The targeted/untargeted distinction is critical for privacy-preserving disclosure mechanisms:

• Targeted ACDCs enable selective disclosure where the Issuee's identity can be revealed or concealed based on presentation requirements
• Untargeted ACDCs function as bearer credentials or public assertions without binding to a specific holder
• The Issuee field participates in SAID computation, making it part of the cryptographic commitment

Edge Operators and Chaining

Targeted ACDCs are essential for ACDC chaining through edge operators:

• I2I (Issuer-to-Issuee): The default operator requires the issuer of a child credential to be the Issuee of the parent credential
• DI2I (Delegated-Issuer-to-Issuee): Extends I2I to include formally delegated AIDs of the Issuee
• NI2I (Not-Issuer-to-Issuee): Permits chaining without requiring the issuer to be the parent's Issuee

These operators rely on the presence of the Issuee field to establish verifiable chains of authority in directed acyclic graphs of credentials.

Issuance and Presentation Exchange

In the IPEX (Issuance and Presentation Exchange) protocol, targeted ACDCs enable:

• Issuance exchanges: Where the Discloser is the Issuer and the Disclosee is the Issuee
• Presentation exchanges: Where the Discloser (often the Issuee) presents the credential to a verifier
• Graduated disclosure: Progressive revelation of credential contents based on contractual agreements

Related Terms

• Untargeted ACDC: The complementary credential type without an Issuee field
• Issuee: The role of the entity to which claims are asserted
• Compact disclosure: Privacy mechanism using SAIDs to represent undisclosed content
• Attribute section: Top-level field map where the Issuee field may appear