The decentralized identifier (DID) system can be used to provide a decentralized solution for education records and other forms of identification. It is designed to be extensible, and can be used for payments, verifications, and other purposes as well.
Decentralizing the brain of the protocol has been a challenge, but by fully decentralizing it, the academic process now incentivizes graduate students, postdocs, and professors to spend time researching in the ecosystem, as shown by the 105 papers already published.
Education in the US could benefit from a decentralized identifier system that allows for individual students to take control of their own certification and experience. Such a system could allow for portability of certifications and significantly reduce the cost and complexity of university management.