2025 Hyperledger AnonCreds Annual Review

[swcurran]

Signed-off-by: Stephen Curran [email protected]

[tkuhrt]

TAC Reviewers: @dmueller2001 (primary) @VRamakrishna (secondary)

[dmueller2001]

Hyperledger AnonCreds 2025 Annual Review Assessment

Project Health & Activity

The Hyperledger AnonCreds project has reached a stable phase for v1, with development efforts shifting toward maintenance and adoption rather than active feature expansion. The transition to a ledger-agnostic model and alignment with the W3C Verifiable Credentials Data Model (VCDM) represent significant milestones that reduce the need for frequent updates.

Development on AnonCreds v2, however, has been inconsistent, reflecting broader challenges in the ZKP-based credentialing ecosystem. Competing approaches and a fragmented industry landscape continue to slow standardization and adoption, leaving the project's long-term trajectory uncertain.

Maintainer Diversity & Governance

The project is supported by nine maintainers representing six organizations, providing a stable governance structure. However, sustained engagement from contributors, particularly in advancing AnonCreds v2, will be essential to driving future progress.

Adoption & Market Positioning

AnonCreds remains a core component of the Hyperledger Aries and Indy ecosystems, though new public deployments have been limited. The lack of an ADOPTERS file makes it difficult to measure real-world traction. Meanwhile, competing credentialing approaches, such as SD-JWTs and ISO mDL, continue to gain industry attention, increasing competitive pressure.

To reinforce its market position, the project would benefit from improved adoption tracking and stronger messaging around AnonCreds’ privacy-preserving advantages compared to emerging alternatives.

Key Ecosystem Dependencies

AnonCreds adoption is primarily driven by integrations with:

ACA-Py (Aries Cloud Agent - Python) – The primary mechanism for issuing and verifying AnonCreds-based credentials.

Credo-TS – A TypeScript-based Aries credentialing library, extending support to JavaScript/Node.js environments.

These frameworks remain critical to AnonCreds’ ecosystem, but integration of AnonCreds v2 has been slow. Ensuring a smooth migration path from v1 to v2 will be a priority as Aries-based ecosystems explore alternative credential formats.

Challenges & Future Focus Areas

Specification & Standardization – While AnonCreds v1 has stabilized, finalizing the AnonCreds v2 specification remains an outstanding task. Broader industry alignment on ZKP-based credentials is still a challenge.

Interoperability & Competing Models – The growing adoption of SD-JWTs and non-ZKP-based credential formats requires AnonCreds to emphasize its unique privacy-preserving advantages.

Scalability & Revocation – Progress has been made on the ALLOSAUR revocation model, but further work is needed to ensure deployment-ready solutions.

Next Steps & Recommendations

Accelerate AnonCreds v2 implementation in ACA-Py and Credo-TS to provide a clear transition path.

Improve transparency in adoption tracking through an ADOPTERS file or detailed case studies.

Strengthen competitive positioning by highlighting the privacy benefits of ZKP-based credentials.

Consider refining branding for AnonCreds v2 to clarify its role as a next-generation credentialing solution.

Project Lifecycle Recommendation

AnonCreds remains in Incubation. While it is one of the most widely deployed privacy-preserving credentialing solutions, the adoption of AnonCreds v2 will be a critical factor in determining its path toward Graduation. Stronger industry collaboration and more structured adoption tracking will be key to ensuring continued relevance.

[swcurran]

I've updated the report to include the link to the TAC meeting and reviewers notes. This is ready for approval and merging.