Digital Badges: How Is a DID Created and Stored?

🔐 Where does the digital seal — the DID — come from?

A digital badge is no longer just an image. A badge is real only when it carries my own digital seal (DID).

This digital seal is created with my unique private key, and its authenticity is verified with a public key that anyone can look up.

And the unique mark stamped on the seal — that is the DID (Decentralized Identifier).

But who creates this digital seal, where is it stored, and is there any risk of forgery?

This article walks through how Kolleges securely creates DID-based digital badges and stores them in a user-centric way.

🧬 What is a key pair? The root of a DID

A DID does not exist on its own. It is generated from the following key pair:

Stamping with the private key and verifying with the public key works like a key and a lock locked into each other, and this combination is the core of trust for a digital badge.

🛠 How does Kolleges generate a DID?

Kolleges generates the DID required for a digital badge using the did:key method. This approach generates a DID without any blockchain or central registration authority, and it is fast, concise, and compatible with global standards.

The generation procedure is as follows:

1. 1 Generate the key pair with the RSA algorithm — The private key is used by the user to sign credentials; the public key is used externally to verify authenticity.
2. 2 Convert to PEM format — Render it in a human-readable form.
3. 3 The private key is never stored on a server — It is provided to the user as an encrypted string for self-custody.
4. 4 Store only the public key and the DID — Kolleges stores only the public key and the DID derived from it.

📦 What data does Kolleges store?

Kolleges stores only the following information in its database:

✅ The private key is never stored, and Kolleges cannot view it or reissue it.

📁 How is the private key stored?

The private key is encrypted on Kolleges servers and delivered to the user as follows:

1. 1 Encrypt with an internal algorithm
2. 2 Use an encryption key built from user information and a security key
3. 3 Convert the result into a Base64 string
4. 4 Provide it as a file the user can download and keep

The user simply keeps this file in secure storage (USB, cloud, offline, etc.).

✅ How do we prove that the private key really belongs to you?

When a user uses a DID-based credential, Kolleges verifies it as follows:

1. 1 The encrypted private key file is uploaded
2. 2 Kolleges decrypts it with an internal algorithm
3. 3 The decrypted key produces a digital signature
4. 4 The signature is verified against the public key Kolleges holds

👉 Through this process, the trust statement “this seal was actually stamped by you” is established.

🎯 For digital badges, trust starts with the DID

The core of a digital badge is not its visual design but who created it, who owns it, and how it can be verified.

Through DID technology, Kolleges delivers digital badges that remain permanently verifiable, without depending on the platform.

📎 Wrapping up

A DID is not just an ID. It carries three values inside it: security, autonomy, and trust.

Kolleges builds digital badges on top of this DID structure, helping institutions prove course history, credentials, and certificates — all key learning outcomes — safely and without a central server.

🔗 Related content

👉 Understanding the DID structure for digital badges (Part 1) 👉 How to securely store DID-based digital credentials on IPFS