Catalyse Community-led Open Identity

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Intersect Decentralised Identity SIG

[GENERAL] Are you delivering this project as an individual or as an entity (whether formally incorporated or not)

Entity (Not Incorporated)

[GENERAL] Co-proposers and additional applicants

Changes at Atala PRISM (now Identus), coupled with a fragmented, scattered identity ecosystem, mean that without urgent community action and resources, Cardano's vision of privacy-preserving "economic identity for all" will stall.

The proposal that follows has been formulated in the minimal time available between the announcement of changes at Atala PRISM and the Fund13 Project Catalyst deadline.

All of the people and teams named below have spent the last 3 years building products on Identus for the communities they serve and the commercial opportunities they have identified. They are committed to Catalysing Community-Led Open Identity for Cardano's ecosystem.

Prior to the announcement, Damian Noonan (selfdriven Foundation) had already begun setting up the Intersect Decentralised Trust and Identity Special Interest Group (SIG), had spoken to the Atala PRISM Community Manager and reached out to the Cardano Foundation to support the SIG. The Mātou (Digital Aotearoa) TribalDIDs team had been working on building a partnership with the Atala PRISM team having been the leading community contributors to the project for some time.

The announcement led these community members to unite and issue a rallying cry to encourage others to commence this bottom-up strategy, resulting in this proposal.

With their blessing, the following people are named as parties with an interest in Cardano's Identity layer and to in supporting the development of the ecosystem through this project. Each brings valuable expertise in decentralized identity and community building. They are committed to contributing where they can over the next 12 months, helping to ensure the project’s success as it progresses through its various stages.

Mix Irving – Mātou Collective mixmix

Cherese Eriepa – Mātou Collective cherese.eriepa

Engie Matene – Mātou Collective engienz

Ben Tairea – Mātou Collective tairea

Mark Byers – selfdriven Foundation selfdrivenmark

Bence Lukas - selfdriven Foundation bence.lukacs

Fayyaadh Adaams fayyaadhadams

Ian Tairea – Galaxy Maps vaipunu

John Santi (@Johnny5i)

Jon Bauer - Csign jonbauer

Nori Nishigia – BridgeBuilders xeeban

James Dunseth – Gimbalabs workshopmaybe

Alex Poor – K’aute Pasifika (@alexpoor)

Eric Duneau – yeepeekoo

[GENERAL] Requested funds in ada

100000

[GENERAL] Please specify how many months you expect your project to last (from 2-12 months)

6

[GENERAL] Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated into English from another language

No

[GENERAL] Summarize your solution to the problem (200-character limit including spaces)

Defrag the identity ecosystem—uniting tools, projects & talent in a cohesive, co-ordinated community-driven engine, delivering decentralized commercial identity solutions to advance Cardano’s mission.

[GENERAL] Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?

Yes

[GENERAL] If YES, please describe what the dependency is and why you believe it is essential for your project’s delivery. If NO, please write “No dependencies.”

Intersect MBO. The Decentralised Trust and Identity Special Interest Group has only recently been approved.

[GENERAL] Will your project’s output/s be fully open source?

Yes

[GENERAL] Please provide here more information on the open source status of your project outputs

All outputs of our project will be fully open-source, released under the Apache 2 License (and the Cardano Community-led Open Identity ecosystem will engage fully with the Linx Foundation Decentralised Trust (https://www.lfdecentralizedtrust.org/) committees and community. Licenses include software, documentation, and other deliverables, ensuring anyone can freely use, modify, and distribute them the Cardano way.

We are building on existing open-source frameworks, such as Hyperledger Identus, and will contribute back to these repositories. Community contributions will also deliver documentation to ensure our open-source outputs remain accessible and useful to developers, organizations, and users.

[METADATA] Horizons

Infrastructure

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution

This proposal will kickstart steps 1 and 2 over the next six months and is part of a broader vision for the community-led Cardano identity layer.

1. Unifying the ecosystem: Bringing together the projects, developers, and tools to drive decentralized identity solutions that align with Cardano’s mission.
2. Coordinating community-driven development: Coordinating efforts across geographic and time zones, including regions such as Japan, Australia, and New Zealand, ensuring representation and active participation from underrepresented areas and focus on prioritising the needs of their projects.

