Why Your Corporate Identity Strategy is Obsolete Without SBTs

Legacy identity is a single point of failure. A breach at your OAuth provider compromises every integrated application. SBTs distribute identity to the user's wallet, eliminating this systemic risk.

• Eliminates the ~$4B annual cost of credential stuffing and account takeover attacks.
• Enables true user sovereignty; identity persists even if your corporate directory goes offline.

Corporate IDs are trapped in walled gardens. An employee's verified credentials in Salesforce are useless for accessing a DeFi protocol or a partner's gated Discord. SBTs are portable, machine-readable assets on public rails.

• Unlocks cross-ecosystem loyalty, like using a Gitcoin Passport SBT for governance across DAOs.
• Reduces integration overhead by ~70% versus building custom API bridges for every service.

HR databases are snapshots, not streams. A promotion or certification update takes days to propagate. SBTs are live, programmable records. A POAP for completing a training or an EAS-attested credential updates in real-time.

• Enables dynamic, real-time gating (e.g., access revokes automatically upon role change).
• Creates a verifiable history of professional development on-chain, owned by the employee.

Legacy KYC is a siloed, repetitive process costing $50-$100 per check and leaking PII. It fails to prevent multi-accounting (Sybil attacks) in DeFi airdrops or governance.

• Zero-Knowledge Proofs allow users to prove KYC status without revealing identity.
• Non-transferable SBTs issued post-verification create a persistent, chain-native credential.
• Reusable across protocols like Aave, Uniswap, and Optimism's governance, eliminating redundant checks.

Static ISO certificates and audits are point-in-time and forgeable. They fail to capture real-time compliance (e.g., ESG metrics, fair labor practices).

• SBTs issued by verifiers (e.g., Bureau Veritas) attest to specific standards with cryptographic proof.
• Automated revocation if standards lapse, visible to all participants (Walmart, Maersk).
• Composable reputation enables automated trade finance on platforms like Centrifuge and Maple Finance.

Credentials for lawyers, accountants, and doctors are locked in state databases. Verifying a professional's standing for a cross-border DAO or project is manual and slow.

• State Bar or Medical Board mints an SBT upon license approval/grant.
• Instant, global verification for any client or decentralized autonomous organization (DAO).
• Enables on-chain legal wrappers like Kleros or OpenLaw to automate compliant service agreements.

Traditional member directories and RFID cards are centralized and lack granular, programmable permissions for physical/digital access.

• SBTs as non-transferable membership keys for corporate facilities or software (e.g., GitHub, Salesforce).
• Time-bound or role-bound attributes can be added (e.g., "Board Member 2023-2025").
• Integrates with existing IAM via protocols like OAuth or SpruceID for seamless enterprise adoption.

Current airline or hotel points are locked in siloed databases, illiquid, and devalue overnight. They offer no utility beyond the issuing corporation.

• SBTs represent non-transferable status (e.g., Delta Diamond, American Express Centurion).
• Composable with DeFi: Proof of status can unlock better loan rates on Aave or insurance terms on Nexus Mutual.
• Brands can airdrop verifiable POAPs for engagement, building a portable reputation graph.

The voluntary carbon market is plagued by double-counting, fraud, and opaque provenance. Corporations cannot reliably prove ESG commitments.

• SBTs minted upon credit issuance by registries like Verra, cryptographically linked to the underlying project.

• Immutable retirement record: When a company like Microsoft retires a credit for offsetting, an SBT is burned, providing a public, auditable proof.

• Enables on-chain carbon markets with real integrity, as seen in pilots by Toucan Protocol and KlimaDAO.

Legacy identity frameworks cannot programmatically underwrite risk or enforce compliance, leaving protocols like Aave and Compound exposed to systemic, uninsured failures.

• Dynamic Risk Scoring: SBTs enable real-time, on-chain reputation for capital efficiency and loss modeling.
• Automated Compliance: Permissioned pools and vaults (e.g., Maple Finance) can auto-enforce jurisdictional and accreditation rules.

Off-chain HR systems and static API keys create massive attack surfaces for internal fraud and credential stuffing, as seen in the Poly Network and FTX collapses.

