Design and Issuance
This is a feature set for composing visual layouts and data content for conferring educational credentials of student achievement. This may include badges, transcripts, diplomas and other types of academic certificates.

Verified Issuers
This is a form of fraud prevention in which vendors ensure that issuing institutions are who they claim to be, and the people operating the account are actual employees of that institution.

Federated Accounts
This is a feature set for larger institutions that need to manage a collection of independent accounts. Specific features often include the ability to provision new accounts, manage users, and see a rollup of analytics from across the entire ecosystem.

Blockchain Anchored Records
This feature creates a hash of the academic record and stores on a blockchain for later verification. This essentially proves that a specific document existed at a specific point in time. This feature alone does not actually provide recipients with ownership of records.

Recipient Ownership
This means that students can prove that the academic record in their possession actually belongs to them, using public/private key pairs. The most convenient way to achieve this result is through a mobile app like Blockcerts, which generates keys and transmits student keys to an issuer, so that a unique number can be encoded into each student’s record. If students do not control their private key, they cannot demonstrate ownership of their records.

Independent Blockchain Verification
This feature is about giving students autonomy after they have received their records, so they no longer depend on a vendor or the issuing institution to provide verification. Instead, records are issued in a way that can be directly verified via the blockchain.

Blockchain Network Open Source
Blockchain features that are based on open-source code ensure the world can inspect a vendor’s claims about how the blockchain is being used. Understanding how student records are secured is part of maintaining a strong security practice.

Blockchain Records Open Source
It’s important for records to be anchored on the blockchain in a way that ensures longevity and interoperability of records. Standards provide a common language so that records can move between vendors and be easily verified, regardless of the blockchain used.