Standards
VC-JWT
Also known as: Verifiable Credential JWT, JWT-VC
An alternative serialization of W3C Verifiable Credentials using signed JWTs instead of JSON-LD with Linked Data Proofs.
VC-JWT is an alternative proof format for W3C Verifiable Credentials. Instead of embedding a Linked Data Proof inside a JSON-LD document, VC-JWT wraps the credential as a JWT payload and signs the whole thing with a JWS signature. Simpler to implement, but the Linked Data graph model and URDNA2015 canonicalization are gone — two VC-JWTs that express the same underlying claims will look different if their payload ordering differs.
The VC Working Group deliberately left both formats in the spec because different ecosystems have different priorities. JOSE-native ecosystems (enterprise IAM, much of the SSI wallet world, the EUDI Wallet ARF) favor VC-JWT. Linked Data ecosystems (Blockcerts, many academic-credential tools, semantic-web infrastructure) favor JSON-LD + LD Proofs.
LearnCoin uses JSON-LD + MerkleProof2019, not VC-JWT. The tradeoff is deliberate: LD Proofs preserve the Linked Data graph, let URDNA2015 produce a canonical hash, and make blockchain anchoring clean. When LearnCoin adds OpenID4VCI for EU wallet interoperability, we'll likely offer a VC-JWT variant — but the canonical LearnCoin credential will stay JSON-LD.