_encodeIdentity = async (identity) => {
  const { id, publicKey, signatures, type } = identity
  const value = { id, publicKey, signatures, type }
  const { cid, bytes } = await Block.encode({ value, codec, hasher })
  const hash = cid.toString(hashStringEncoding)
  return { hash, bytes: Uint8Array.from(bytes) }
}
@description The Identity instance. Returned by
[Identities.createIdentity()]{@link module:Identities~Identities#createIdentity}.