SSI is an identity verification and authentication model that is based on the premise that individuals should own and control their identities. It provides security and flexibility to users, empowering them to share their information only when they intend to do so. It is free from interventions exercised by administrative authorities or centralized- or federated-identity providers and acts on the concept that no one owns but everyone has access.

It eliminates the need for collecting documents that have already been collected somewhere else. Validators get only that information that users have authorized to share and such information is cryptographically shared on distributed ledger which prevents modification. Evernym and Sovrin are well known companies working on SSI.