Life With Alacrity

After three decades of building internet infrastructure, I’ve learned that the most dangerous moment isn’t when a system fails, it’s when it succeeds and then inverts its purpose.

Often, the first thing that I hear when I describe Gordian Envelope is that we already have too many credential formats.

Today, Blockchain Commons published a progress report on Amira.

On March 3, Vitalik Buterin posted a manifesto on X1.

Ten years ago this week — on April 26, 2016 — I posted “The Path to Self-Sovereign Identity” on my Life with Alacrity blog.

It’s been ten years since I wrote the principles of self-sovereign identity.

In 2016, I chose the term “self-sovereign identity” to describe what identity systems should protect.

UPDATE, March 5, 2026: SB 275 has passed the Utah legislature unanimously — the Senate voted 25-0 and the House 70-0 — and has been sent to the governor for signature.

In 2016, I published The Path to Self-Sovereign Identity (https://www.lifewithalacrity.com/article/the-path-to-self-soverereign-identity/) and with it proposed ten foundational principles for digital identity systems.

ABSTRACT: Digital infrastructure is built on sand due to its control by centralized entities, most of which are focused on profit over service.