The year 2020 was quite the year for everyone. Despite its challenges, 2020 was a significant year of growth for the Trinsic platform, team, and brand. Below, we highlight the moments of growth in 2020 that we will never forget.
The world's first SSI platform is born
At the beginning of 2020, we launched the world’s first self-sovereign identity (SSI) platform. This included our powerful multi-tenant API platform, the Developer Portal (now called Trinsic Studio) and a new and improved version of the Streetcred Wallet (now called Trinsic Wallet). Trinsic Studio, built on our powerful API platform, made it easy for developers to start issuing credentials in minutes and manage their credential exchange.
It was the first production-grade SSI platform to market (prior to this there were only betas, alphas, early-access, pre-release, and other non-production solutions). And it was the first time anyone, not just software engineers, could get started with SSI.
Fast forward to today, with hundreds of developers actively using Trinsic, we decided it was time to release the next generation of our Studio. The release of Trinsic Studio 2.0 included a simplified pricing model, an improved design, and better performance. These changes to Trinsic Studio have made SSI more accessible than ever. See for yourself at https://trinsic.studio.
Trinsic receives pre-seed funding & rebrands
One of the biggest moments in 2020 was when we raised pre-seed funding from institutional investors and rebranded from Streetcred ID to Trinsic. Kickstart Seed Fund led the oversubscribed round as the first investment of its recently-closed $110 million fund.
Of this investment, Dalton Wright, Partner at Kickstart Seed Fund, said, “Decentralized identity enables us to finally introduce human trust to the internet, something that has been sorely needed for decades. We’ve been anxiously waiting for an opportunity to invest in this space for years, and when we came across Trinsic, we knew we wanted in. Trinsic is doing for decentralized identity what Stripe did for online payments.”
At the same time as our funding announcement, we introduced our new company name and brand—Trinsic. This rebrand included the launch of our new website and design system. It has been great to see how our new name has been received with open arms from our developer community and the SSI community in general.
Product and feature improvements
One of the main questions at Trinsic that drives our decision-making is: What will make SSI more accessible? With the excellent feedback we receive from our developer community and the skills of our world-class engineering team, we consistently work to improve our platform to answer that question. In addition to the ongoing addition of new Aries RFCs and extensions to the platform, here are a few noteworthy product and feature updates:
- Provider API: We added a third API to our platform called the Provider API—the first product built specifically for SSI providers. The Provider API allows you to programmatically create and manage credential issuers/verifiers.
- Portable digital wallets: Trinsic, Lissi, and esatus AG were the first SSI vendors to achieve wallet portability. This means that for the first time a person could stop using one type of digital wallet and start using a new one without losing their credentials.
- New & improved documentation site: We released a new documentation site which includes a knowledge base for those that want to learn SSI concepts, our API reference, and a public developer forum.
- Interactive connections: Interactive connections enable people to have richer interactions with others when using the Trinsic Wallet. This includes the following features: proactive credential sharing, interoperable chat messaging, an activity log, and connection invitations.
Integrate SSI directly with 2,000+ other applications
This year, Trinsic partnered with workflow automation platform Zapier to bring verifiable credentials to over 2,000 other SaaS apps you use every day, including Office 365, GSuite, Adobe, Atlassian, Slack, Salesforce, and many more. After we released this, the Internet Identity Workshop (IIW) used it to integrate Eventbrite (registration & ticketing) with Trinsic (verifiable credentials) in order to issue IIW tickets as verifiable credentials. See our tutorial to learn how to get started fast with an example.
COVID-19 and verifiable credentials
At the beginning of the global pandemic, Trinsic along with many others in the SSI space, saw the potential that verifiable credentials could have in mitigating the effects of COVID-19. We responded by helping start the COVID-19 Credentials Initiative and called upon the world to explore how verifiable credentials could be used to respond to the virus. Since our initial call to action, dozens of developers and organizations have used Trinsic to build SSI solutions related to COVID-19. The solutions include receiving COVID-19 testing and vaccination credentials. Here are a few examples:
Webinars & trainings
In 2020 we started a webinar series focused on Trinsic’s platform and the latest trends in the SSI community. Webinar attendance and feedback have been fantastic, and we look forward to continuing our monthly cadence in 2021. The webinars and trainings we have done to date are:
Intro to SSI for Developers: Architecting Software Using Verifiable Credentials
Passwordless Login Using Verifiable Credentials
Making Money with SSI
How to Integrate Verifiable Credentials into Any Application
Trinsic's blog
This year we launched a robust blog that focuses on platform updates, announcements, thought leadership, basic SSI concepts, and tutorials. Here are some hand-picked selections:
Announcements
Thought leadership
Trinsic Basics
Studio tutorials
Looking forward to 2021
The year 2020 has brought its unique challenges for everyone, but we have gratefully experienced tremendous moments of success and growth as a company. In 2021, we look forward to continuing to build our enterprise-grade SSI platform and make SSI as accessible as possible to everyone. Big things are coming for the Trinsic platform and the SSI industry, and we look forward to making the global adoption of SSI a reality.
