Learn · Identity layer
What is VEID (Verifiable Electronic Identity)?
VEID turns identity verification into a protocol function. Instead of outsourcing KYC to a company that warehouses your documents, VirtEngine's validator set scores encrypted identity evidence by consensus — and users prove facts about the result with zero-knowledge proofs, revealing nothing else.
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Capture happens on your device
The VEID mobile wallet (reference implementation: mobile/veid-capture-app/ in the protocol repo) captures identity evidence entirely on-device: documents with OCR, a selfie with active liveness challenges that defeat photos, replays, and injection attacks, and biometric hardware attestation — fingerprint or iris — bound to trusted hardware.
Device integrity attestation (Play Integrity on Android, App Attest on iOS) proves the capture ran on a genuine, unmodified device and client. The evidence is sealed into encrypted identity scopes before anything leaves the phone.
Only approved clients may submit
Identity submissions are accepted only from client interfaces on the governance-controlled approved-client list (x/config), and must be signed by both the client and the user. Validators verify both signatures before scoring anything — the capture software's integrity is a governed trust decision, not an assumption.
Validators score by consensus
Encrypted scopes are sealed to validator recipients via x/encryption. Validators decrypt with their keys, evaluate the evidence with shared machine-learning models, and commit an identity trust score to the ledger by consensus. This validator-run identity verification network is the method protected by patent AU2024203136B2; compensation is governed by the conservative incentive policy, not a fixed VEID pool.
Raw documents and biometrics never appear on the public ledger: the chain carries ciphertext and committed scores, nothing else.
Zero-knowledge disclosure
Once scored, users prove what matters through the ZK subsystem (x/veid/zk): that a trust score clears a threshold, or that an attribute holds — age range, residency — without revealing the document, the biometric, or the score itself. Counterparties learn exactly the fact they need and nothing more.
Why a marketplace needs this
VEID is not a universal marketplace gate. Providers may choose a clearly disclosed proof requirement for an individual offer, while tenants can choose offers that do not require VEID. Reviews bind to protocol leases, and escrow and dispute processes address transaction risk; identity verification alone does not prove that a listing or service is genuine. Sensitive account operations — recovery above all — layer on-chain MFA (x/mfa) over the identity foundation.
The consumer-facing identity program is presented at identity.org.au; the protocol-side documentation lives at docs.virtengine.com.
Asked about what is veid?
What actually leaves my phone?
Only encrypted identity scopes — never raw documents or biometrics. The public ledger carries ciphertext and committed scores, nothing else.
What is active liveness?
Challenge–response selfie checks that defeat photos, replays, and injection attacks — proven on-device before anything is sealed into a scope.
Can anyone build a VEID client?
Anyone can build, but only governance-approved clients on the x/config list may submit identity data — capture-software integrity is a stakeholder vote, not an assumption.