RFC: Org DID — businesses and legal entities

[imajin-jin]

📄 Canonical document: docs/rfcs/RFC-08 — this discussion is for community input; the RFC source of truth lives in the repo.

---

Migrated from #248

---

Summary

A DID primitive for legally incorporated entities: businesses, nonprofits, cooperatives, registered organizations. Distinct from Cultural DID (#247) in that it has legal structure, fixed founders, and optionally a profit motive.

Why Separate from Cultural DID

	Org DID	Cultural DID
Legal entity	Yes — incorporated or registered	No — exists by participation
Founders	Named, with binding authority	Quorum-based, no single authority
Profit motive	Allowed	Structurally excluded
Membership	Fixed (employees, partners)	Fluid, tiered
Governance	Founder-anchored hierarchy	Trust-weighted quorum
Entry	Vetting + covenant	Formation threshold + token context

Formation

Requirements

• At least 1 founding Person DID (the business owner/operator)
• Business declaration: name, category, location (optional), description
• Covenant alignment attestation
• Optional: legal entity reference (business number, incorporation ID)

Soft Loading (#246)

Org DIDs can be soft-loaded via check-in data from users:

• Users check in at a location and record transactions
• A soft Org DID is created — unclaimed, community-built
• When the business owner claims it, they inherit: verified customer count, transaction volume, reviews
• Claiming requires verification (location proof, phone, or existing DID attestation)

Capabilities

What an Org DID Can Do

• Appear in trust graphs as a business entity (typed, transparent)
• Receive reviews and check-ins from Person DIDs
• Post commercial messages to trust-graph connections (Tier 1 in Revenue stream 2: Declared-Intent Marketplace — user-owned attention profiles #114 — free/low cost)
• Participate in declared-intent marketplace (Revenue stream 2: Declared-Intent Marketplace — user-owned attention profiles #114) as a business
• Issue .fair manifests on products and services
• Hold a balance and transact via pay.imajin.ai
• Run an "Ask [Business]" presence (Revenue stream 5: Trust graph queries — human expertise as queryable infrastructure #117 — trust graph queries)

What an Org DID Cannot Do

• Impersonate a Person DID — typed and labeled as org
• Buy trust-graph position — connections earned, not purchased
• Access private membership of Cultural DIDs
• Bypass gas costs for extended reach

Governance

• Founder-anchored — founding Person DID(s) have administrative control
• Delegated roles — founders can add employees/partners with scoped permissions
• Succession — founders can transfer ownership to another Person DID
• Revocation — founding DID can revoke employee access

Visibility

• Public by default — business name, category, location, .fair records
• Transaction aggregates — public (total volume, not individual transactions)
• Customer list — private (only the business sees who their customers are)
• Reviews — public, tied to reviewer's DID

Open Questions

• Soft → claimed transition: what verification is sufficient?
• Multi-location businesses — one Org DID or one per location?
• Franchise model — parent Org DID with child locations?
• Employee DID scoping — what can an employee do on behalf of the org?
• Org DID in Cultural DID trust graph — can a business be an observer of a scene?
• Tax/compliance implications of on-network revenue tracking

Dependencies

• Trust graph (exists)
• Identity tiers (exists)
• Check-in system (feat: Check-ins — Foursquare-style location presence with soft business onboarding #246) for soft loading
• Declared-intent marketplace (Revenue stream 2: Declared-Intent Marketplace — user-owned attention profiles #114) for commercial reach
• .fair attribution (exists)

References

• feat: Check-ins — Foursquare-style location presence with soft business onboarding #246: Check-ins — soft business onboarding
• RFC: Cultural DID — identity primitive for collectives, scenes, and communities of practice #247: Cultural DID — the non-commercial counterpart
• Revenue stream 2: Declared-Intent Marketplace — user-owned attention profiles #114: Declared-Intent Marketplace
• Revenue streams: five paths value flows into the sovereign network #112: Revenue streams overview