy.

Almost all digital identity is under contract law or property rights law. Some similar issues in Europe because it's contract law.

Some answers in agency law: i am individual, i have rights, i give them to you to work on my behalf.

So it's not about being paid for you lost, but it's like being jailed, except in a digital sense, just like someone dragged you away.

Don't have to show dollars in harm to get a remedy.

IS DIGITAL IDENTITY JUST MAKING THINGS WORSE
- the way things are going?

Maybe.
- But federated system with Google or Apple would have been worse

A lot of hidden patterns that are not expressible in digital world
- progressive trust

"We already know there are millions if not hundreds of millions of dollars of losses in browser keys in various kinds of cryptocurrency. Why are we trusting that for our identity as well?"
[48:00 or so]

AI is making things worse: can correlate lots of things with little information

TLS is data in transit
don't really have a model to protect for data at rest

"Articulate your values, your own principles, and begin to evaluate your work, your priorities through those lenses."

"You may find that a very small difference in the choices you make could have big imapct because they were informed by your values."
[1:07:18 or so]

RIGHT TO TRANSACT

## Right to Transact

(posted at https://x.com/ChristopherA/status/1885005557691809918 , https://bsky.app/profile/christophera.bsky.social/post/3lgxwgyjzi227 and https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-freedomtotransact-must-recognized-fundamental-human-allen-i6xnc/ )

## Right to Transact (Previous)

I’ve long argued that autonomy depends on progressive trust, proof against coercion, and meaningful participation in the digital economy. But one critical element remains missing from our foundational rights: the #FreedomToTransact. 🧵👇 [1/13] blockchaincommons.com/musings/RightToTransact

The "Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) enshrines fundamental freedoms, but without economic agency—the ability to transact freely—many of those rights are hollow. [2/13]

Consider "Freedom of Movement & Residence": What good is the right to live or travel anywhere if you can’t transact to buy food, pay rent, or secure transportation? [3/13]

Or "Freedom of Expression & Assembly"": How do you print a manifesto, rent a venue, or organize a protest if your financial access is restricted? [4/13]

Even "Property Rights"—the ability to own, buy, or sell—are meaningless without the ability to transact freely. Without economic agency, individuals become passive, not active participants in their own lives. [5/13]

I believe that establishing a #FreedomToTransact could a keystone of modern digital rights. It ensures that no arbitrary entity—whether corporate or governmental—can unilaterally exclude individuals from the digital economy. [6/13]

And make no mistake: financial exclusion is being weaponized. Whether through de-platforming, frozen accounts, or unjust financial surveillance, the ability to transact is increasingly controlled by centralized gatekeepers. [7/13]

Codifying #FreedomToTransact as a global right isn’t just about finance—it’s about ensuring **human dignity** in the digital age. [8/13]

A world where financial access is a privilege rather than a right is a world where power consolidates at the top, leaving the most vulnerable behind. [9/13]

As the world undergoes rapid digital transformation, this issue becomes even more urgent. With programmable money, CBDCs, and increased financial surveillance, we must act now. [10/13]

It’s time to recognize #FreedomToTransact as a fundamental human right, on par with existing Freedom of Speech, Thought, and Assembly". Without it, all other rights are at risk. [11/13]

Let’s start the conversation: What steps must we take to enshrine #FreedomToTransact as an essential right in the digital age? [12/13]

Support autonomy, dignity, and trust; support privacy resilience, independence, and openness. Become a financial patron of our work at @BlockchainComns! [13/13] https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons

(I wonder if we should somehow also connet to the tweetstorm on values?)