How decentralized identity is changing AdTech and MarTech for good in 2026

There was a time when you could have 5 Facebook accounts and each one fake. At the moment, in order to create an account on this portal, you need (theoretically – you can get around everything:P ) to confirm your identity. Profiles on Linkedin, Instagram or X have special badges that they have been verified as authentic. They also support verified profiles. Do you want to pay through Klarna? You have to identify yourself (know, because I’ve tried to go through this process myself, but I had a lousy photo in my ID card and somehow they didn’t want to verify me). But let’s leave my private issues with deferred payments and concentrate on the (decentralized) identity itself.

The world where you are not a customer, just a record in the database

Dear user, have you ever felt like your personal details are everywhere online? Every time you accept cookies or sign up for something new, it seems like another company is collecting your information. Most people are tired of pop-ups, endless ads, and worrying about the next big data breach. In fact, a 2024 Ping Identity survey found that almost nine out of ten Americans are concerned about identity fraud and how their data might be used by AI.

Companies track, profile, and sell your information, and it’s exhausting. Even though privacy policies are everywhere, real control over your own data still feels out of reach.

But imagine if you could change that. What if you could hold the keys to your digital identity, instead of handing them over to a tech giant or a data broker?

What is decentralized identity (DID)?

Decentralized identity is a new way to prove who you are online. Instead of giving your details to a single company or government, you keep your information in a secure digital wallet. You decide what to share, when to share it, and with whom.

Picture it like this: you have a personal vault on your phone or computer. Inside are digital cards that prove things about you – like your age, your job, or your membership in a club. When a website or service asks for proof, you can show just the card they need, without handing over everything else.

This system is different from the old way, where your data sits in big company databases that can be hacked or misused. With decentralized identity, you only share what’s needed, and nothing more. For example, you can prove you’re old enough to buy something without revealing your birthday, address, or phone number.

So decentralized identity is a structural evolution in how companies define, authenticate, and respect the user. Instead of tracking a user across the web with opaque third-party cookies, companies are interacting with a self-sovereign identity that a user controls, which can prove attributes (age, interests, preferences, purchase history), and without ever revealing more than what’s strictly necessary.

This is what decentralized identity does: based on W3C standards, powered often by blockchain, and designed to be compliant-by-design with privacy laws. This idea is sometimes called “self-sovereign identity.” You can see more in Okta’s guide. 

Why does decentralized identity matter for AdTech and MarTech?

Now, we know users’-WOW!-perspective, so let’s move what DID means for the Adtech and the MarTech industry.

And no sugar here: the cookies-apocalypse is real (more about it here), and the AdTech and MarTech world is still nursing its hangover from third-party cookie dependency. Third-party data was easy-go, convenient and simple. Ethical? No. In Poland we have a proverb: milion much nie może się mylić, what does it mean in loose translation: just because everyone’s doing it doesn’t mean it’s right (in exact translation: well, a million flies can’t be wrong…). 

So, maybe we shouldn’t follow their taste.

However, believe me, this shift also helps your company. When people feel in control, they’re more likely to trust brands and interact with ads or offers. Companies can follow privacy laws more easily because users are the ones deciding what to share. It’s a win for both sides.

Let’s look at how things are changing behind the scenes. In the past, almost everything that users did online was tracked. Every click, every like, and every purchase was recorded. This data was stored in huge databases and used to build detailed profiles about your potential clients. 

Now, users show only information you are asking for. The technology behind this uses secure digital records. When users share a credential, you can check that it’s real (of course, users can change their minds and take away access to their information at any time – but this is another big story – see our previous post here). 

In general, for your company this means building trust instead of relying on hidden tracking. It’s a new way to connect that respects users’ choices and makes privacy the standard. Everything is about trust and loyalty – trust is no longer a soft skill; it’s a measurable driver of business outcomes and yours the most valuable asset.

How to apply DID in practice?

With DID, you can replace broken cookie-based tracking, respect data privacy laws, enable consent-first personalization, combat ad fraud with verifiable credentials and build future-proof loyalty and identity ecosystems.

First, use it to build consent-driven identity graphs: while users authenticate with a DID wallet, consent and preferences are issued as verifiable credentials (VC). Then identity resolution is rebuilt using cryptographic trust, not behavioral assumptions. You can create e.g. a loyalty program in that way: when a customer opts in, their preference data is stored off-chain, while the proof of consent is cryptographically signed and stored on-chain. 

Second, retain users with rewards tied to DID-based interactions: customers receive DID-linked credentials for purchases, feedback, or advocacy (these are stored in a wallet). You issue rewards tied to verified activity, not just clicks or impressions.

Next, target the audience based on verified traits. A user’s DID wallet stores verifiable credentials like age, gender (optional), product preferences, past interaction – you see only necessary claims via zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs). The ad call checks a VC claim via ZKP, confirming eligibility in milliseconds – no cookies, no tracking, no guesswork. 

And last but not least: DID give you a really powerful solution for better personalization. You can personalize customer journeys based not by past behavior tracking, but by VCs shared via DID login. 

Challenges

To summarize, DID can increase trust, reduce compliance risk and ad fraud, improve CX and loyalty. However, no tech is perfect so there are still some challenges you need to face: DIDs require user-side wallets or apps – friction still exists. The problem is also with standardization where competing frameworks create fragmentation. The next issue is ecosystem maturity where there are still early days for cross-platform DID support in legacy MarTech stacks.

But here’s the song: none of these are deal-breakers. Just reminders that decentralized identity isn’t plug-and-play – it’s custom software territory.

The age of surveillance-based marketing is closing. The next frontier is consented, verifiable, user-owned identity – and the infrastructure to support it.

For enterprise AdTech and MarTech leaders, this is more than a compliance checkbox.

If data is the new oil, then privacy is the firewall, and decentralized identity is the new refinery. Sounds like a competitive edge, doesn’t it?

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