Introducing the DID DHT Method

Cross-posting from the DID WG mailing list:

Hi everyone,

Daniel Buchner and I have been working on a new DID method called DID DHT.
Yes, I know what you’re thinking…another DID method, really? But we believe
it’s worth it for a truly decentralized and (relatively) simple method
which does not rely on a blockchain. We believe this sweet spot can enable
true decentralization and broad adoption in the market, as blockchains
remain undesirable for many.

Here are a few key points:


   - Utilizes BitTorrent’s mainline DHT
      - Has tens of millions of nodes
      - Has been around for 15+ years
      - Already widely used by many large companies (e.g. Ubuntu, Microsoft)
   - 1 KB maximum payload size
      - Uses a mapping of DID Documents to DNS resource records for
      semantics and compression
   - Relies on signed mutable records from Mainline DHT (BEP44
   <https://www.bittorrent.org/beps/bep_0044.html>)
      - No need to trust a server — each record is signed!
      - Order enforced by a sequence number.
   - Supports any feature of a DID Document
      - Except for root key rotation; relies on a stable root key
   - Interoperable with existing DID methods such as did:key and did:jwk
      - We have spoken with authors of both methods, who are amenable to
      support an optional resolution step to the DHT to extend these existing
      methods
   - We have mechanisms for spam reduction, gateway discovery, and more
   features!



You can find the latest draft of the specification here:
https://did-dht.com/

At Block / TBD we’ve already put out a number of open source
implementations in Go, Kotlin, and Typescript. You can find links at our
repository here <https://github.com/TBD54566975/did-dht-method>.
Additionally we’re hosting a free-to-use gateway server which is intended
for *testing purposes only: *https://diddht.tbddev.org/swagger/index.html.
We will be continuing development of our open source gateway and plan to
contribute a driver for the universal resolver.

Concretely we are looking for feedback and other parties interested in
testing the method out. We have high hopes that should DIDs be on a path to
resolution in browsers, DHT could be a strong candidate.

Looking forward to your feedback,



Gabe Cohen

Lead Platform Engineer, Verifiable Credentials

gabe@tbd.email <gcohen@tbd.email>

TBD <http://tbd.website/> | LinkedIn <https://linkedin.com/in/cohengabe> |
Twitter <https://twitter.com/decentralgabe>