Insights
Notes on verification, consent and data that stays yours
When an AI agent asks for your data: delegation with limits
An AI agent acting for a person should hold a narrow, expiring, countable slice of their consent, never their credentials. Delegated capabilities on Essence are built that way.
13 October 2026Over State Pension age, not a date of birth: proportionate sharing in practiceA service that needs to know someone is over State Pension age rarely needs their date of birth. Essence passes the answer, not the record: only the fields asked for, or only a signed answer.10 October 2026
The people layer of data-sharing infrastructureInfrastructure answers how data travels between organisations. Data about people also needs a record of whose it is, why it is shared, on what basis, and who relied on it. That is the layer Essence builds.10 October 2026
Proving when as well as what: trusted timestamps and preservation evidenceA signature shows what was agreed, but its algorithms age. Essence keeps long-term evidence apart, can have it dated by an outside authority and renewed, and exports it for anyone to check offline.2 October 2026
Getting ready for post-quantum cryptographyA quantum computer threatens key exchange and signatures, not vault content. Every encrypted record on Essence names its algorithm, and in September we added a post-quantum signature for long-lived evidence.30 September 2026
Selective disclosure and predicate proofs: what each one showsSelective disclosure shows a verifier only the fields it asks for; a predicate check shows only the answer. Essence has built both, and is exact about who sees the value behind each.17 September 2026
Recovering a vault without a back door: guardians and recovery phrasesEssence holds no key to your vault, so there is no reset for anyone to abuse. Since our September release, a 24-word recovery phrase that never leaves your device reopens it.4 September 2026
Speaking open standards: OpenID4VCI, OpenID4VP and SD-JWT credentialsA credential is worth more when any wallet built to open specifications can read it. Our August release built the groundwork for Essence to issue and verify credentials over OpenID4VCI and OpenID4VP.18 August 2026
Opening a vault with a passkeyIn our August release we built a way for a passkey to sign you in and open your Essence vault in one step, with no password. We hold only a locked copy of the vault key, and we cannot open it.6 August 2026
Fields, not files: why we share data one field at a timePeople are often asked for a whole document when an organisation needs two or three facts from it. Essence makes the named field, not the file, the unit of every share and every consent.14 July 2026
Knowledge
How consent works at Essence: purpose, fields, revocation, receiptsEvery field shared from an Essence vault has its own consent record: terms the person sets, a withdrawal they control field by field, and a receipt both sides can read.
How your vault is encrypted: what happens on your device and what we cannot seeEssence encrypts the documents in your vault on your own device and holds no key that can open them. It can carry out your decision to share without ever being able to read what you shared.
Security at Essence: how your data is protectedYour documents are encrypted on your device and shared one field at a time, under consent you can withdraw. Each country runs its own instance, and erasure works by destroying keys.
The standards we support: W3C credentials, DIDs, OpenID4VC and SD-JWTA credential only one company's software can read ties everyone to that company. The Essence credential layer is written to open standards from the W3C, the OpenID Foundation and the IETF.
What is verification reuse?Verification reuse means a second organisation relies on a check already done, with the person's consent, instead of repeating it. On Essence, every check starts with reuse off until the person decides.