The Claims Azimuth contract allows Urbit identities to make publicly visible assertions about their owner. Such assertions are most commonly about the owner's identity, real-world or otherwise. A claim has three fields: the claim itself, the protocol, and the dossier.
The claim itself is what you're attempting to assert the identity of, as in @JohnDoe for a Twitter account, or 1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa
The dossier is the proof of a claim. It could be something like a link to a tweet from a known Twitter account saying, "Hi! I'm ~lodleb-ritrul on Azimuth," or, in the case of cryptocurrency, claim itself signed with the relevant private key.
The protocol indicates what kind of thing of the claim is. Twitter for a Twitter account, and Bitcoin for a Bitcoin address.
Points are limited to a maximum of 16 claims. It's good practice to remove any claims associated with a ship when it is about to be transferred to a new owner.
Further Reading
- The Claims contract: The code on GitHub.