Business Identity and Authority

Status: Planned

Business Identity and Authority

Two distinct questions sit at the heart of the OPTEROM Network:

Is this the legal company it claims to be? And is the sender authorized to perform this action for that company?

One answer is not enough without the other.

1. Identify the legal entity

An identity record should point to a specific company in a particular jurisdiction, using available official identifiers and source-backed evidence. A familiar trading name, email domain or logo is not sufficient on its own.

Useful identity evidence can include the registered name, national identifier, jurisdiction, registered status, when the information was observed and the source that supplied it.

Official registers are starting evidence, not guarantees of commercial reliability. Data freshness and available fields vary by country.

2. Distinguish discovery from membership

A company can appear in a business-information service because it exists in an official registry. That does not mean it has claimed its profile, joined OPTEROM, granted any permissions or agreed to receive network messages.

Network participation should be voluntary and attributable. An authorized representative establishes which company they represent and what capabilities they choose to activate.

3. Verify authority for a specific action

A valid signer proves that a particular key or account approved specific bytes. It does not automatically establish the holder’s identity, their relationship to a company or their permission to place an order.

The relevant questions include:

• Which registered company was represented?
• What role or delegated capability was granted?
• Was the permission valid when this action was signed?
• Did the permission cover the actual action and counterparty?
• Has the authority since expired or been revoked?

A representative might be allowed to read inquiries but not commit to a purchase. An assistant might draft an order but require a human to approve it.

4. Keep changes and history inspectable

Company roles, registrations and permissions can change. A useful verification result should explain the difference between authority when an action occurred and current authority now. It should not silently rewrite history.

This distinction helps a recipient evaluate an old agreement while still refusing new actions from a revoked representative.

Read Evidence and Trust and Verify a Business Sender.