Think about your digital footprint. Your accounts and profiles are spread across multiple platforms: social media, online shopping sites, email addresses, and countless other accounts for managing your day-to-day life. Each is probably managed by a third-party provider, asking for your personal data in exchange for access. The trade-off has long been clear: you get convenience, but you give up some control. But what if you could manage your digital identity on your own terms, without depending on large platforms, banks, or governments?

That’s where self-sovereign digital identities (SSDIs) come in.

What is a self-sovereign digital identity

A self-sovereign digital identity is a model where you control your digital identity rather than relying on centralized providers. Instead of having your personal data stored across isolated databases, you hold your identity information in a secure digital wallet. You decide what information to share, with whom, and under what conditions.

Think of it as a digital passport that’s truly yours. With SSDIs, you—not centralized platforms—control your digital identity, eliminating reliance on third parties to manage it. Instead of handing over personal information to every service, you share verifiable credentials. These are secure proofs that confirm who you are without exposing all of your data. With SSDIs, these credentials function as your secure login, giving you a consistent way to prove your identity across different platforms. This helps reduce your exposure to large-scale data breaches and keeps your data in your hands.

Why Web3 makes SSDIs possible

The vision of SSDIs aligns naturally with Web3, the next generation of the Internet built on decentralization and blockchain technology. Unlike Web2, where major corporations store and monetize your personal information, Web3 relies on blockchains: distributed ledgers that reduce reliance on central authorities. Because the ledger is shared across many nodes, it is resilient against single points of failure and tampering. Once information is added, it cannot be changed without network consensus.

So, why is blockchain essential for SSDIs? Without it, most digital identities would still depend on central databases that can be hacked, manipulated, or taken offline. Blockchains provide the trust layer SSDIs need by tackling the following:

  • Eliminating central gatekeepers: Blockchains ensure that your identity isn’t locked into a single provider. You hold your credentials in your wallet.
  • Providing transparency and security: Entries on the ledger can be verified, making fraud and abuse far more difficult.
  • Enabling portability: Your identity isn’t tied to a single application, website, or account. Instead, you carry it across Web3 applications, wallets, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), and beyond.

In short, blockchains don’t just support SSDIs—they provide the trust and decentralization that make them secure, verifiable, and truly self-sovereign.

The growing demand for SSDI-enabled domain names

As Web3 evolves, SSDIs will likely become the standard for how we interact online. From logging into decentralized apps (dApps) and proving age without disclosing your birthdate, to verifying credentials for work, SSDIs could redefine how trust and identity function on the Internet. Having surpassed over one million daily active addresses on the Ethereum blockchain alone, demand for identity solutions that work seamlessly across Web3 and Web2 is rapidly growing.

One area where this demand is especially clear is in blockchain-based domain names. These domains already exist, but many of them come with a major drawback: they do not resolve on the traditional Domain Name System (DNS). For users, this creates a frustrating barrier to building a cohesive digital identity that works everywhere.

But now, they don’t have to choose between blockchain security and Web2 utility. They can choose .locker.

.locker is a fully interoperable domain extension between DNS, BNS (Bitcoin Name Service), and ENS (Ethereum Name Service). This means that customers can use a single .locker digital identity on Bitcoin, on Ethereum, and as a traditional domain name for websites and email. Because .locker is secured on the Bitcoin blockchain and resolves on ENS for Ethereum, it  provides a foundation for creating self-sovereign digital identities that doesn’t sacrifice Web2 capabilities.

Final thoughts

For OpenSRS resellers, SSDIs and Web3 represent a new opportunity to help your customers build secure, portable digital identities. With .locker, you can offer a domain that works across DNS, Bitcoin, and Ethereum, giving users a single name that ties together with their Web2 and Web3 presence.

And now through December 31, 2025, every new .locker registration and wallet setup comes with $5 in Bitcoin deposited into the customer’s wallet. It’s a simple way to help them take their first step into Web3 identity while you expand your portfolio with an innovative new product.

.locker bridges the gap between the web we use today and the decentralized web that’s emerging. In a world where data breaches and privacy scandals dominate headlines, the appeal of controlling your digital identity is clear: you own your data, you control your identity, and you decide how to interact with the digital world.