Indicio proposes verifiable credentials to give AI agents an identity

Seattle-based decentralized identity firm Indicio published a whitepaper arguing that API keys and bearer tokens prove possession of a secret, not identity, and proposing signed verifiable credentials plus machine-readable trust lists for AI agents. The paper landed the same day FinCEN and four other regulators allowed banks to accept verifiable credentials for KYC; Bain puts U.S. agentic commerce at $300–500 billion by 2030.

• 46% of technical leaders still authenticate agents with shared API keys (Gravitee)
• 88% confirmed or suspected an agent-related security incident in the past year
• Bain: U.S. agentic commerce to reach $300–500 billion by 2030
• Indicio supports mDLs under ISO 18013-5/7 alongside verifiable credentials