---
term: "Verifiable credential"
category: "Agent identity (KYA)"
url: https://agenticopenfinance.com/glossary/verifiable-credential
source: AgenticOpenFinance glossary
---

# Verifiable credential

> A tamper-evident set of claims by an issuer, held by a holder and cryptographically checkable by a verifier.

The W3C Verifiable Credentials Data Model defines a verifiable credential as a set of one or more claims made by an issuer that is tamper-evident and whose authorship can be cryptographically verified. A holder stores credentials and presents them to verifiers, who can check them without contacting the issuer each time. Credentials can express facts about a person, an organisation or an agent, and the Agent Payments Protocol builds its mandates on verifiable digital credentials.

Related terms: [Decentralized identifier (DID)](https://agenticopenfinance.com/glossary/decentralized-identifier.md), [European Digital Identity Wallet](https://agenticopenfinance.com/glossary/digital-identity-wallet.md), [Mandate](https://agenticopenfinance.com/glossary/mandate.md), [Know Your Agent (KYA)](https://agenticopenfinance.com/glossary/know-your-agent.md)