What are digital credentials?
Digital credentials are tamper-evident, independently verifiable digital records of an achievement, qualification, or skill. Where a paper or PDF certificate is a flat image that anyone can edit and no one can independently confirm, a digital credential bundles structured data — the issuer, the criteria, the recipient, and the dates — with a hosted page anyone can check.
GrokCred issues credentials using the Open Badges 2.0 standard, and packages each one with a public verification page — so trust is built into the credential itself rather than depending on the issuer answering the phone.
Secure, verifiable, and portable
- Independently verifiable — every credential has its own public verification page and a machine-readable JSON-LD record.
- Tamper-evident and anti-fraud — a credential can't be quietly edited like a PDF; the recipient's email is stored as a salted hash and never exposed.
- Built on an open standard — credentials follow Open Badges 2.0, so they are portable to LinkedIn and any compliant verifier.
- Trusted by issuers and earners — issuers prove authenticity at scale; earners carry credentials that travel with them.
How digital credentials are verified
- Open the public page — every credential links to a verification page showing the achievement, issuer, and issue and expiry dates.
- Check the record — a machine-readable Open Badges 2.0 assertion backs the page, so automated verifiers can validate it too.
- Confirm status — expired or revoked credentials display a prominent warning, so nobody trusts a credential that's no longer valid.
Who uses digital credentials
- Training providers and course creators
- Professional associations and licensing bodies
- Universities and continuing-education programs
- Employers running internal skills programs
- Bootcamps and online academies
- Event organizers and certifying authorities
Frequently asked questions
What are digital credentials?
Digital credentials are tamper-evident, independently verifiable digital records of an achievement, qualification, or skill. They go beyond a paper or PDF certificate by bundling structured data — the issuer, criteria, recipient, and dates — with a public page anyone can use to confirm authenticity.
How are digital credentials verified?
Each GrokCred credential has a public verification page and a machine-readable Open Badges 2.0 assertion. A person can read the page; an automated verifier can validate the JSON-LD record. Expired or revoked credentials display a clear status so nobody relies on an invalid one.
How do digital credentials prevent fraud?
Because the record is hosted and machine-readable, a credential can't be silently edited the way a PDF can. The recipient's email is stored as a salted SHA-256 hash and never exposed publicly, and an issuer can revoke a credential — which immediately surfaces a revocation notice and removes it from the sitemap.
What standard do GrokCred digital credentials use?
GrokCred issues credentials as Open Badges 2.0 assertions — the open standard for portable digital credentials. That means each credential is recognized by LinkedIn and any other tool that speaks the standard, not just the platform that created it.
Keep reading
- Digital badges — what digital badges are and how to create one.
- Open Badges 2.0 — the open standard behind every GrokCred credential.
- Badges vs PDF — why verifiable credentials beat a flat PDF.