Below is the first cut of the 12-month plan, which will be developed further as part of this 'Catalysing Community-led Open Identity' project.

--//--

A 12-month Plan of Action

The Cardano decentralized identity ecosystem is poised at a critical juncture. All the necessary pieces are available to build the tools and a deep bench of developers to create robust and interoperable products.

We aim to unite and coordinate efforts to deliver decentralized SSI solutions that are informed and driven by users' needs. Our vision centres on empowering the community to shape the identity infrastructure, ensuring its sustainability, scalability, interoperability, and inclusivity.

Rather than creating new systems from scratch, we will build upon existing resources such as the Atala PRISM Discord server, now renamed the 'Identus' server (with 500+ active community members) and leverage the recently established Decentralized Trust & Identity SIG (Special Interest Group). 

This project ignites the lightning rod for bottom-up community engagement.

It is about uniting to support work that advances; community-led projects focused on delivering in clearly defined, socially and commercially significant verticals; IO and CF’s engineering expertise; the Identus Hyperledger (https://github.com/hyperledger/identus) and the Cardano Foundation's Identity wallet (https://github.com/cardano-foundation/cf-identity-wallet) open-source repositories, and, the community’s passion and track record of delivery.

Key initiatives include:

1. Unifying the ecosystem: Bringing together projects, developers, and tools to drive decentralized identity solutions that align with Cardano’s mission.
2. Coordinating community-driven development: Coordinating efforts across geographic and time zones, including regions such as Japan, Australia, and New Zealand, ensuring representation and active participation from underrepresented areas.
3. Workshops and documentation: Hosting time zone-friendly developer sessions and how-to workshops, ensuring the community has the knowledge and resources to build.
4. Interoperability and scalability: Ensuring Cardano’s identity layer is interoperable with global standards through collaboration with external organizations such as Trust Over IP, W3C, and Hyperledger.
5. Content Creation: Community-authored POVs, white papers, thought leadership articles, blogs, and partnerships with Cardano content creators to tell the story of Cardano’s community rallying to create a grass-roots social and solution identity layer.
6. Developing Enterprise and Government Collateral: Plan the production of professional collateral, pitch decks, and use cases so that community members can leverage their connections to reach out to Businesses, Enterprise, and Government networks professionally.

This community-driven approach reflects Cardano’s ethos of decentralization and collaboration. It addresses current fragmentation by aligning efforts and creating a shared roadmap.

It includes a unique consideration brought forward by the community—the geographic concentration of projects in the South Eastern Hemisphere—particularly in Japan, Aotearoa (New Zealand), Australia, and the South Pacific.

Significant, serious, community-led identity initiatives are based in this region by teams with a track record of delivery. As a result, this proposal will prioritize time zone alignment, ensuring broader and more meaningful participation and community leadership.

By building on existing projects and community efforts, we will fulfil Cardano’s mission and ensure that identity, as a fundamental building block, remains decentralized, open, and accessible to all. The community is stepping in to take charge of the identity layer, and we are doing it in a way that reflects Cardano’s ethos.

--//--

Below, you’ll find the plan to coordinate and power up this young, energetic community. The project milestones later in the proposal detail the first six months—the initial set of agile steps—to catalyze action and prepare for success through community-led commercialization.

Jobs-to-be-done

a) Unite and Empower the Existing Atala PRISM Community around Identus and other founding entity and Community made Cardano Identity products

Goal: Leverage and unify around the existing Discord, SIG group and Hyperledger Identus contributors to coordinate community efforts, focusing on inclusivity and active participation from the South Eastern Hemisphere to drive momentum in decentralized identity development.

