A record that travels with the participant.
FromCompany identity→ToPortable participant identity
A provider who doesn’t know a participant starts from nothing. This shift asks whether a participant’s record could be structured and carried with them, so that a new provider needn’t know Arjun to verify what he has done.
A record that goes with him
A year in, Arjun wants to stock a new category from a different creator, financed by a provider he has never met illustrative. His record goes with him: the amounts he committed, the inventory he carried and sold, his collections and settlements, cycle after cycle.
The new provider doesn’t need to know Arjun. It can verify what he has done.
From “I know this participant” to “I can verify”
“I know this participant.”
“I can verify what this participant has done.”
| Today | On an open network |
|---|---|
| Company identity | Participant identity, by role |
| A generic score | A verified history in context |
| Reputation held in relationships | Reputation that travels |
A reputation that has to be rebuilt with every provider is a cost the participant pays each time.
How it would work
Portable participant identity. A structured record that runs from participant to role, relationship, transaction and outcome. It preserves who did what, in which role, where, with whom, under what conditions, with what capital and with what result.
The participant holds it, it works across providers, and it is shared by consent.
Go deeper
What already exists
Identity and history already travel in parts. The W3C standard for verifiable credentials describes exactly this pattern: an issuer makes claims, the holder keeps them and a verifier checks them[1]. Account Aggregator moves financial data between institutions with the person’s consent[2], and the Unified Lending Interface lets lenders draw on more than 136 data services through one gateway[3]. This shift adds a role-specific commercial history.
Scope. We haven’t checked how a role-specific record would sit alongside existing credit reporting, or what the Reserve Bank expects of data a lender relies on.
Consent and credit reporting
A portable record is personal data when it concerns an individual, and a commercial record when it concerns a firm. Consent, correction and erasure apply[4]. We haven’t reviewed how credit-information rules would apply to a record that lenders use to decide.
Getting it right
Guard against errors, gaps, gaming and stale history. Old history counts for less, and a participant can add context to a bad cycle.
Don’t make history destiny. A participant who starts in a new role starts a new record.
Share only what the purpose needs.
Who it helps. Arjun’s track record becomes an asset he owns, which he can take to any provider. New providers can lend to people they have never met. Newcomers still have a way in, through the capability credentials of Shift 4.
What could go wrong
- A record that locks people in.One bad cycle could follow someone for years, so recent history counts more and participants can add context.
- Wrong or missing history.Gaps and errors penalise honest participants, so they can correct and dispute entries.
- Gaming.Once history matters it can be staged, so entries come from counterparties who would know.
- A privacy cost.A full record is sensitive, so only what a provider needs for the stated purpose is shared.
How we’d test it
In one corridor, take participants who hold a portable history and similar participants who don’t, and have each approach a provider that is new to them.
- The test
- History against none
- What we would measure
- Compare how fast they obtain finance and on what terms, and check that loss rates stay consistent. Widen the record only as it proves useful.
- What would end the idea
- Participants with portable histories don’t get finance faster, or on terms that match their performance, or loss rates are no better.
Sources
- [1]World Wide Web Consortium, Verifiable Credentials Data Model v2.0 (W3C Recommendation, 15 May 2025)Checked; the standard’s own text
- [2]Sahamati, What is an Account Aggregator?Checked
- [3]MediaNama, ULI Now Live With 64 Lenders, 136 Data Services (5 January 2026), reporting the Reserve Bank’s Trend and Progress of Banking in IndiaChecked; a news report of Reserve Bank figures as of 12 December 2025
- [4]PRS Legislative Research, The Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023Checked; a summary of the Bill as passed by Parliament in August 2023
Spotted a source we missed or a rule we misread? Tell us what we got wrong.
Arjun’s record describes Arjun. But some risks don’t sit with any single participant.