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ITCILO digital credentials

ITCILO issues digital certificates and badges that can be independently verified using Ethereum. Learners can share their credentials with employers and institutions without needing a cryptocurrency wallet or technical knowledge of Ethereum.

208k+ blockchain-secured credentials issued by October 2025

Identity & credentials · Global

Institutional context

The International Training Centre of the ILO (ITCILO) is the capacity-development arm of the International Labour Organization, providing learning services to governments, workers’ and employers’ organizations, United Nations staff, NGOs, and other institutions worldwide.

Before 2020, ITCILO still relied on printed certificates for many in-person courses and PDFs for online learning, creating administrative burden and requiring manual verification as ITCILO's programs expanded globally. The shift to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the move to digital credentials: ITCILO began exploring the approach in May 2020 and issued its first digital credential in September 2020.

System design

After reviewing different providers, ITCILO selected Accredible, a cloud-based credentialing platform. ITCILO looked for a service that could support blockchain-based verification, integrate with its online learning environment, preserve control over credential design and branding, provide digital archiving and straightforward third-party verification, and support the Open Badges standard, which provides a common format for digital credentials.

When a learner earns a credential, ITCILO issues a digital certificate or badge through the platform. The credential can be accessed online and shared with employers or professional networks. It can also be printed or verified through its online record or QR code.

The credentialing system is integrated with ITCILO’s learning environment. ITCILO remains responsible for its courses, assessment criteria, and decisions about who receives a credential. The platform provides the infrastructure for issuing, managing, and verifying those credentials.

Ethereum’s role

For blockchain-secured credentials, the credentialing system creates a cryptographic hash from the credential and records the resulting code in Ethereum’s shared public record. A cryptographic hash is a short code calculated from the credential’s contents. If the credential changes, the code changes too, allowing the system to check whether a credential presented later matches the version originally issued.

The credential itself and the learner’s personal information remain outside the blockchain. Ethereum stores only the hash used for verification, providing a public reference that can be checked independently.

ITCILO remains responsible for deciding who has earned a credential and what it represents. The credentialing platform manages issuance and verification, while Ethereum provides the shared verification record.

Status and milestones

  1. October 2025

    More than 208,000 blockchain-secured credentials had been issued to almost 101,000 individuals, with credentials shared more than 95,000 times.

  2. 2024

    ITCILO issued more than 77,000 digital credentials during the year, which were viewed by almost 63,000 people.

  3. December 2022

    Since the September 2020 launch, ITCILO had issued 48,766 digital credentials to more than 36,000 recipients and recorded more than 30,000 shares.

  4. December 2021

    More than 22,000 certificates were issued and shared more than 13,000 times. ITCILO had rolled digital credentials out across its portfolio and was phasing out printed certificates.

  5. December 2020

    ITCILO issued more than 4,000 digital certificates and badges within months of launching the system.

  6. September 2020

    ITCILO issued its first digital credential, following discussions that began in May 2020.

Implementation considerations

ITCILO relies on a third-party credentialing platform rather than operating the full service itself. Implementation therefore required provider selection, integration with its online learning environment, internal rules for issuing credentials, staff onboarding, and ongoing platform costs. The platform also handles the interaction with Ethereum and associated network fees, so learners do not need to manage these directly.

Using a public blockchain does not require personal information to be made public. In this implementation, the credential and personal data remain in existing systems, while only a cryptographic hash is recorded in Ethereum’s shared public record for verification. Institutions considering a similar model would still need to assess data protection, security, service continuity, and the ability to move records to another provider or system if needed.

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