Academic certificates have a significant influence on the job market, proving a particular competence or skill of a recipient. However, the ability to verify the authenticity of certificates does not follow its relevance in the labor market, causing several companies to exploit this inefficiency to falsify information or even to make fake certificates. In this context, several proposals based on blockchain appear as a technological alternative to increase the transparency and the ease of verification of these certificates. This chapter discusses the main proposals toward the handling of academic certificates from a technological point of view, discussing the technical aspects that may influence the relationship between confidentiality and transparency as well as application requirements such as performance and reliability in contrast to the blockchain characteristics. Finally, this chapter summarizes the key challenges and opportunities based on this discussion outlining future directions for academic certificate management.
