Importance of Global Chain of Trust

Who Should Govern #AgentDNS? Avoiding Centralised Control and Building Global Trust AgentDNS proposes a root infrastructure for naming, discovery, and authentication in the emerging ecosystem of LLM agents. While technically promising, its governance model is undefined. This creates a #serious #risk: if controlled by Big Tech, AgentDNS may repeat the centralization patterns that already weaken digital sovereignty and interoperability. Risk of Vendor Lock-In If large platform providers (e.g. #Big #Tech) govern AgentDNS, they can prioritize their own agents in discovery, define proprietary metadata formats, and shape billing rules to their advantage. This undermines neutrality and turns AgentDNS into a gatekeeper, contradicting its purpose as a trust anchor for open ecosystems. Loss of Global Trust Global trust infrastructure cannot be rooted in a single jurisdiction. If AgentDNS is seen as US- or China-centric, regions like the EU, India, or the Global South will hesitate to adopt it. A root service must be #jurisdictionally #neutral and accountable across borders. Without this, there is no foundation for international agent interoperability. Missing Legal Identity Today’s agents increasingly act on behalf of legal entities. Without strong #legal #person #identity binding and authorisation chaining (i.e. #PoA for agents), AgentDNS will enable fake services, impersonation, and fraud. Service names must be anchored in verified legal records. This is not a feature, it is a precondition for trust. Big Tech platforms have never fulfilled this function, nor are they institutionally equipped to do so. No Recourse, No Accountability In a centralized model, participation, suspension, or revocation decisions are opaque and unilateral. Past examples—Adobe AATL, Microsoft Root Store—have shown how #trust #collapses when governed without transparency. Governance of root infrastructures must be subject to shared policies, auditability, and escalation paths. Private vendors cannot offer that. The Case for the UN Global Trust Registry The UN Global Trust Registry (#UN #GTR), developed by UN/CEFACT, offers a credible and neutral alternative. It provides verified organizational identities based on authentic sources such as business registers. AgentDNS can use UN GTR as its legal trust layer: each registered agent would be cryptographically linked to a recognized legal entity. This creates auditability, legal recourse, and international acceptance. Conclusion AgentDNS solves a real technical problem, but without proper governance, it will not scale. If controlled by a few tech companies, it will create new silos, not a global trust layer. Trust anchors for autonomous agents must be governed multilaterally, rooted in public authentic sources, and open to global participation. UN GTR is the right foundation for this next layer of the internet. Learn more about the current Trust Anchor for Agents discussion.

The invisible thread securing the energy transition isn't a molecule—it's a verifiable data point. As we scale up hydrogen, CCS, and low-carbon fuels, the risk of greenwashing and data fraud grows. How can we trust that a "green" molecule is truly green across a global supply chain? A recent UN/CEFACT white paper provides a powerful answer. 🔍 Key Industry Insights From "Push" to "Pull": The future of supply chains is shifting from pushing paper and PDFs to a digital "pull" model. Authorized partners will use Globally Unique Identifiers (GUIs) to access the specific data they need, on demand. This creates a single, trusted source of truth. The D-R-V Standard: For an identifier to be effective, it must be Discoverable, Resolvable, and Verifiable (D-R-V). This isn't just a barcode; it's a cryptographically secure "digital passport" that proves an asset's origin, authenticity, and ESG attributes with certainty. Building Digital Trust: This framework is foundational for verifying the carbon intensity of hydrogen, ensuring the chain of custody for captured CO2, and validating the sustainability of biofuels. It moves ESG from a reporting exercise to a verifiable, operational reality. 🎯 Career Lens This shift creates a massive opportunity for professionals who can bridge physical assets and digital trust. High-Value Skills: The ability to design, manage, and audit these new digital-physical systems is becoming critical. Roles in digital transformation, supply chain analytics, and tech-focused ESG compliance are seeing their strategic value skyrocket. A Tip for Engineers & PMs: Start thinking about how to embed D-R-V principles into your projects. How can you tag a shipment of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) so its carbon footprint is verifiable from the refinery to the jet engine? That's the billion-dollar question. 🧠 Strategic Reflection This is about more than just tracking; it's about building verifiable integrity at scale. What if you built a 90-day plan to reposition yourself as the expert who ensures the digital integrity of your company's decarbonization claims? AI-powered assessment tools can help map your current skills to these emerging "digital trust" roles. 💡 Action Steps Get fluent: Familiarize yourself with the concepts in the UNECE "Globally Unique Identifiers" white paper and emerging standards like the verifiable Legal Entity Identifier (vLEI). Ask the right question: In your next project meeting, ask: "How do we verifiably prove the origin and attributes of our assets to our stakeholders?" 🚀 Engagement Prompt How is your organization preparing to build this layer of digital trust into its physical supply chains? I'm curious to hear what challenges and opportunities you see. #EnergyTransition #DigitalTransformation #SupplyChain #Hydrogen #ESG #Decarbonization #FutureOfWork #Leadership #CareerDevelopment

