Credential Issuance Platform
A Credential Issuance Platform is the software an issuer uses to turn source data, such as records in a business register or an identity system, into verifiable credentials and deliver them to a holder’s wallet, typically over OpenID4VCI.
The platform sits between an organisation’s existing systems of record and the wallets that will hold its credentials: it maps source data to a credential format such as SD-JWT VC or mdoc, signs it, and runs the credential offer and OpenID4VCI exchange that gets it into a holder’s wallet. This is distinct from the Issuer role itself, which is the organisation legally responsible for what the credential asserts; the platform is the technical component that role relies on to actually issue anything. A Credential Issuance Platform typically also manages revocation, so a credential it issued can later be checked against a Status List, and keeps an audit trail of what it issued to whom.