Black-box design Here’s a quick rundown on what some countries are doing. Hundreds of wallets have been coded by someone, somewhere, The European Digital Identity Wallet expects to pilot a prototype but we don’t know exactly who or where. A black box is not at all in 2023. Initially designed for digital ID, this wallet will be available transparent. But if you can’t see how a product works, you can’t tell 10 to 450 million citizens across all 27 E.U. member countries. More how good it is or whether you can trust it. 11 features, such as payments, are currently in development. The only people who can fix bugs or add features work for that one 12 13 Canada and the U.K. are developing national trust frameworks organization. Sounds a little lonely, doesn’t it? that spell out standards, rules, and best practices for a digital infrastructure in their jurisdictions. This is a necessary first step Limited capabilities before creating a national digital wallet. The final drawback: You really can’t do much with most digital Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden have studied wallets. electronic ID and e-signature interoperability across their borders.14 Remember the three functions of payments, identity, and access? While some projects do not involve a digital wallet from the outset, Nearly all digital wallets perform just one function. So, you need they could well adopt a wallet that was designed for their needs. this wallet to pay with fiat, but that wallet to pay with bitcoin. You need this wallet for your identity, and that wallet—or app, really—to India’s Aadhaar digital ID covers 1.34 billion people, making it the access your keys. 15,16 world’s largest biometric ID system. So far, the program uses a plastic card with security features.17 The ID number enables many No one wants to juggle 15 or 20 digital wallets that can’t talk to one transactions, and a digital wallet could implement this feature. another. But that’s where we’re headed. The Philippines and Morocco have rolled out digital ID on the Not ready for prime time modular open source identity platform. Nine more countries are in With vendor lock-in, no interoperability, questionable security, the pipeline, with a goal to issue 500 million digital IDs by the end intrusive business models, black-box design, and few capabilities, of 2023. Some of those millions of people would likely appreciate a today’s digital wallets just aren’t ready for prime time. digital wallet to hold their credentials.18 Yet the world is plowing ahead. More wallets are constantly The World Bank is making an effort to reach out to the world’s 19 appearing, but none are designed to overcome these drawbacks. 1.1 billion people who have no ID at all. A properly designed digital wallet, perhaps based simply on QR codes, could help with that Wallet projects around the world effort. Many intriguing wallet projects are underway. The potential time and money savings that digital IDs can offer are what drive most national projects. Plus, the fact that digital IDs are cryptographically generated makes them harder to counterfeit. WHY THE WORLD NEEDS AN OPEN SOURCE DIGITAL WALLET RIGHT NOW 9