• Utilize the Atala PRISM— now called Identus Discord as the Central Hub:
• 500+ members engaged in discussions about decentralized identity will be the central hub for community collaboration.
• The community will not have to migrate or adapt to a new platform. We will enhance the existing Discord by adding dedicated channels for specific community projects, technical discussions, developer collaboration, and feedback.
• This approach reduces onboarding friction, allowing us to focus on real work from day one and ensuring we use the resources that people are already familiar with.
• We will optimize the platform to include time-zone-friendly meetings for New Zealand, Australian, and Southeast Asia community members. This will empower these members to take more active roles in shaping the infrastructure without facing 2 a.m. meeting times, as seen in some Hyperledger community calls.
• Using existing channels will avoid unnecessary migration, allowing us to focus on immediate collaboration and value creation.
• Establish the Role of the Decentralized Trust & Identity SIG:
• The SIG group will coalesce and share the vision of the decentralized identity layer and will serve as the thought leadership and resourcing hub. This group will help craft and guide the strategic direction of the Cardano identity ecosystem.
• We will expand the SIG's role in line with IntersectMBO processes (working group and committee alignment, etc.) and host community calls, where project leaders, developers, and stakeholders discuss progress, share resources, and ensure alignment with Cardano’s larger goals.
• This integration of the SIG and Discord ensures a seamless connection between IntersectMBO’s strategic direction finance resourcing functions and grassroots engagement.
• Coordinate Workshops and Developer Sessions:
• Prepare the schedule and outline of hosted workshops and "how-to" sessions in Southeast Hemisphere-friendly time zones. Engage the existing IO and CF engineering teams to onboard new developers and participants to Hyperledger Identus, DIDComm protocols, and other decentralized identity standards.
• We’ll aim for these sessions to be run by community leaders running projects who have been involved since the early days of Atala PRISM, ensuring continuity of knowledge, generating shareable content and bringing new participants up to speed. South Eastern Hemisphere developers already active in decentralized identity can act as regional ambassadors, leading the workshops and onboarding new community members.

b) Community-Driven Infrastructure Planning

Goal: Design and build a decentralized identity infrastructure by directly involving the community in every step, ensuring it serves the real needs of Cardano users and developers and reflects the specific needs of the South Eastern Hemisphere while ensuring global interoperability and scalability.

• Collaborative Infrastructure Roadmap Design:
• The IO Engineering team, which maintains the core of Hyperledger Identus, will collaborate with the community to define the technical infrastructure needed to support decentralized identity applications and provide a bridge to Lace, RealFi, Midnight, and other IO Cardano products where they are helpful to the vertices in which community projects are operating.
• Existing projects from the community (https://docs.selfdriven.foundation/decentralised-trust-identity-sig/directory/community-projects) will be brought into the discussion to define shared infrastructure needs. This includes building standard components like identity wallets, verifiable credential systems, and decentralized key management solutions.
• Leverage Existing Open-Source Components:
• Instead of building from scratch, we will leverage Hyperledger Identus, Cardano Foundation’s Identity Wallet and existing community-built identity modules, customizing and expanding them to meet the specific requirements of projects. This includes modular low-code/no-code, network optional/local first, privacy solutions and interoperation with Lace, RealFi, and Midnight products. The community will work together to identify gaps in the current open-source frameworks and plan how best to contribute solutions to fill those gaps, emphasizing collaboration over duplication and building upon existing efforts.
• Increase focus on cross-chain compatibility and region-specific applications like KYC/AML frameworks, verifiable credentials for government services, and decentralized financial services.

c) Testing and Documentation

Goal: Overcome significant obstacles for the community, including the availability of structured documentation and rigour applied to releases to ensure that decentralized identity modules are thoroughly tested and well-documented to provide a robust foundation for the ecosystem.

