On July 2, Ayra co-hosted two sessions at the Global Digital Collaboration Summit with the OpenWallet Foundation and LF Decentralized Trust. Each session focused on advancing the role of First Person Credentials in critical areas of digital trust infrastructure. Ayra’s Executive Director, Darrell O’Donnell, described the day as a two-part deep dive: first, a foundational overview from contributors; and second, a broader governance and business-oriented discussion applied to open source software. In both, Ayra’s role was consistent: facilitating the business, governance, and technology guardrails that make decentralized digital identity work at scale.
Later in the afternoon, Drummond Reed, representing the First Person Project, also spoke on “The Future of Human Identity: The First Person Project” as part of the session on “AI for Humanity: Agentic AI” co-organized by Ispirt and the International Telecommunication Union.
Session 1: First Person Credentials: From Concept to Implementation
This session brought together contributors from LF Decentralized Trust, Decentralized Identity Foundation, Trust Over IP, OpenWallet Foundation, and Ayra to discuss the architecture, governance, and implementation roadmap of First Person Credentials. The presentation emphasized that the First Person Network relies on the Ayra Trust Network to establish the basic conditions for interoperability and consistency. Drummond Reed, speaking on behalf of the First Person Project, highlighted Ayra’s role in enabling composable governance, setting business conditions, and supporting conformance protocols for issuers, oracles, and other technical tooling.
Key takeaways included:
- Governance by Layers: Ayra introduced a layered model of governance—from “Thin & Wide” foundations covering essential terms, to tailored frameworks for specific jurisdictions or sectors.
- Business Alignment: The session framed the importance of aligning businesses with the First Person Network’s principles. Questions raised included: What does it mean for businesses to build “on” or “beside” the network, and what engagement rules support a decentralized, interoperable model?
- Signal of Interest: Governments have inquired about issuing credentials, indicating strong alignment with the First Person model for simple, non-centralized identification.
- Ecosystem Interconnection: Ayra positioned itself as the “glue” connecting digital trust ecosystems, supporting the community-led First Person Governance Framework and providing conformance tools like registries and test suites.
Ayra Members are already contributing to First Person implementations, developing collaborative community tooling and exploring credential use cases like the Ayra Card.
Session 2: First Person Credentials and Trust in the Open Source Supply Chain
This session shifted focus to how First Person Credentials can strengthen trust in open source software (OSS), particularly within CI/CD pipelines and OSS project governance. Ayra was joined by the Linux Foundation’s Daniela Barbosa and Hart Montgomery, alongside Marie Wallace of Accenture and Drummond Reed, to explore how trust signals like verifiable contributor identity can address critical gaps in OSS risk management.
The session emphasized:
- Business Need for Trust: As 97% of commercial software includes open source components, Risk & Compliance teams are demanding actionable trust frameworks—not hand-waving technical assurances.
- Proof of Human: Identity verification for maintainers and contributors (e.g., proof of personhood) was identified as a missing trust signal that can be implemented using privacy-preserving credentials.
- Shifting Postures: While early risk postures in regulated sectors leaned toward “no,” organizations are now asking “how” – requiring tools, frameworks, and governance that accommodate complex stakeholder needs.
- Composable Governance: Ayra presented its layered governance model again, now contextualized for OSS trust, suggesting it can help structure contributor identity, project risk ratings, and upstream compliance needs.
The discussion underscored that OSS trust is a multi-stakeholder problem requiring collaboration across developer communities, tech foundations, risk teams, and audit functions. Ayra’s Trust Network and ecosystem-wide conformance capabilities were positioned as foundational enablers.
Session Details:
First Person Credentials: From Concept to Implementation
Speakers: Daniela Barbosa (LF Decentralized Trust), Drummond Reed (First Person Project), Darrell O’Donnell (Ayra), Kim Duffy (DIF)
Co-organizers: LF Decentralized Trust, OpenWallet Foundation, Ayra
First Person Credentials and Trust in the Open Source Supply Chain
Speakers: Daniela Barbosa (LF Decentralized Trust), Drummond Reed (First Person Project), Darrell O’Donnell (Ayra), Hart Montgomery (LF Decentralized Trust)
Co-organizers: LF Decentralized Trust, OpenWallet Foundation, Ayra
AI for Humanity: Agentic AI
Speakers: Wenjing Chu (OpenWallet Foundation/ LF Decentralized Trust), Drummond Reed (First Person Project), Scott Perry (Digital Governance Institute), Eric Drury (ForceCo.io)
Co-organizers: ITU, Ispirt
Ayra is a co-organizer of the Global Digital Collaboration event that took place from July 1-2, 2025, in Geneva, Switzerland.