Identity Hub (MVD): proof Field Missing After Storing Verifiable Credential

[Zhipeng-lin1]

Overview

I'm testing the storage of Verifiable Credentials (VCs) using the Identity Hub provided in the MVD (Minimum Viable Dataspace) environment. . When I POST a fully signed VC (in JSON-LD format, with a complete proof section) to the Identity Hub, and later retrieve it via the GET /api/identity/v1alpha/participants/{{PARTICIPANT_ID}}/credentials/{{CREDENTIAL_ID}} endpoint, the returned VC no longer includes the proof field.

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🧪 Steps to Reproduce

1. Generate or obtain a fully signed VC in JSON-LD format that includes a proof section. Example:

   {
     "@context": ["https://www.w3.org/2018/credentials/v1"],
     "type": ["VerifiableCredential", "ExampleCredential"],
     "issuer": "did:web:issuer.example.com",
     "credentialSubject": {
       "id": "did:web:holder.example.com",
       "name": "Alice"
     },
     "proof": {
       "type": "JsonWebSignature2020",
       "proofPurpose": "assertionMethod",
       "verificationMethod": "did:web:issuer.example.com#key-1",
       "jws": "eyJhbGciOiJFZERTQSJ9..."
     }
   }

2. Send a POST request to the Identity Hub to store the credential:

   POST /api/identity/v1alpha/participants/{{PARTICIPANT_ID_BASE64}}/credentials
   Content-Type: application/json
   Authorization: X-Api-key <token>
   

3. Later, retrieve the credential using:

   GET /api/identity/v1alpha/participants/{{PARTICIPANT_ID}}/credentials/{{CREDENTIAL_ID}}
   Authorization: X-Api-key <token>
   

4. Observe that the returned credential does not contain the proof field.

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✅ Expected Behavior

The Verifiable Credential should be returned exactly as it was stored, including the proof field, which is essential for cryptographic verification by any verifier.

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❌ Actual Behavior

The returned credential is missing the proof section. This makes the credential unverifiable and breaks standard W3C VC usage patterns.

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📌 Questions

• Is this expected behavior in the current Identity Hub implementation?
• Does Identity Hub support storing and retrieving full JSON-LD Verifiable Credentials?
• Is this a limitation related to schema validation, field filtering, or storage strategy?
• Does the Identity Hub require JWT-formatted VCs instead of JSON-LD?

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🧩 Environment

Key	Value
Format	JSON-LD Verifiable Credential
Identity Hub	MVD (Minimum Viable Dataspace) instance
Tools Used	Postman

[paullatzelsperger]

Is this expected behavior in the current Identity Hub implementation?

yes, because only the "rawVc" will contain proof information (LD and JWT)

Does Identity Hub support storing and retrieving full JSON-LD Verifiable Credentials?

yes, but only in the "rawVc" field

Is this a limitation related to schema validation, field filtering, or storage strategy?

no

Does the Identity Hub require JWT-formatted VCs instead of JSON-LD?

no

to be clear, the rawVc field contains the VC as issued by the issuer, whether that be LD or JWT. the other fields are just metadata in a unified form.

However, we generally recommend using JWT-VCs, because the are faster to de- and encode and generally easier to handle.

[Zhipeng-lin1]

Thanks for you response