• Provable Employment: Soulbound employment badges (e.g., Orange Protocol) create immutable, revocable proof-of-role.
• Least-Privilege Access: Granular, time-bound SBTs replace all-or-nothing private key management for treasury ops.

Centralized customer databases are siloed, insecure, and fail to capture cross-platform engagement, ceding control to intermediaries like Salesforce or Braze.

• Portable Reputation: User engagement SBTs become composable assets across your ecosystem and partners.
• Direct Incentive Alignment: Programmable rewards and governance rights bypass costly middlemen and fraud-prone points systems.

One-token-one-vote and airdrop farming have broken governance for major DAOs like Uniswap and Optimism, leading to voter apathy and protocol capture.

• Sybil-Resistant Voting: SBT-based proof-of-personhood (e.g., Worldcoin, BrightID) layers restore decision integrity.
• Context-Specific Authority: Voting power can be weighted by verified expertise or contribution SBTs, not just capital.

Geofencing and manual KYC checks are legally fragile and operationally doomed against global regulations like MiCA and the EU's DORA.

• Programmable Jurisdiction: SBTs issued by licensed verifiers (e.g., KYC providers) enable automated, audit-proof regulatory compliance.
• Selective Disclosure: Zero-knowledge proofs (e.g., Sismo) allow users to prove eligibility without exposing raw PII.

Centralized authentication for infrastructure (RPC nodes, indexers, oracles) creates systemic risk, as exploited in the Infura and Chainlink service outages.

• Machine Identity SBTs: Automated services and bots can have authenticated, rate-limited, and revocable on-chain identities.
• Resilient Service Mesh: Permissioned peer-to-peer networks (inspired by Helium) can form without a central credential issuer.

Your centralized KYC database is a single point of failure, costs $10-$50 per verification, and creates compliance silos. It's data you hoard, not value you can use.

• Zero Composability: Can't port verified status to DeFi, DAOs, or partner ecosystems.
• Constant Re-Verification: Every new service requires re-submitting the same documents.
• Security Risk: A breach exposes PII; you own the liability.

Issue verifiable, non-transferable credentials (SBTs) for employee status, accreditation, or compliance. These become a composable identity layer across any application.

• Programmable Access: Smart contracts auto-grant permissions based on held SBTs (e.g., Compound governance).
• User-Owned: Individuals control their verifiable data, reducing your custodial risk.
• Cross-Protocol Utility: An SBT from your firm can unlock gated pools in Aave, votes in Optimism, or discounts with partners.

Raw SBTs can be overly revealing. The enterprise stack uses ZK-proofs (like zkSNARKs) to prove attributes (e.g., "is an accredited investor") without exposing underlying data.

• Selective Disclosure: Prove you're over 21 without revealing your birthdate.
• Regulatory Compliance: Audit trails are on-chain, but personal data remains private.
• Tech Stack: Leverage Polygon ID, Sismo, or zkPass for implementation.

Relying on "Login with Google" cedes control to a third-party, creates data asymmetry, and traps user relationships inside their ecosystem. It's a rental model for identity.

• No Ownership: You don't own the user graph; Google does.
• Limited Data: You get a basic profile, not rich, verifiable credentials.
• Platform Risk: Your access can be revoked or taxed at any time (see Apple/Epic).

Shift from measuring Customer Acquisition Cost to Lifetime Verifiable Value. An SBT-holding user is a persistent, programmable business relationship across your entire ecosystem.

• Reduced Friction: Onboarding drops from days to seconds, slashing CAC.
• New Revenue: Monetize credentials via licensing or gated service tiers.
• Network Effects: Each issued SBT increases the utility of your entire credential graph, creating a moat.

Don't boil the ocean. Issue SBTs for employee badges or supplier certifications. Use them to gate internal tools or offer exclusive partner perks. This builds operational knowledge with contained risk.

• Low-Risk Sandbox: Test with a closed group before customer-facing rollout.
• Prove Interoperability: Demonstrate SBTs working across Gnosis Safe multisigs and Snapshot voting.
• Iterate Fast: On-chain systems allow for rapid credential design and policy updates.