Will the OpenWallet Foundation Deliver the Interoperability Digital Wallets Desperately Need?

Banks, merchants, brands and nations have implemented literally hundreds of digital wallets as of this writing and in 2021 were used to make an astounding $15.9 trillion in payments.  Unfortunately, these wallets suffer from rampant problems such as questionable security, intrusive business models, black box design, and limited capabilities. And, they’re restricted by vendor lock-in to boot, with each wallet doing only a few things well.

To address these limitations, Linux Foundation Europe, part of the bigger Linux Foundation, recently announced the launch of the vendor-neutral OpenWallet Foundation (OWF), together with Visa, American Express and more than 30 for-profits and nonprofits. The OWF, while not publishing a wallet, seeks to become the core global standard that others leverage to truly consumer centric interoperable digital identities and digital wallets, driven by the investments in existing standards such as eIdas 2.0 and the EU Digital Wallet reference implementation. 

True to its Linux Foundation roots, the OWF promises to follow the open source software ethos and create an open source engine that belongs to us all. Financial organizations of all shapes and sizes back the OWF and have vouched to create applications using the open software they create as a base for global, interoperable wallets.

We might be witnessing the beginning of something big. 

As Daniel Goldscheider, the OpenWallet Foundation’s founder puts it:

“With open source at the core of wallets, like it is at the core of web browsers, anyone can build a digital wallet that works with others and gives consumers the freedom to maintain their identity and verifiable credentials and share relevant data when, where, and with whom they choose.”

If successful, the OWF will be crucial for humanity’s future, laying the foundation for interoperability among a wide range of wallet use cases, including making payments, proving identity, storing validated credentials such as employment, education, financial standing, and entitlements. By adopting the same open source core, crypto can potentially be used in any digital transaction.

Not many think about validating credentials and proving identity while discussing a crypto wallet, but blockchain may very well be an ideal solution for global interoperable digital wallets. People need to know who they’re doing business with, who they are paying, and who they are playing with. And they need to trust them. If crypto wallets can serve as digital IDs, and the whole world runs on an interoperable engine, the future looks bright. 

Everyone, from giant corporations to small communities, can develop wallets that serve their specific use case. Thanks to the OWF, all of those wallets will be able to talk to each other. And that makes all the difference in the world.

The Problem with Digital Wallets Today

That all kinds of organizations are creating digital wallets today suggests these organizations, regardless of their actual intentions, are part of the problem – spreading vendor lock-in, questionable security and black box design, among other ills. The main problem with the current situation is that “without them all staying in sync, every country or organization that issues credentials could become a walled garden. IDs and wallets from elsewhere won’t work, disrupting travel, international students, and mobile workforces.” This is a major issue. 

An issue that resonates with the words of the Linux Foundation Europe’s Gabriele Columbro: 

“The world needs a place to store digital assets that matter, and the work of this foundation has the potential to redefine the credentials landscape globally, creating in turn much better digital experiences for people everywhere and new market opportunities.”

The wallets of the future will be multi-faceted. Of course, they’ll sign crypto transactions, but they’ll also be used for “proving identity, storing validated credentials such as employment, education, financial standing, and entitlements. And all of this will “enable trust in the digital future.” The Linux Foundation, one of the most credible names in open source technology, is behind the crucial and much-needed initiative. 

Other names behind the OWF

The OpenWallet Foundation is an initiative from the Linux Foundation Europe, but the names behind it are even more prominent, they “include Accenture, Gen, Futurewei and Visa.” Plus, among the general sponsors are "American Express, esatus AG, Fynbos, IAMX, IndyKite, Intesi Group, Ping Identity, SmartMedia Technologies (SMT), Spruce and Swisscom.” That’s not it, “more than 20 leading nonprofits and academic and government entities have joined the foundation.”

Among them is the OpenID Foundation, whose chair Nat Sakimura said:

"The experience and expertise of global technical Standards Development Organization (SDOs) like the OpenID Foundation and others can help guide the OpenWallet Foundation and increase opportunities for industry and governments.”

The consumer and the open-source ethos seem to be at the core of the OpenWallet Foundation’s project. On the one hand, Visa’s Marie Austenaa said that their organization would be “adding our experience and expertise to enable the wider digital payments ecosystem, and make sure consumers have the greatest possible choice.” On the other, DIDAS’ Daniel Saeuberli promised, “together with OWF, we are committed to advancing a global open source approach to wallet data portability and interoperability.”

Why the Right Time is Now

In conjunction with the OpenWallet Foundation, the Linux Foundation released a research paper stating their case. Titled, “Why the World Needs an Open Source Digital Wallet Right Now,” it starts with a little bit of history. “Twenty-five years ago, early-stage web browsers were incompatible and non-standardized. This threatened to derail the web. That threat brought everyone to the table to adopt a core set of standards that ensured interoperability and helped the web to flourish.”

And we want crypto to flourish, and this project is crucial for that to happen. Plus, as we already said, time is of the essence:

“Our economic and social progress is being held back by the limitations of today’s digital wallets, especially the lack of interoperability. Meanwhile, many countries and groups are rushing ahead to create their own bespoke digital wallets. That’s why we need an open, secure digital wallet engine that anyone can use on any device, with any operating system, for any app or service, with any currency, in any language, anytime, anywhere. And we need it now.”

The OWF will develop an engine that wants to run at the core of everyone’s digital wallet. That open system promises to be “highly secure,” “privacy-preserving,” and “interoperable.” So much so that they might even run at the core of at least one CBDC project. It’s the most important one, though. If you don’t believe us, this is what the executive director of the Digital Dollar Project, Jennifer Lassiter said:

“Digital wallets will be at the forefront of providing improved privacy and security, serving as the interface with users around the world for their digital transactions. DDP is proud to be a founding supporter of the OpenWallet Foundation, as now is the time to ensure CBDCs and the user facing wallets are designed with these key principles in mind.”

And if that wasn’t enough star power check out what Clive Smith, the executive director of ID2020, said:

“It won't be long before digital wallets are the primary user interface by which individuals receive, store, and share their identification documents, educational credentials, health data, money, and other digital assets.”

In Conclusion

What the OWF proposes has huge implications for crypto. The open-source engine that they’ll build practically guarantees that cryptocurrencies can potentially be included in every human transaction. The world’s identities and credentials will be secured by blockchains of all kinds. And cryptocurrencies and CBDC can be the default way in which future societies will exchange value. As we always believed they would.

In retrospect, it was inevitable from the very beginning.

DISCLAIMER: Information in this article was taken from the following resources:

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/linux-foundation-europe-announces-formation-of-openwallet-foundation-301753956.html