• Implement a community-driven testing framework:
• Organize regular testing sprints where community developers can engage with decentralized identity modules (e.g., identity wallets, verifiable credentials). Create a dedicated testing channel on the Atala PRISM Discord for real-time collaboration and feedback.
• Develop a comprehensive test suite covering various use cases, from individual applications to enterprise-scale identity solutions.
• Establish clear testing protocols and guidelines:
• Create and maintain a centralized repository of standard test cases for each module, ensuring coverage across different scenarios. Develop a testing checklist with core functionalities such as identity creation, management, verification, and key recovery.
• Implement automated testing pipelines to ensure consistent quality across contributions.
• Foster a culture of continuous improvement:
• Implement a structured feedback loop where test results and community input are regularly reviewed and incorporated into development cycles. This includes monthly "testing retrospectives" to discuss challenges, successes, and areas for improvement in the testing process.
• Recognise and reward community members who consistently contribute high-quality tests and bug reports.
• Elevate documentation standards:
• Develop a comprehensive style guide for technical documentation to ensure consistency across all modules and maintain a central documentation hub that includes setup processes, API references, and integration guides.
• Implement a documentation review process where experienced community members can provide feedback and suggestions.
• Empower the community through knowledge sharing:
• Establish a mentorship program pairing experienced contributors with newcomers to guide them through the documentation and testing processes.
• Develop a comprehensive contribution guide that outlines clear paths for community members to get involved and advance within the ecosystem.

d) Collaboration with Partners

Goal: The digital identity space is exploding with new organisations like Trust Over IP Foundation, the Decentralised Identity Foundation (DIF), the Global Acceptance Network (GAN) and established collaborative initiatives like Hyperleder and the W3C. This community-led initiative will build meaningful partnerships with external organizations to ensure Cardano's decentralized identity infrastructure aligns with global standards and is interoperable with other decentralized identity ecosystems.

• Establish strategic partnerships:
• Form a dedicated partnership team to identify and engage key organizations such as Trust Over IP Foundation, Hyperledger, Decentralised Identity Foundation (DIF) and W3C with a partnership roadmap outlining short-term and long-term collaboration goals and onboarding process to streamline the integration of new partners into the ecosystem.
• Ensure interoperability and standards alignment:
• Form working groups with partners to explore alignment between Cardano's identity infrastructure and the industry’s emerging standards to ensure the codebase is regularly audited and updated to maintain compliance with evolving global standards.
• Drive innovation through collaborative projects:
• Launch an annual hackathon series in partnership with external organizations to tackle shared challenges in decentralized identity.
• Establish a joint research initiative to explore cutting-edge topics in identity and privacy.
• Create a partner-driven innovation fund to support promising projects that enhance interoperability and adoption of decentralized identity solutions.
• Measure and communicate partnership impact:
• Develop key performance indicators (KPIs) to track the success and impact of partnerships and produce quarterly partnership impact reports for the community, highlighting collaborative achievements and learnings.
• Host an annual partner summit to review progress, align on future goals, and strengthen relationships within the broader identity ecosystem.

e) Full Adoption and Sustainable Community Growth

Goal: Grow Cardano’s DApp ecosystem, user experience, and commercial viability by driving full community adoption of a common pool of identity layer products, tools, and developers to ensure sustainable growth. Make it an integral part of the Cardano ecosystem supported by continuous community contributions.

• Expand Cardano Community Reach:
• Create a "Cardano Identity Ambassador" program to empower community leaders to advocate for and educate about the identity layer.
• Establish regular "Identity Layer Office Hours" where community members can receive direct support and guidance from core contributors.
• Foster External Community Engagement:
• Participate in major blockchain and identity conferences to showcase Cardano's identity solutions and attract new contributors.
• Collaborate with academic institutions to integrate Cardano's identity layer into relevant courses and research programs.
• Ensure Long-Term Sustainability:
• Implement a transparent governance model for the identity layer, allowing the community to participate in decision-making.
• Establish a sustainability fund to support developing and maintaining critical identity infrastructure.
• Drive Adoption Through Education and Use Cases:
• Create an "Identity Solutions Showcase" highlighting real-world applications of Cardano's identity layer across various industries and jurisdictions, including industry and government-specific workshops and toolkits to help integrate Cardano's identity solutions into their operations.
• Measure and Optimize Community Health:
• Implement community health metrics tracking tools to monitor engagement, contribution levels, and ecosystem growth.

We’re not starting from scratch but empowering the existing community to take ownership of Cardano’s decentralized identity layer, aligning efforts with the original vision of Cardano: economic identity for all.

[IMPACT] Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community

This approach ensures that the identity infrastructure will be built by the community, for the community, ensuring long-term sustainability and alignment with Cardano’s mission. 

