---
id: "hardman-opaque-identifier-aliases"
type: "paper"
type_label: "Papers and paper collections"
title: "Opaque Identifier Aliases"
maintainer: "Daniel Hardman"
authors:
  - "Daniel Hardman"
date: "2026-07-09"
year: 2026
reading_level: "intro"
reading_level_label: "Introductory"
reading_level_meaning: "no prior knowledge of the suite"
evidence: "informative"
evidence_meaning: "an author's paper, deck, tutorial or post explaining the suite"
status: "active"
status_meaning: "changed within the last six months, or a live service"
access: "public"
access_meaning: "anyone with the link"
topics:
  - "theory"
roles:
  - "researcher"
source_url: "https://dhh1128.github.io/papers/oia.html"
source_license: null
source_license_note: null
found_on: "hardman-papers"
kerisse_credit: false
abstract_license: "CC BY 4.0"
abstract_license_url: "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
abstract_attribution: "KSKB, the KERISuite Knowledge Base (https://kskb.dev/)"
last_checked: "2026-10-15"
kskb_url: "https://kskb.dev/cards/hardman-opaque-identifier-aliases/"
kskb_app_url: "https://kskb.dev/#item/hardman-opaque-identifier-aliases"
kskb_record_url: "https://kskb.dev/data/kskb/resources/hardman-opaque-identifier-aliases"
kskb_markdown_url: "https://kskb.dev/export/cards/hardman-opaque-identifier-aliases.md"
---

# Opaque Identifier Aliases

A 2026 primer by Daniel Hardman on aliases, the private labels people attach to opaque cryptographic identifiers such as keys, DIDs and KERI autonomic identifiers (AIDs). It explains the properties an alias must have, why the COIA naming convention helps, and why a proved binding must never be confused with a guessed one, pointing to entviz for comparing identifiers by eye. It is for designers of wallets and identity software.

Labels: reading level Introductory; evidence informative (an author's paper, deck, tutorial or post explaining the suite).
Source: https://dhh1128.github.io/papers/oia.html (license not recorded).
The abstract is KSKB's own text under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/; credit KSKB, the KERISuite Knowledge Base (https://kskb.dev/).