Clear DefinitionsIdentity Beacon
1 min read
Pronunciation
[ahy-den-ti-tee bee-kon]
Analogy
Like a lighthouse sending out regular flashes so ships know its location and status.
Definition
A periodically updated on‑chain signal broadcasting an entity’s current public identity attributes (e.g., DID document hash), enabling others to discover and verify identity state.
Key Points Intro
Identity beacons provide time‑stamped anchors for decentralized identifiers.
Key Points
Periodic anchoring: Posts identity state root at intervals.
Tamper evidence: Immutable history of beacon events.
Discovery: Clients fetch latest beacon to verify identity.
Lightweight: Only hashes published, not full data.
Example
A DID controller contract emits `BeaconUpdate` event with new document Merkle root every 24 hours.
Technical Deep Dive
Smart contract stores `beaconSequence` and `rootHash`. Controller calls `updateBeacon(root)` which increments sequence and emits event. Off‑chain resolvers index these for DID resolution.
Security Warning
Beacon spam can bloat logs; enforce rate limits.
Caveat
Beacon frequency trades cost vs freshness; choose appropriately.
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