User needs of community projects building on Identus can influence the roadmap priorities.

By following open-source best practices and collaborating with external partners, we will create a scalable, interoperable, and secure identity layer that supports the entire Cardano ecosystem.

[CAPABILITY & FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability? How do you intend to validate if your approach is feasible?

All the people named above have the necessary expertise, infrastructure, and community backing to deliver this project with high levels of trust and accountability. This includes active contributors, builders and supporters of Identus since 2021.

We will leverage our core capabilities, which include:

• Community Management: Our team has been actively managing and growing the Atala PRISM Discord, now with over 500 engaged members. This established community serves as a ready-to-go platform for coordinating decentralized identity solutions.
• Technical Expertise: We have deep technical knowledge in decentralized identity, including the Hyperledger stack, DIDComm protocols, and Cardano’s infrastructure. Many of our team members are contributors to the Decentralized Trust & Identity SIG, with extensive experience in self-sovereign identity (SSI) and decentralized key management solutions.
• Existing Partnerships: We have ongoing collaborations with key industry bodies, such as the Trust Over IP Foundation and the W3C, ensuring that our solutions align with global standards for decentralized identity.
• Proven Delivery Track Record: The team includes experienced project managers and developers with a history of successfully delivering projects on Cardano. This includes building and deploying decentralized identity modules and working on collaborative open-source initiatives.

To validate the feasibility of our approach, we will:

• Conduct early-stage workshops with community members and developers to ensure buy-in and assess resource gaps.
• Work iteratively with clearly defined milestones, maintaining transparency through public reporting to both the Cardano community and external partners.

[PROJECT MILESTONES] What are the key milestones you need to achieve in order to complete your project successfully?

Unifying the Ecosystem

Outputs:

• Established a team with clear roles and responsibilities.
• Dedicated project channels are set up in the Identus and Linux Foundation Decentralized Trust Discord servers.
• Agreed community coordination plan outlining initial steps and resources needed.

Acceptance Criteria:

• Team members identified and confirmed with assigned roles.
• Active project channels for communication and collaboration were established.
• The community coordination plan was reviewed and agreed upon by core contributors.

Evidence:

• List of team members with roles published.
• Screenshots and logs showing active project channels.
• Finalized community coordination plan shared in Discord.

Outcomes:

• A cohesive team ready to begin coordinating decentralized identity initiatives.
• Clear communication pathways are established for the ecosystem.
• Initial alignment across community projects to prioritize collaborative development efforts.

Coordinating Community-Driven Development

Outputs:

• Workshop series on community collaboration and onboarding.
• Prioritized roadmap for community-driven identity development, informed by ecosystem needs.
• Roles and responsibilities document for core community projects.

Acceptance Criteria:

• Workshops were successfully held with active participation from key contributors.
• Roadmap developed, validated by community input, and made available.
• Documentation of roles and responsibilities for ongoing community projects.

Evidence:

• Participation records from workshops (attendance logs, participant feedback).
• The roadmap document was shared on public repositories and discussed in Discord channels.
• Published vision, plan, roles and responsibilities document accessible to the community.

Outcomes:

• Broader community involvement and alignment on decentralized identity initiatives.
• Clarity on the next steps for community-driven development based on the roadmap.
• Established roles for continued collaboration across community projects.

Reporting Back to the Broader Cardano Community

Outputs:

• A comprehensive report detailing the progress made during Milestones 1 and 2, including key insights, challenges, and next steps.
• A video summarizing the outcomes, featuring community highlights and the future roadmap.
• Public Q&A session to discuss the report and video and gather feedback from the community.

Acceptance Criteria:

• Written report completed and shared with the community via project channels.
• Video published on relevant platforms (e.g., YouTube, Discord), with links provided in community channels.
• A Q&A session was held with meaningful participation from the community, and key feedback was documented.

Evidence:

• A report was published and available for download in the community Discord channels and website.
• The video link was shared with evidence of community views and engagement (comments, likes, shares).
• Summary of the Q&A session, including participant numbers and key takeaways, published in the community forum or Discord.

