Overview
Björn Sandmann YouTube is a demo channel where one software developer records himself using the digital identity tools he wrote. Most videos are a screen recording of a single program, so a viewer can watch it work before installing anything. Several exist because public grant funding required a filmed report at the end of the job.
The software is built for Cardano under the name Blocktrust, which names two people on its site and works on decentralized identity: ways for a person or organization to prove who they are, or what they have earned, without a central company vouching for them1. The channel itself is tiny. It has a short list of videos, no written channel description of its own, and no new uploads being added, so the value sits in the walkthroughs rather than in a publishing schedule.
Key Features
- See the software running before installing it. The walkthroughs are screen recordings of the tool in use, so viewers can judge whether it fits their needs without setting anything up2.
- A walkthrough of a no-code credential builder. One video steps through the Blocktrust Credential Workflow Platform, a drag-and-drop tool that issues, checks or cancels a digital credential whenever something triggers it3.
- A tour of an open identity server. Another covers OpenPrismNode, software anyone can run to create and look up identity records on Cardano without depending on a hosted service. The code is public and carries an Apache-2.0 open-source licence4.
- Grant close-out reports in the open. Several of the videos were filed as public evidence for Project Catalyst funding, so viewers see what the developer promised and what he delivered5.
- An earlier run on the identity wallet. The oldest videos demonstrate a browser add-on that stores credentials and signs a person into a website6.
What to Expect
Videos are screen recordings with one voice narrating in English. There is no studio production, no guests, no interviews and no ecosystem commentary. The camera stays on the software while the developer clicks through it and explains what each step does, and most run only a few minutes.
The vocabulary turns technical fast. Terms like DID, verifiable credential and DIDComm arrive in the narration without introduction, and the walkthroughs assume someone evaluating or installing developer tooling rather than a newcomer to the subject. Anyone unfamiliar with decentralized identity will get more out of the written explanations on the Blocktrust blog first.
New uploads are not being added, so this works as a reference library rather than a channel to follow. The code tells a steadier story than the video schedule does: the OpenPrismNode repository stays public and unarchived under an open-source licence, and the identity repositories are written in C#4.
Anyone who wants the software itself, rather than the demonstrations of it, will find the products and their documentation on the Blocktrust site1. The same developer wrote longer pieces on the Blocktrust blog about what has and has not worked in digital identity, most recently in June 20247.
