W3C Verifiable Credentials Data Model 2.0

A dated reading of what is claimed, reported, and independently verified in the current evidence.

Current reading

The readiness gap, in one scan

AI-assisted assembly · derived results

Evidence strength Critical

Decision

Human editorial judgment · 2026-06-28

Adopt with guardrails

Why: It is a finished W3C Recommendation (15 May 2025) with real self-reported production deployments, but eIDAS demotes VCDM to an optional EAA-only format, the BBS privacy layer is still pre-Recommendation, and @context complexity invites interop bugs — so constrain the profile rather than adopt unboundedly.
Next: Pin to a single securing mechanism (JOSE or Data Integrity) and one selective-disclosure path; prototype a VCDM-2.0 credential alongside an SD-JWT VC equivalent so the eIDAS dual/optional-format reality is covered without betting solely on VCDM.

Constraints

No named blocker is present in the current public projection.

Evidence summary

AI-assisted assembly

Counts and dates only. Raw signals, private excerpts, trust records, and internal corpus material are not published here.

Publication record

Initial public reading

This is the initial public reading. No earlier readiness change is recorded.