Outcomes:

• Clear communication of project achievements, challenges, and future direction, strengthening community trust.
• Engagement from the community is needed to shape the next steps and ensure ongoing alignment and collaboration.
• A stronger sense of ownership and involvement among community members, contributing to future milestones.

[RESOURCES] Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

The resources for this initiative will come primarily from the community, with roles and responsibilities defined collaboratively as the project progresses. At this early stage, the focus is on unifying key contributors and ensuring broad representation from the community. The core team will be based on expertise, experience, and availability.

Between all the people listed on this proposal, we have experience and knowledge of

• Intersect Membership and Community Committee
• Intersect Civics Committee
• Intersect budgeting process
• Open Source Office

as well as the necessary technical and industry knowledge and networks.

We will use this knowledge and resources to form a solid foundation for this community.

We will also engage various community contributors from the Atala PRISM Discord and the Decentralized Trust & Identity SIG to ensure broad representation and participation.

For steps 1 & 2, the project team would likely consist of the following roles:

• Project Lead:
• Role: Overseeing the project’s strategic direction, community engagement, and coordination with the Identus Discord and Decentralized Trust & Identity SIG.
• Community Use Case Liaison:
• Role: Leading the technical design, development, and testing of decentralized identity modules, coordinating developer sessions and technical documentation.
• Community & Outreach Lead:
• Role: Managing partnerships with external organizations and enterprises, leading the creation of collateral for businesses and governments.
• Content & Communications Lead:
• Role: Overseeing content creation, including white papers, blogs, and community-authored materials, ensuring alignment with Cardano’s vision.

This proposal aims to act as a catalyst, enabling the community to build a sustainable and decentralized structure. As the project's initial caretakers, Damian and Jo are guiding the process to ensure progress until a broader team is established. Our role is temporary. We aim to use the allocated budget to find the right people and roles to carry the project forward. This will allow the community to maintain momentum, keep key contributors engaged, and ensure long-term sustainability as the team grows and the project evolves.

From the Atala announcement until the Project Catalyst deadline, there was minimal time to form a team before creating this proposal. Given that all of the individuals and teams represented on it have invested significantly personally, professionally, and commercially in the codebase and this community, their commitment is as certain as it possibly can be.

[BUDGET & COSTS] Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources

Between the submission of this proposal and its successful acquisition of votes, the coproposers will commence collaboration which will firm up the following use of funds we guarantee to dedicate to 'Catalysing the Cardano Community-led Open Identity Ecosystem'.

Our requested budget of 200k ADA is allocated at present as follows:

• Community Engagement and Workshops (25k ADA):
• Costs associated with hosting workshops, engaging with project teams, paying community contributors, establishing the Identity community team and roles and responsibilities, create directly listing for projects and builders.
• Communication and Collaboration (25k ADA):
• Budget for establishing communication and collaboration plan, clear communication pathways for community, alignment across community project initiatives to identify and prioritise collaborative development efforts.
• Coordinating Community Driven Development (40k ADA):
• Costs related to developing community roadmap, workshops with community teams, onboarding, establish long term framework for community / project collaboration.
• Administration and Project Management (10k ADA):
• Budget for managing the overall project, ensuring timely delivery of milestones, and coordinating with the broader Cardano community.

[VALUE FOR MONEY] How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

This project represents exceptional value for money as it will provide long-term, sustainable growth for the Cardano ecosystem by:

• Leveraging existing resources: We are not starting from scratch but building on top of the communications infrastructure, code base, Linux Foundation project governance of Identus, and processes established at Intersect to support community action through the Decentralized Trust & Identity SIG, ensuring that resources are coordinated and used efficiently to enhance these identity platforms and ensure their use by Cardano ecosystem DApp developers
• Enabling community leadership: By empowering the community to take charge of the decentralized identity layer, we ensure the ecosystem remains inclusive, scalable, and interoperable, aligning with Cardano’s mission of decentralization.
• We deliver a powerful demonstration of the Cardano community's ability to collaborate: Cardano founding entities, major global open-source foundations, human-rights-focused and impact projects, plus commercial interests all cooperating to ensure economic identity for all—it is the Cardano way!