What is a Trust Registry?

Every society relies on registries to establish trust. A land registry shows who owns a piece of property. A professional registry confirms that a doctor or engineer is licensed to practise. A business registry proves that a company is legitimate. These records allow governments, markets, and communities to function with confidence.

A trust registry takes this idea into the digital era. It is a secure, authoritative source of information that can be verified instantly and reused across multiple systems. Unlike traditional databases, which often operate in silos, a trust registry is designed for interoperability. This means that once information is verified, it can be relied on by others without repeating the same checks.

Trust registries have three defining features:

• Verifiability: Records can be checked against a single source of truth.

• Interoperability: Registries can connect and share information across sectors and borders.

• Accountability: Errors can be corrected, and users have recourse when things go wrong.

By making verification faster, cheaper, and more reliable, trust registries reduce fraud, lower costs, and open opportunities. They are especially powerful when applied to new areas such as climate finance, health worker credentials, and digital trade.

Sutra’s work focuses on creating the shared frameworks that allow these registries to connect. The goal is not one centralised system, but an ecosystem of registries that citizens, businesses, and governments can trust.