The W3C Verifiable Credentials Data Model 2.0 (Recommendation, 15 May 2025) defines a JSON-LD data model (issuer, credentialSubject, validFrom, credentialStatus) secured either with Data Integrity proofs or with JOSE and COSE envelopes (VC-JOSE-COSE). In parallel, the IETF SD-JWT VC format and ISO mdoc are the formats required by the EU Digital Identity Wallet, and OpenID4VCI and OpenID4VP are the issuance and presentation protocols.
Practical questions decide deployments more than the format: how verifiers obtain and trust issuer keys (trust lists, X.509, DIDs, OpenID Federation), how revocation works (status lists), how holders prove the credential was issued to them (key binding), and how linkable repeated presentations are.