{
  "slug": "verify-without-calling-issuer",
  "title": "Can you verify a credential without phoning the issuer?",
  "summary": "Most identity verification is a callback, costing availability, privacy and control. What offline verification requires, and the tradeoff it cannot escape.",
  "lede": "Almost every trustworthy check on the internet works by asking a third party a question, which means your verification is only as available, as private and as permanent as somebody else's API. The web PKI already fought this battle over certificate revocation and reached a clear conclusion. This is what it learned, and how to apply it to credentials.",
  "date": "2026-09-08",
  "reading_time": "16 min read",
  "category": "Standards",
  "tags": [
    "offline verification",
    "verifiable credentials",
    "OCSP",
    "revocation",
    "status list",
    "SD-JWT",
    "mDL"
  ],
  "image": "https://cdn.twc.sh/images/igcache/Offline%20Credential%20Verification/1200_630/blog.jpg",
  "url": "/blog/verify-without-calling-issuer.html",
  "wordcount": 3783,
  "related": [
    "authority-graph",
    "identity-failure-map",
    "passkeys-prove-login-not-transaction"
  ],
  "schema": "Article"
}