On Guardianship in Self-Sovereign Identity
A White Paper from the Sovrin Guardianship Task Force
The paper explores why digital guardianship is a core principle in the Sovrin Governance Framework and a core feature of the Sovrin Network and other SSI architectures. It begins by explaining why guardianship is essential to SSI because a significant fraction of the world’s population are not able to use an SSI digital wallet directly. Using a set of real-world examples, it explains and explores guardianship in detail, including key terms, types of guardianship, mandates for guardianship, and the contextual nature of guardianship. It covers the lifecycle of guardianship relationships, the risks associated with each stage, and where guardianship fits into the SSI technology and governance stacks.
November 2019
Revision History
v 1.0 – November 2019