At a time when it is becoming harder and harder to tell the real from the fake, distrust is setting in between candidates and employers. A survey conducted in November 2025 had already found that 74% of recruiters said they were more concerned than ever about “counterfeit degrees, deepfakes or misrepresentation” on résumés. Let’s explore the options available to candidates who want to demonstrate the authenticity of their academic background.
In 2018, we reported on Isarta the launch of a first résumé platform built on the blockchain. And although the idea was appealing at the time – recording your résumé directly in a tamper-proof digital space – the WorkID concept developed by WorkChain never really took off. Today, the approach is no longer to authenticate your résumé, but rather your academic or professional background.
Graduate schools led the way in the 2000s. As a point of trivia, the University of Nicosia in Cyprus claims the honour of being the first university in the world to issue a degree anchored on Bitcoin. But the more serious push came later, from MIT, which is behind the flagship Blockcerts project, a model for several universities around the world.
“Just ask your institution to issue your transcripts using the Blockcerts app,” the project description explains. “Once connected, you will be able to receive your digital transcripts and import them into the mobile app, which means you can rebuild a lifelong path of learning and achievement, across all the schools and employers you have had.”
The BCdiploma (present in France and Canada) and Digitary CORE (Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Ireland) platforms offer a similar experience. The candidate creates a “unique digital fingerprint,” both permanent and tamper-proof, that can be shared through a QR code embedded in the traditional résumé. This is currently the most robust path available to candidates, mainly because it is reliable and widely recognized.
Alternatives to the blockchain
Lighter digital solutions exist to authenticate an academic or professional training background. You lose the “unalterable” aspect of a digital identity or a “blockchain” fingerprint, but you gain in ease of use. It is possible to turn to the national “digital vaults” created by university networks. Using platforms such as MesCertif in Canada or the National Student Clearinghouse, candidates can give a future employer temporary access to their transcripts.
Commercial apps offer a similar service, such as Certn (the education component of its candidate portal), Qualification Check and ZippedScript. In 2022, we interviewed ZippedScript’s founder, Chris Harper. His platform aims to be a gateway between candidates, schools and employers.
Candidates enter their access codes for the university they attended, ZippedScript validates the transcripts and makes this information available in the employer interface. After its 2022 launch, the platform received no media mention until last year, when it announced that it had secured $3.5 million in venture capital funding.
“We have an industry [recruitment] stuck in the past, using obsolete and ineffective methods,” says Chris Harper, on Yahoo! Finance. “Our goal is to create a smooth, global verification process that delivers results in minutes rather than days or weeks.”
Clearly, candidates and employers do not yet have a perfect solution at their disposal.