Blog | LF Decentralized Trust

Proof of Personhood in Action: The First Person Credentials Demo on Hedera

Written by Hiero contributors from DSR Corporation and Hedera | Mar 5, 2026 3:44:53 PM

 An open source proof-of-concept for verifiable human identity developed by LFDT, Hedera and DSR

Why Proof of Personhood Matters

As AI agents and automated accounts multiply online, one of the internet’s oldest challenges has taken on new urgency: how do we prove that a user is a real, unique human being, and that their digital relationships are authentic.

Bots can now mimic people at scale, blurring the line between human and machine interaction. Restoring trust in digital systems means anchoring it in something fundamentally human.

That’s where proof of personhood comes in. Backed by Linux Foundation Decentralized Trust (LFDT) and its Trust Over IP (ToIP) project as well as Decentralized Identity Foundation (DIF), and the OpenWallet Foundation (OWF), this initiative tackles digital personhood head-on.

Its core insight is simple yet profound: digital trust starts with first-person trust, verifiable proof that real people stand behind digital identities and their connections.

How It Works

Proof of personhood introduces two complementary credential types:

  • Personhood Credentials (PHCs): Issued by recognized entities (companies, universities, or communities) to confirm that the holder is a unique, verified person within that ecosystem.

  • Verifiable Relationship Credentials (VRCs): Peer-to-peer credentials exchanged between PHC holders, cryptographically proving real-world connections and mutual trust.

Together, these credentials enable people, not platforms, to become the source of digital trust.

Demonstrating First Person Credentials on Hedera

Hedera and DSR Corporation (DSR) put the proof of personhood ideas into practice, delivering one of the first public demonstrations of First Person Credentials. The demo, showcased under the Hiero community and LFDT, highlighted how verifiable credentials can establish both personhood and trust without relying on a central database or exposing personal data. It also demonstrated the effectiveness of the underlying Hedera ledger, combining high throughput, low cost, and privacy-preserving design.

The demonstration used a familiar open source scenario:

  • In the first part, two open source contributors, Alice and Bob, meet at an in-person event and establish First Person Connection by exchanging (issuing to each other) VRCs
    • This way Alice and Bob are proving that they have a real first person relationship
    • At the same time, they are "vouching" for certain claims about each other by signing these peer-to-peer VRCs containing information about their open source contributors status
  • In the second part, Alice wants get confirmed contributor access in Hiero project, so she goes to Hiero Verification Portal and presents her proof of personhood
    • Proof of personhood requires Alice's personal PHC (baseline proof of being a real person) and VRC received from Bob (reinforcing personhood via real connection and proving claims on open source contributor status)

This scenario shows how First Person Credentials could work in everyday digital interactions where both uniqueness and trust matter.

Why This Matters

This simple interaction shows how First Person Credentials could transform everyday digital experiences, from contributor onboarding and DAO participation to supply-chain verification and online community moderation.

Key principles guide the system’s design:

  • Decentralized: No central authority or database holds all credentials. Individuals manage them in their own wallets, keeping biometric data local.

  • Privacy-Preserving: Zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) enable verification without revealing sensitive details or creating a traceable global ID.

Technology Stack

The demo integrates proven open source building blocks to balance privacy, scalability, and interoperability:

  • Hyperledger AnonCreds - a verifiable credential format supporting ZKPs to prove identity without revealing personal data.

  • DID SCID Method on Hedera - a decentralized identifier method rooted on Hedera, used to anchor credential issuance.

  • Hedera Ledger as Verifiable Data Registry (VDR) - providing the throughput, low cost, and immutability required for credential verification at scale.

Together, these technologies deliver a fast, privacy-preserving, and developer-friendly approach to verifying human identity.

Growing Adoption and Next Steps

The demo premiered at Geneva Digital Collaboration (GDC) 2025 and later featured at the Web3 Summit 2025, where it drew attention from identity and open source communities alike.

“We were very pleased with how quickly Hedera and DSR implemented the core design of the verifiable relationship credentials (VRCs) at the heart of decentralized trust graph architecture,” said Drummond Reed, Director of First Person Cooperative and Co-Chair of the ToIP Decentralized Trust Graph Working Group (DTGWG). "This demo illustrates that verifiable credentials of first-person trust relationships are a powerful way to use existing digital wallet capabilities to provide a privacy-preserving proof of personhood."

Early discussions are now exploring real-world implementations, including a First Person Credentials MVP for the Linux kernel contributor ecosystem. This would demonstrate how decentralized personhood verification could secure software supply chains and contributor onboarding.

The next phase moves from prototype to production, expanding use cases across open source projects, supply chains, and digital platforms. By combining Hedera’s performance, LFDT’s open governance, and DSR’s implementation expertise, the path to human-verified digital trust is becoming real.

Call to Action

Watch the First Person Credential Demo:

 

Get involved: Developers, identity researchers, and community builders are invited to engage through the Hiero and LFDT communities.
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