The layers of the network

It helps to picture Tamga Network as layers stacked on top of each other. Each layer rests on the one below, and each has a clear job. There are six layers; the sixth comes later, not today.

1. Rules

At the bottom are the written rules: the Tamga ARF, the Trust Framework, the Tamga Rulebook and a rulebook for each credential type. Every other layer works according to these rules.

2. Trust lists

The rules’ answer to “who can be trusted”. Each country’s list names its institutions, verifiers and wallet providers; the list of listsList of Trusted Lists (LOTL)The signed list at the top that points to every country list. brings them together. Lists are signed, every version is linked to the previous one and anyone can verify them.

3. Credential formats and protocols

How a credential is written and carried: SD-JWT VC for the internet, mdoc for in person; OpenID4VCI to receive a credential, OpenID4VP to present it. These are the standards the EU uses.

4. Open packages

Ready-made software that applies the rules and formats: the verification pipeline, issuance, the wallet core. Anyone can run them on their own server; everyone using the same code reaches the same result.

5. Wallets and services

What runs on top of the network: the wallets people use and the providers that serve institutions. They are not part of the network; they are its participants. The first wallet is Tamga Wallet; every wallet that follows the rules sits in the same place.

6. Shared ledger (later)

Once at least two independent operators join, the records in the lists will also be written to a permissioned shared ledger. The ledger adds no new source of trust; it lets several operators keep the same records together. No personal data goes into the ledger either.