Verify Identity

A Verify Identity flow asks a verified person to confirm specific attributes about themselves. The person consents in their wallet, and the service receives a signed proof of those attributes that validates against Proof's public Certificate Authority.

The person can be a returning customer presenting an existing credential, or a new customer being verified and issued one in the same flow. Either way, the service receives the same signed presentation and validates it the same way.

It answers a foundational question: is this person who they say they are?

When to use it

A Verify Identity flow fits any situation where the result of an interaction depends on knowing that a specific verified person is on the other end.

Login and returning-user recognition. A bank, brokerage, or regulated service confirms a returning customer is the same proofed person who opened the account, without re-running KYC.
Age and eligibility checks. A merchant confirms the buyer is over the legal age for a regulated product, without learning the buyer's date of birth or other attributes.
Step-up before sensitive actions. A service requires verified identity before allowing a password reset, a beneficiary change, a large withdrawal, or any other high-risk operation.
Onboarding without operating KYC. A new service accepts a Proof credential as proof of a previously completed identity verification, instead of building or licensing its own KYC pipeline.

How it works

The Verifier trusts the result because the signature on the presentation chains to Proof Root CA R1, which the Verifier added to its trust store once. No live call to Proof is needed at verification time.

For the technical specifics of building the request and validating the response, see Verify a Credential (OID4VP).

Claims

A Verifier requests specific attributes from the person's Verifiable Credential. The wallet shows the person which attributes are being requested, and the person consents to share each one. Attributes the Verifier does not request are not disclosed.

ProofCredentialV1 contains the following attributes:

First Name (given_name). The Holder's given name as it appears on the verified identity document.
Last Name (family_name). The Holder's family name as it appears on the verified identity document.
Date of Birth (birthdate). The Holder's date of birth in ISO 8601 format (YYYY-MM-DD).
Age over 18 (age_equal_or_over.18). A boolean, true if the Holder is 18 or older, false otherwise. Lets a Verifier confirm an age threshold without learning the date of birth.
Age over 21 (age_equal_or_over.21). A boolean, true if the Holder is 21 or older, false otherwise.
Age over 65 (age_equal_or_over.65). A boolean, true if the Holder is 65 or older, false otherwise.
US Nationality (is_national.us). true when the Holder's verified identity document shows US nationality. Only included when that is the case; it is never issued as false. Its absence does not mean the Holder is not a US national.

For the full list of claims, see the Claims section of Verifiable Credential Types.

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Proof is evaluating additional claims. Reach out at [email protected] to express your interest as a Relying Party needing claims or an Issuer seeking to populate claims.

Levels of Assurance

Levels of Assurance (LOAs) describe how rigorously an identity was verified and how strongly it was authenticated. They apply to both parties in a presentation: the person presenting a Verifiable Credential and the Verifier requesting it.

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See the Identity Assurance Level and Authenticator Assurance Level claims in Verifiable Credential Types.

Consumer LOAs

A Verifier can require that a person's Verifiable Credential meet specific Levels of Assurance, as defined by the Verifier's own policy. When the Verifier requests a presentation, the response includes the Levels of Assurance at which the person was enrolled and authenticated. A presentation returned by Proof meets the Verifier's policy.

Verifier LOAs

Assurance runs in both directions. When a person is asked to present their Verifiable Credential, their wallet displays the business name of the requesting Verifier and the level at which Proof verified that business through Know Your Business (KYB) checks. The person knows who is asking and how thoroughly Proof vetted them before consenting to share anything. This reinforces trust between the Verifier and the person at presentation time.