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 addresses this shortcoming: using the Ethereum Attestation Service, the certifier could issue an attestation on top of the NFT. He could choose the data fields himself, allowing a fine-grained customization. Each user would then have 2 options on “check-out”:

• Use the traditional certification NFT.
• Use the premium one: the personalized attestation on top of the NFT.

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 (adding his own name, etc - provided he owns a certification NFT) and the verifier - a potential employer who needs to verify credits.

Benefits

• Additional user value by customizing the certifications
• Additional revenue streams through the premium offer:
  • EAS schema creation, paid by the certifier
  • EAS certifications themselves, paid by the user
• Visibility boost by integrating a tier-1 protocol

Risks

• Potential need to update the Unlock contracts themselves, to link a deployed contract to an attestation schema.

Timeline and Implementation

• UI and contract update → 2 weeks
• Testing & documentation → 1 week

Factoring in buffer time and contingency, this feature could be developed between 3 to 4 weeks, starting on Jan. 5th, 2026.

Caveat: the release cycle of updated contracts is slower due to safety reasons. If the contracts are impacted, the release of this feature could be delayed until the next contract update.