ARIA1.0
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Trust levels for those who rely

This page answers the buyer's question: if an L1 arrives at my API, what can I rely on, and what can I not? The cards that define each level live in §2 of the specification; the 80 requirements each one rests on live in /requirements. Nothing here restates them.

Two axes, not a ladder

A level is the intersection of two independent questions: was the person who answers verified, and was the entity represented confirmed against an authoritative source?

Entity not verifiedEntity confirmed
Person not verifiedL0not permitted
Person verifiedL1L2 · L3

The corner "person not verified, entity confirmed" does not exist: nobody can vouch for an organization without first being someone.

Why the level is recalculated, not read

The agent does not declare its level; the registry derives it from the evidence in the Case File. If a fact lapses — the responsible person leaves, the domain anchor disappears — the level changes at the next renewal or the credential is suspended (§7). So when you read trustLevel, you are reading the registry's conclusion at issuance, valid until validUntil unless revoked.

Level by level: rely on / do not rely on

L0
Anchored
Cryptographic existence of the agent. Nothing more. No identity of any person or organization is asserted; every declared name is marked self-declared.
Self-signed · 366 days · E-mail re-verification. Fully automatic.
requirements →
L1
Identified
A verified natural person answers for the agent, and the agent controls its domain. Nothing is asserted about the organization: it remains self-declared.
DV · 366 days · Domain and e-mail re-verification. The person is re-verified only on document expiry or Flag.
requirements →
L2
Certified
L1, plus: the entity exists and is active per its Authoritative Source, the verified person is linked to it, and neither appears on sanctions lists.
OV · 200 days · Status at source + sanctions + domain + link.
requirements →
L3
Sovereign
L2, plus: a person with the power to bind the entity backs the agent, keys live in certified hardware, and signed legal accountability exists and is producible as evidence.
EV+ · 180 days · Semi-automatic: source + sanctions + instrument validity + confirmation by the named human.
requirements →
  • L0. Rely on: the holder key is bound to this DID by a registry signature; the agent has a stable identifier and a revocable credential. Do not rely on: the person, the organization name, the jurisdiction. All self-declared.
  • L1. Rely on everything in L0 plus: a verified natural person answers for this agent, and the domain in the DID is anchored by a TXT record the controller published. Do not rely on: the organization. legalName is still a claim.
  • L2. Rely on: the entity exists and was confirmed against the authoritative source of its jurisdiction, and the person is linked to it. Do not rely on: that the person can bind the entity in a legal sense.
  • L3. Rely on: a Binding Officer with proven power to bind the entity, evidenced by public instrument. This is the level for contractual acts.

Only L0 is issued today. L1, L2 and L3 are specified and not yet issued; no registry has been evaluated by TLF for them. /planned#l1-l3

What a level never tells you

Conduct. Intent. Scope. Whether the caller holds the key. Those are answered by the Intent Declaration and the holder proof under ATP (§8), not by the level. Read What an AID proves if you have not.