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The Elastos DID Method

Every decentralized identifier needs a method — a set of rules that says how to create it, where to look it up, and how to update or retire it. The Elastos DID method (did:elastos) anchors identities on the Elastos Identity Chain (EID).

DID Format​

An Elastos DID follows the W3C pattern and looks like this:

did:elastos:icJ4z2DULrHEzYSvjKNJpKyhqFDxvYV7pN

The method-specific ID is derived from the user's public key using SHA-256, RIPEMD-160, and Base58 encoding. Because it comes straight from cryptographic material, no registration authority is involved — generate a key pair and you have a DID.

DID Document​

When you publish a DID to the EID chain, a DID Document describes how to interact with that identity. Here is a simplified example:

{
  "@context": "https://www.w3.org/ns/did/v1",
  "id": "did:elastos:icJ4z2DULrHEzYSvjKNJpKyhqFDxvYV7pN",
  "publicKey": [
    {
      "id": "#primary",
      "type": "ECDSAsecp256r1",
      "controller": "did:elastos:icJ4z2DULrHEzYSvjKNJpKyhqFDxvYV7pN",
      "publicKeyBase58": "27bqfhMew6SjEv2…"
    }
  ],
  "authentication": ["#primary"],
  "service": [
    {
      "id": "#hive-vault",
      "type": "HiveVault",
      "serviceEndpoint": "https://hive1.example.com"
    }
  ]
}

Key fields:

  • id — the DID itself.
  • publicKey — one or more keys verifiers use to check signatures.
  • authentication — which keys can prove control of this DID.
  • service — optional endpoints (Hive vault, messaging, etc.).

CRUD Operations​

OperationWhat happens
CreateGenerate a key pair locally, derive the DID from the public key, then publish the DID Document as a transaction on EID.
Read / ResolveQuery the EID chain by DID to retrieve the current DID Document. Any resolver can do this — no special permissions needed.
UpdatePublish a new version of the DID Document in a signed transaction. The chain keeps a full history of changes.
DeactivatePublish a deactivation transaction. The DID remains on-chain for auditability but is no longer considered valid.
No "delete"

DIDs are never truly deleted from the chain — deactivation marks them inactive while preserving the historical record.

DID Registry​

All Elastos DIDs live on the Elastos Identity Chain (EID), an EVM-compatible sidechain dedicated to identity. A DID smart contract on EID maintains the registry, storing documents and processing create/update/deactivate transactions.

Because EID is a public chain, anyone can resolve any DID without permission. You only need a private key to write (create, update, or deactivate your own DID).

W3C Compliance​

Elastos DIDs conform to the W3C DID Core specification. This means:

  • DID Documents use standard JSON-LD contexts.
  • Key types, authentication, and service entries follow W3C-defined structures.
  • Any W3C-compatible resolver or verifier can work with Elastos DIDs.
Interoperability

Because the method follows W3C standards, Elastos DIDs can participate in cross-ecosystem verification workflows — a verifier does not need to know Elastos internals, just how to resolve did:elastos: identifiers.

Resources​