#134
ProposedWallets

Cardano URIs - Address Representation

Created on  by Steven Johnson

Abstract

This CIP proposes an extension to CIP-0013 to allow easy and unambiguous encoding of CIP-0019/CIP-0105 Addresses into URL's.

Motivation: why is this CIP necessary?

CIP-0013 defines encoding for payment addresses and stake pool, however CIP-0019 and CIP-0105 define numerous other address types.

These addresses cannot currently be encoded into URIs unambiguously. This extension proposes a simple and forward compatible method of encoding such addresses into the URI scheme defined by CIP-0013.

x509 certificates can contain name or alternative name information related to either the issuer of the certificate or its subject. It is desirable to distinguish an Issuer or Subject of a certificate by one or more on-chain keys. This, for example, can facilitate the ability to link off-chain actions authorized with a x509 certificate, with an on-chain identity.

Currently, there is no standard way to embed a Cardano address, such as a stake address, or a dRep address as distinguishing name within a x509 certificate.

A URI is one of the possible names that can be associated with the Issuer or Subject of a certificate. This URI can be referenced in the alternative name for both the Issuer and Subject of a certificate by using the uniformResourceIdentifier in the general name. CIP-0013 does not define a method for stake or dRep addresses, etc., to be encoded in the URI scheme it defines.

Allowing these addresses to be easily encoded as URIs allows them to be 100% interoperable with existing public key infrastructure and certificate creation tools.

Specification

We extend CIP-0013 with a single new authority for referencing Cardano addresses in CIP-0019 format.

Grammar & interpretation

We extend the grammar from CIP-0013 with the new authority:

authorityref = (... | addr )

addr = "//addr/" cip19-addr
cip19-addr = *cip19-char
cip19-char = ALPHA / DIGIT / "_"

Effectively, any address string specified by CIP-0019, CIP-0105 or future extension to either of these specifications can be embedded directly within the URI.

Examples

CIP-19 Addresses

web+cardano://addr/addr1qx2fxv2umyhttkxyxp8x0dlpdt3k6cwng5pxj3jhsydzer3n0d3vllmyqwsx5wktcd8cc3sq835lu7drv2xwl2wywfgse35a3x
web+cardano://addr/addr_test1gz2fxv2umyhttkxyxp8x0dlpdt3k6cwng5pxj3jhsydzer5pnz75xxcrdw5vky
web+cardano://addr/stake1uyehkck0lajq8gr28t9uxnuvgcqrc6070x3k9r8048z8y5gh6ffgw
web+cardano://addr/stake_test1uqehkck0lajq8gr28t9uxnuvgcqrc6070x3k9r8048z8y5gssrtvn

CIP-105 Addresses

web+cardano://addr/drep_vk17axh4sc9zwkpsft3tlgpjemfwc0u5mnld80r85zw7zdqcst6w54sdv4a4e
web+cardano://addr/drep15k6929drl7xt0spvudgcxndryn4kmlzpk4meed0xhqe25nle07s
web+cardano://addr/drep_script16pjhzfkm7rqntfezfkgu5p50t0mkntmdruwlp089zu8v29l95rg
web+cardano://addr/cc_cold_vk149up407pvp9p36lldlp4qckqqzn6vm7u5yerwy8d8rqalse3t04q7qsvwl
web+cardano://addr/cc_cold1lmaet9hdvu9d9jvh34u0un4ndw3yewaq5ch6fnwsctw02xxwylj
web+cardano://addr/cc_cold_script14ehj5f64f40xju0086fnunctulkh46mq7munm7upe4hpcwpcat
web+cardano://addr/cc_cold_script14ehj5f64f40xju0086fnunctulkh46mq7munm7upe4hpcwpcatv
web+cardano://addr/cc_hot_vk10y48lq72hypxraew74lwjjn9e2dscuwphckglh2nrrpkgweqk5hschnzv5
web+cardano://addr/cc_hot17mffcrm3vnfhvyxt7ea3y65e804jfgrk6pjn78aqd9vg7xpq8dv
web+cardano://addr/cc_hot_script16fayy2wf9myfvxmtl5e2suuqmnhy5zx80vxkezen7xqwskncf40

Rationale: how does this CIP achieve its goals?

By extending CIP-0013 to allow a CIP-0019 encoded address to be simply embedded in the URI scheme, we enable existing certificate creation tools and public key infrastructure to be used to easily create certificates that reference Cardano addresses.

It is envisioned that this extension could have use cases beyond the one presented here.

Path to Active

Acceptance Criteria

  • Community Feedback and Review Integrated.
  • Demonstration of Cardano addresses being embedded in x509 certificates using existing tools.
  • At least one project utilizing this standard.

Implementation Plan

Project Catalyst intends to use this standard to facilitate linking of on-chain and off-chain identity with x509 certificates. This specification does not deal with the processes or proofs required, simply the URI scheme that is required to embed a Cardano address in a x509 certificate.

This CIP is licensed under CC-BY-4.0.