Globally Unique Identifiers in Supply Chains | prepared by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) This report explores the transformative role of globally unique identifiers (#GUIDs) in enhancing efficiency, transparency, and resilience in modern supply chains. Published by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (#UNECE), the study positions GUIDs as foundational #digitalinfrastructure for end-to-end traceability, regulatory compliance, and seamless interoperability across diverse stakeholders in the global #tradeecosystem. In an era marked by geopolitical uncertainty, increasing regulatory scrutiny, and digital acceleration, the adoption of standardized identification mechanisms is emerging as a strategic imperative for both private and public sector actors. The report underscores the growing complexity of global supply chains—highlighting that over 80% of international trade involves intermediated, multi-tiered supplier networks. Within this context, GUIDs enable the persistent and unambiguous identification of #products, #entities, #locations, and #transactions, thereby reducing friction in #dataexchange and mitigating the risk of counterfeiting, fraud, and inefficiency. The study references pilot implementations across #pharmaceuticals, #textiles, and #agrifoodsectors, showing up to 35% reductions in manual reconciliation time and 25% improvements in customs clearance efficiency. Furthermore, the report emphasizes the critical role of public-private collaboration, noting that the success of GUID frameworks hinges on alignment with international standards, such as ISO, GS1, and #WCO #datamodels, and on government support for digital registries and infrastructure. In summary, Globally Unique Identifiers in Supply Chains offers a compelling vision for the digitized, interoperable supply chain of the future—anchored in trust, visibility, and agility. As firms increasingly prioritize #ESG #compliance, circular economy goals, and adaptive risk management, the widespread adoption of GUIDs presents not merely a technical upgrade, but a strategic foundation for sustainable and competitive global commerce. The report calls for multilateral coordination, investment in capacity-building, and the establishment of common governance frameworks to ensure that the benefits of GUID systems are equitably and effectively realized worldwide.

#blockchain | #digitalidentity | #crossborder | #trade : "Unlocking Trade Data Flows with Digital Trust Using Interoperable Identity Technology" The paper reviews the current challenges in unlocking cross-border data flows, and how interoperability of digital identity regimes using high level types of decentralized technologies can overcome this with active public-private partnerships. Decentralized identity technologies, such as verifiable credentials (VCs) and decentralized identifiers (DIDs), coupled with interoperability protocols can complement the current Web3 infrastructure to enhance interoperability and digital trust . It is noted in the World Economic Forum White Paper that global trust worthiness is an important identity system principle for future supply chains, as this process of dynamically verifying counterparts through digital identity management and verification is a critical step in establishing trust and assurance for organizations participating in digital supply-chain transactions. As the number of digital services, transactions and entities grow, it is crucial to ensure that digitally traded goods and services take place in a secure and trusted network in which each entity can be dynamically verified and authenticated. Web3 describes the next generation of the internet that leverages blockchain to “decentralize” storage, compute and governance of systems and networks, typically using open source software and without a trusted intermediary. With the new iteration of Web3 being the next evolution of digitalized paradigms, several new decentralized identity technologies have become an increasingly important component to complement existing Web3 infrastructure for digital trade. VCs are an open standard for digital credentials, which can be used to represent individuals, organizations, products or documents that are cryptographically verifiable and tamper-evident. The important elements of the design framework of digital identities involves three parties – issuer, holder and verifier. This is commonly referred to the self sovereign identity (SSI) trust triangle. The flow starts with the issuance of decentralized credentials in a standard format. The holder presents these credentials to a service provider in a secure way. The verifier then assesses the authenticity and validity of these credentials. Finally, when the credential is no longer required, the user revokes it. This gives rise to the main applications of digital identities and VCs in business credentials, product credentials and document identifiers in the trade environment involving businesses, goods and services. EmpowerEdge Ventures