Next, create your decentralised identity document (DID) by completing our quick, one-time identity check. You’ll need to do this to send encrypted and authenticated emails, because c.Email signs emails with your DID to prove to your recipients that you are who you say you are.
To do this, scan your ID’s photo page and NFC chip (either on the front or back of your passport) when prompted, then pass our liveness check. You can skip this step and do it later, but you’ll need to complete it to send Secure or For Your Eyes Only emails.
You can use a passport or national identity card to prove your identity, as long as it contains a biometric chip. This is because we need to read the data in this chip to store cryptographic proofs of your identity attributes. You can use an expired ID to prove your identity and send authenticated emails in c.Email – however, some future features may require you to have an in-date ID.
Once you have confirmed your identity, we link your email address to your public verification key and public encryption key via a smart contract executed on our blockchain (the C-layer). When you send or receive an email, c.Email corresponds with the C-layer to retrieve the relevant public key to encrypt or authenticate it. Your private decryption key remains on your device at all times.