TheBadge Labs
On-Chain Certification & Credential Platform
Web3 platform for issuing and verifying credentials on-chain. Turns certifications into verifiable, portable, tamper-proof digital assets. Built for enterprises, universities, and DAOs.
Impact & outcomes
- Selected for the first cohort of Avalanche Codebase (2024), 15 teams from 30+ countries
- Raised $200K+ in pre-seed
- 15+ institutional issuers onboarded
- 5,000+ credentials minted on Polygon mainnet
- Complete credential ecosystem: issuer tools, wallet, verification portal
- Collaboration with OpenVino: organic wine certifications brought on-chain
- Pitched at Consensus 2024 (Avalanche Codebase pitch day, USA)
Problem
Credentials are siloed in institutional databases, vulnerable to forgery, hard to verify across borders. Existing blockchain solutions were too technical or lacked privacy.
Overview
Issuers mint credentials as NFTs with embedded metadata and verification proofs. Holders self-custody and share selective proofs via Merkle trees. Includes issuer dashboard, wallet, verification API, and discovery marketplace.
System Architecture
Hybrid on-chain/off-chain: ERC-1155 contracts for credential definitions and revocation. IPFS metadata storage with on-chain hash anchoring. Merkle proofs for selective disclosure.
Smart Contract Layer
ERC-1155 with extensions for metadata, revocation, expiration. Registry for trusted issuers and revocation oracle interface.
Storage & Content Layer
Metadata and evidence on IPFS via Pinata. Only content hashes on-chain for low gas costs. Merkle tree proofs for selective disclosure.
API & Verification Layer
NestJS API for issuer onboarding, minting requests, verification. Returns verification status without blockchain interaction.
Frontend Applications
Issuer dashboard for credential templates, recipient wallet for sharing, public verification portal by ID or QR code.
Gallery
Demos
TheBadge Labs Presentation
TheBadge Platform Walkthrough
Architecture tradeoffs
- 1
On-chain storage is prohibitive cost-wise. IPFS + hash anchoring trades availability for cost efficiency; critical revocation stays on-chain.
- 2
ERC-1155 enables batch minting and multiple types per contract — slightly more complex token management than ERC-721.
- 3
Polygon for bootstrapping (sub-cent per mint) with planned Ethereum bridge for high-value credential permanence.
Scaling considerations
Unlimited credential types, millions of credentials. Peak: 10,000+ mints/day on Polygon at sub-cent each. Bottleneck: IPFS pinning capacity.
Testimonials
“TheBadge is a decentralized certification platform backed by Kleros dispute resolution. A project with huge potential on real world assets and for issuing soulbound tokens certifying skills.”— Federico Ast, Founder, Kleros · Source
“Grateful to have found @thebadgexyz — our students are happy with their NFT certificates.”— Umar Mallam Hassam, Co-Founder, Web3CFO Club · Source