Frequently Asked Questions

ARCid is designed to be a single identifier across all digital systems for all purposes and for all people. It does have built-in interoperability and can be applied for many different purposes and in different contexts. We welcome partners who wish to incorporate the Registry’s validation in their own products and services. Over time, the Registry will perform a public service to allow anyone external to the Association to validate whether a certain email belongs to a real person, for example. But only if that person is an ARCA member with an ARCid.

There are wonderful projects in the works as governments around the world are recognizing their citizens' digital integrity. But those are still centralized models, where data is held in a central repository, presenting a single point of attack and failure. We believe decentralization is critical to the human’s digital identity security. ARCA’s Registry by contrast, is decentralized across node operators around the world, with governance controls over the Registry residing with the members, not a central authority.

A dictionary definition of the term gets the basic point across: “Power and control are spread out among multiple actors, rather than being held by a single entity.” Indeed, Switzerland itself is a model of decentralization at work, with the cantons having operational independence over even the health care system in their borders. In the context of a blockchain, or any distributed ledger technology, we speak of decentralization to mean there is so single consolidation of data, and thus no single point of failure, making the particular system more resilient. Instead, “nodes” (or computers) each run an authorized copy of ARCA’s ARCid Network, and the nodes, through an algorithm, ensure agreement (or consensus) to validate a particular transaction.

No. Under the ARCA Articles of Association, ARCA members have no liability beyond their obligations to comply with the Membership Agreement and any policies that may be enacted from time to time. Swiss law also recognizes this principle.

Yes. Only ARCA members may have an active ARCid.

The ARCid represents your digital self. It is unique to you, and there is only one of them, just as there is only one of you in the physical world. The ARCid never goes away. It remains in the Registry, even when you are no longer an ARCA member. Any functionality of the ARCid, however, ends with the end of your membership. The Articles of Association, and any rule-making under it, explain this in more detail.