As the Blockchain ecosystem continues to expand, a series of on-chain activities and events are being organized with the primary objectives of promoting the ecosystem, educating the uninformed, and facilitating networking. To reward participants in such events, proof of attendance is typically issued in the form of Non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

These NFTs not only serve as a badge of honor but also grant participants exclusive privileges such as accessing premium services for free or selling them to interested parties. Over the years, the Proof Of Attendance Protocol (POAP) has been the prevalent choice for this purpose. However, when we closely examine the use of POAP as proof of attendance, its deficiencies become evident.

Firstly, POAP tokens are transferable and can be listed for sale. This transferability undermines their credibility as proof of attendance, as it allows individuals who didn't participate in an event to purchase a POAP from a genuine attendee, falsely claiming attendance.

While some argue that this transferability is a means of rewarding participants, it ultimately diminishes the validity of POAP as proof of attendance. Users should not be able to prove their presence at an event if they were not there but merely obtained a POAP from the secondary market.

Secondly, POAP NFTs are often confined to the social platform where the event occurred, making it challenging to share proof with individuals outside that platform. For example, if you have POAPs from a social platform like Torum's Year 1 and Year 2 Anniversary, these tokens are only visible within the Torum website. Sharing them with friends on other platforms, such as Telegram, is not easily achievable.

In contrast to POAP, I want to introduce CREDS – verifiable credentials that offer a portable, reusable, private, and secure means to establish your reputation and confirm your real identity. Distinct from NFTs and SBTs, CREDS are private, revocable, and can be utilized across different platforms and ecosystems.

With CREDS, proof of attendance is non-transferable and provides additional utility. Beyond verifying attendance, CREDS allows you to showcase your achievements, awards, contributions, and more. You can effortlessly share your CREDS on any platform, as each platform or social account has its own set of CREDS.

This means you can exhibit your achievements, awards, proof of attendance, and more from any platform you are a part of. For instance, you can prove your status as an OG in a community by sharing the OG CRED alongside your respective Telegram, Discord, or Email CRED, depending on the platform your audience uses. This helps confirm that you are indeed the same person holding all these CREDS.

When you share multiple CREDS, it forms a CRED Pack. CREDS are issued in a way that only you have access to them, and you have the authority to decide with whom you share them. Community owners can register as issuers to provide credentials (CREDS) to their community members. Community members can then claim, access, and share their CREDS across various platforms through the app.creds.xyz.

Another remarkable advantage of CREDS is the Proof of Personhood, which enables individuals to interact with trust by verifying the authenticity of the people they engage with. This is achieved by requesting the CRED of an individual and verifying it against the built-in bot. This feature enables the easy identification of genuine admins from impostors within communities that have adopted CREDS.

For communities interested in adopting CREDS to reward their members, showcase their team, and enhance trust, reach out to @cheqd.io on Twitter to initiate the onboarding process as issuers.

In conclusion, CREDS offers a groundbreaking solution to the challenges posed by traditional proof of attendance approaches like POAP. With their non-transferable nature and multifaceted applications, CRED is poised to revolutionize the way we verify attendance and establish trust in online communities.