Ayra Card: Payloads

When we talk of handing someone an Ayra Card we talk about a small amount of standard data and a set of "payloads" that may be useful for the recipient.

That raises a quesion...

What is an Ayra Card Payload?

Ayra Card Payloads are simple pieces of data attached to Ayra Card that the card itself doesn't need to understand but simply carries along for potential use by verifiers at their discretion. These payloads enable sharing of data without requiring deep knowledge of the content unless the recipient specifically cares about that particular payload type.

There are three main categories of payloads:

• Attributes & Data - unverifiable information like email addresses,

• Verifiable Presentations - pre-formed requests that return verified credentials from the card holder, and

• Links & Endpoints - connection details for system-to-system communication, such as DIDComm/TSP or RESTful APIs for connecting to Agentic AI.

The payloads concept anticipates a future ecosystem where payloads range from completely private to industry-specific to broadly standardized, following the same pattern as Ayra Network Credentials, with formal standardization expected to develop as the concept matures through real-world testing.

More Detail

It is a simple piece of data attached to an Ayra Card. The Ayra Card itself has no real knowledge of what the payload is or what it is for. It just carries it along.

Verifiers may (or may not) be able to understand various payloads - but that is at their discretion and choice.

Payloads allow us to share simple data without needing to know too much about it - unless we care about the "thing" (payload) that is being shared.

Over time, we imagine that there will be a list of "standard" payloads that are well-known and well-understood. Given the use of Ayra Card for many industries, there will likely be payloads that are completely private (i.e. not understood by anyone), industry-specific (i.e. only relevant in some ecosystems), or broadly understood/global.

This is an informal way to begin with managing Payload "types". Over time there will likely need to be a more formal "standardization" of the payloads but the Ayra Card concept needs to be tested out before we commit to that lift.

What kinds of Payloads are there?

• Attributes & Data - simple data that are not directly verifiable.

  • This is me telling you my email address, sharing a deeplink to my Signal/WhatsApp/Wire/Line/WeChat or other messaging, or pointing to some other application on your phone.

  • Automating some data sharing: This is providing data that may be useful in Automation - sharing my company's LEI helps in automating data movement.

  • Sharing Zero Party Data: ("zero party data"), such as a "traveler profile" that allows a hotel, airline, and other travel systems to consume trusted data.

  • Leading to a further "dance": This is providing information that triggers off new dance steps:

    • sharing a vLEI can trigger off a "vLEI dance" involving consuming some ACDC data, asking the holder to perform an action "e.g. prove you are a signing officer for the company" that brings you to a very high assurance level.

• Verifiable Presentations - a pre-formed Presentation Request that will return a verifiable presentation from the Ayra Card holder. This allows for sharing of well-known things.

  • This is me sharing a pointer to a credential with a verified email address.

• Endpoints - a connection (e.g. DIDComm/TSP or RESTful API) to use for the next steps of the “dance.”

  • This is me telling you how your systems can/should connect to my Agentic AI instead of emailing me.