Are We There Yet? A Study of Decentralized Identity Applications
Daria Schumm, Katharina O. E. Müller, Burkhard Stiller
TL;DR
Are We There Yet? A Study of Decentralized Identity Applications surveys DI and SSI across academic and grey literature, emphasizing real-world deployments and the barriers to widespread adoption. It synthesizes standards (W3C, DIF) and major implementations (e.g., uPort, Sovrin, Blockcerts) and analyzes pilots in government, education, and travel. The paper highlights governance decentralization, interoperability, portability, regulatory alignment, and usability as pivotal factors shaping real-world uptake. By shifting focus from purely technical constraints to deployment realities, it provides actionable directions for bridging research and practice in decentralized identity.
Abstract
The development of Decentralized Identities (DI) and Self-Sovereign Identities (SSI) has seen significant growth in recent years. This is accompanied by a numerous academic and commercial contributions to the development of principles, standards, and systems. While several comprehensive reviews have been produced, they predominantly focus on academic literature, with few considering grey literature to provide a holistic view of technological advancements. Furthermore, no existing surveys have thoroughly analyzed real-world deployments to understand the barriers to the widespread adoption of decentralized identity models. This paper addresses the gap by exploring both academic and grey literature and examining commercial and governmental initiatives, to present a comprehensive landscape of decentralized identity technologies and their adoption in real-world. Additionally, it identifies the practical challenges and limitations that slowdown the transition from centralized to decentralized identity management systems. By shifting the focus from purely technological constraints to real-world deployment issues, this survey identifies the underlying reasons preventing the adoption of decentralized identities despite their evident benefits to the data owner.