Background

The current Certification flow that Unlock enables lacks a customization component. The certification NFTs cannot currently display personalized student data, like full name, grades or thesis (if applicable). This could result in a lack of adoption for this specific certification flow, whereas platforms like Coursera could very well use Unlock, provided it allows a tad more customization.

This proposal is built on the back of another approved proposal, to address this shortcoming: using the Ethereum Attestation Service, the certifier could issue an attestation on top of the NFT. The attestation contains pre-selected fields selected by the Unlock protocol (name, class, date of completion, grades, thesis title, comments, etc) that the certifier fills out, so that the recipients can attest of the completion of his class to third parties.

The EAS offers both on-chain and off-chain attestations. For privacy reasons, the off-chain attestation has been implemented. The attestation itself is not only stored in the locksmith database, managed by the Unlock protocol itself, but could also later appears as a QR code in a formal certificate. Ultimate refinement: all the attestation data is contained within the QR code (see EAS docs)

This attestation is lightweight, a few kb, portable and easily verifiable using the tools the EAS protocol already published. The loop would then be closed between the certifier (eg, a university) issuing the attestation, the student and the verifier - a potential employer who needs to verify credits.

Benefits

For Users:

• Personalized, verifiable certificates (name, grades, thesis)
• Privacy-preserving (off-chain attestations)
• Portable credentials (QR codes work offline)
• Third-party verification without blockchain complexity

For Unlock:

• Unlocks enterprise/education market (universities, bootcamps, DAOs)
• Competitive advantage vs. generic NFT certificates
• Prime monetization opportunity (attestations as premium feature)
• Ecosystem credibility (integration with tier-1 EAS protocol)

Market Opportunity:

- Global education credentials market: $200B+

- Online learning certifications growing 20%+ annually

- Web3 native universities and DAOs emerging (e.g., Invisible College, Kernel)

Timeline and Implementation

Based on the previous proposal's approval, work has been delivered in a PR:

https://github.com/unlock-protocol/unlock/pull/16304

Budget

Phase 1 - Core Integration: $6,500

($1000 already secured from Gitcoin, $5500 DAO ask)

Includes:

- Off-chain attestation generation (EAS SDK)

- Database schema + API endpoints

- UI components (lock manager + key management)

- Single-network deployment (Optimism or Base)

- Testing + documentation

DAO Vote Request

Approve $5,500 funding for EAS Attestation Integration - Phase 1

- Total budget: $6,500 ($1,000 Gitcoin, $5,500 Unlock DAO)

- Timeline: 6 weeks (Jan 5 - Feb 15th, 2026)

- Deliverable: Working attestation system on Base network

- Payment upon delivery: $3000 in ETH. $2500 in UP.