Issuer Overview

Issuer Role in APIS

Realm Issuers establish cryptographic identity for delegates by minting Agent Passport™ credentials, issuing or referencing Machine Passports, and exposing verification infrastructure (discovery, JWKS, status endpoints, and revocation state).

Baseline Issuer Responsibilities

• Verify key possession at issuance
• Bind delegates to principal accountability context
• Bind Agent Passports to mandates and, where applicable, Machine Passports
• Record trust-tier evidence without overstating hardware guarantees
• Publish JWKS and discovery metadata
• Expose passport status/revocation semantics
• Maintain auditable issuance lifecycle records

Issuer Recognition Levels

Level	Trust Signal	Typical Use
Founding	Initial standards issuer	Canonical reference
Certified	Audited and approved	Production federation
Registered	Self-attested	Controlled partner/sandbox
Sandbox	Development only	Testing and integration

Trust tiers describe key custody and machine identity evidence. Issuer recognition describes governance posture. APIS v2.0 keeps those concepts separate.

Interoperability Principle

Any organization can implement APIS endpoints. Alliance recognition indicates governance-backed trust posture and audit expectations.

Next Steps

1. Review Issuer Requirements
2. Run Compliance Checks
3. Submit governance and policy materials for review