Verifiable Credentials: What They Mean for Proptech

The Australian Government wants to make credentials digital — driver licences, income statements, qualifications — in a way that's cryptographically secure, privacy-preserving, and instantly verifiable. They've released a proposed framework and are asking the industry how it should be implemented.

Property is one of the most credential-heavy sectors in the economy, and verifiable credentials (VCs) will change how tenant verification, agent licensing, and ownership checks work across our platforms.

What this looks like in practice

Government-issued credentials

These are VCs issued by government agencies — the digital equivalent of the documents we already trust because a government body stands behind them.

Tenant proves identity for a rental application

Today: tenant uploads photos of their driver licence, payslips and bank statements. Agent manually checks documents, stores copies, and the risk of fraud remains.

With VCs: tenant taps “share” from their digital wallet. The platform cryptographically confirms their identity is government-issued and current, and their income exceeds the threshold (without seeing the exact figure) — all in seconds, with no documents to store or shred.

Owner proves title for a sale

Today: solicitors and conveyancers order title searches, buyers wait days for paper and email confirmations, and fraud in off-the-plan sales for deposit payments remain a real risk.

With VCs: the state land registry issues a digital ownership credential. The owner presents it directly to the buyer's conveyancer or the platform — verified instantly against the registry's cryptographic signature. No intermediary delay, eliminates risk.

Industry-issued credentials

VCs aren't limited to government. Any trusted organisation can issue credentials that are interoperable with the same wallets, standards, and verification infrastructure. This is currently being rolled out across the property sector through AML Tranche 2 regulation. But it has broader implications. 

Tenant shares verified rental history

Today: tenants ask previous agents for written references. History doesn't travel well between platforms or states.

With VCs: a property management platform issues a rental history credential at the end of a tenancy — attesting to lease duration, payment record, and condition of exit. The tenant stores it in their wallet and presents it with any future application, on any platform, verified instantly. The credential is interoperable because it uses the same open standards as government-issued VCs.

This is where the VC model gets interesting for PropTech. Government handles identity and licensing. Industry handles the credentials that sit on top — tenancy records, inspection results, compliance attestations. Both work together in the same ecosystem, the same wallets, the same verification flows.

How Verifiable Credentials actually work

A verifiable credential (VC) is a digital version of a traditional credential — a driver licence, Medicare card, qualification, or any other attestation — stored on your device and cryptographically secured so that anyone checking it can confirm it's genuine without contacting the issuer.

Three roles make the system work:

• Issuers create credentials (government agencies, employers, universities)

• Holders store them in a digital wallet and control what gets shared

• Verifiers check credentials to provide a service — this is where most PropTech platforms sit

The key capability is selective disclosure. A holder can prove a specific fact without revealing the underlying data. “Earns above $90k” without showing the payslip. “Over 18” without handing over a licence number. The verifier gets certainty, the holder keeps privacy.

The lifecycle

1. Issuance — issuer creates the credential and delivers it to the holder's device

2. Storage — holder keeps it in their digital wallet, decides who sees what

3. Presentation — holder shares specific claims with a verifier

4. Revocation — issuer can withdraw the credential if circumstances change

Behind all of this, trust services provide the infrastructure that lets any verifier confirm a credential is authentic and unaltered — without calling the issuer. Importantly, the issuer never knows where or when the holder used their credential.

Three international standards are leading: ISO/IEC (already in use for digital driver licences nationally), W3C Verifiable Credentials, and SD-JWT (built around selective disclosure).

What the Government is proposing

The Department of Finance has released two consultation papers proposing a Commonwealth VC Trust Framework — 26 policy positions across 9 modules covering issuance, verification, wallets, privacy, interoperability, and security.

The positions most relevant to PropTech providers:

Position	What it means
Equivalence	A verified VC must be accepted the same as the physical credential
Open verification	Any business can verify a Commonwealth VC — no registration required
Data minimisation	Verifiers should only request what's reasonably necessary
Wallet of choice	Consumers choose their own wallet; platforms can't mandate one
Interoperability	VCs must work across platforms, jurisdictions, and providers
No issuer tracking	Issuers can't see where or when someone uses their credential

The framework is guidance-based initially — not regulatory — but the Government has signalled regulation may follow. The settings being decided now will shape what PropTech platforms can request, what standards to build for, and how verification infrastructure works.

— Erik Tveitnes

API Lead, REA Group

Chair of the Proptech Australia Verifiable Credential Committee 

Erik currently builds the integration platform that connects PropTech partners to Australia's largest property marketplace. His background spans API architecture, identity systems (OAuth, OIDC, JWTs), and partner integrations — the exact infrastructure that would underpin VC verification in property platforms. He's a member of Proptech Australia and has a long-standing interest in how open standards and decentralised identity can reduce friction for both consumers and the businesses that serve them.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Source: Part A — Embracing the potential of verifiable credentials in the Commonwealth; Part B — Proposed Commonwealth policy positions for the use of verifiable credentials. Australian Government Department of Finance, May 2026.