European Digital Identity Wallet
© European Union
A trusted digital identity wallet for Europe
The European Digital Identity Wallet, often referred to as the EUDI Wallet, is a European digital wallet that enables users to securely store, manage and share identity data, attributes and digital credentials. The wallet is designed to give users a trusted and user-controlled way to identify themselves online and offline, access public and private services, and present verified information without unnecessarily sharing personal data.
Read the official documentation here.
The EUDI Wallet is part of the broader European Digital Identity framework. It builds on eIDAS and the European Digital Identity Regulation, which update the EU’s approach to digital identity and trust services.
The EUDI Wallet is intended to address these gaps. Every Member State must make at least one wallet available, so that citizens and residents can use a recognised European digital identity across the EU.
The goal is not only to digitise identity documents, but to create a common trust framework for digital interactions. This framework should make it easier to access services, share verified information and reduce dependence on large private identity platforms.
The wallet can be used in many personal contexts, such as accessing public services, proving identity, sharing a diploma, opening a bank account, proving age, using a digital driving licence or accessing cross-border services.
The European Digital Identity framework also refers to use by businesses. However, for organisational use cases, the EU is now developing a more specific framework: the European Business Wallet. The EUDI Wallet should therefore be understood primarily as the person-centric foundation, while the European Business Wallet focuses on organisations, mandates and business processes.
A user can present information from the wallet to a Relying Party, such as a public authority, bank, university, employer, mobility provider or online service.
The wallet is designed for both remote and proximity interactions. A remote flow is used when a service is accessed online, while a proximity flow is used when the user and the verifier are physically close to each other, for example at a counter, gate or inspection point.
PID is issued by a PID Provider. This provider is responsible for issuing and revoking the PID and for binding it securely to the user’s Wallet Unit.
In addition to PID, the wallet can hold Electronic Attestations of Attributes. These attestations contain verified attributes about a person, such as a diploma, professional qualification, driving licence, residence information, age attribute or social security document.
Some attestations may be issued as Qualified Electronic Attestations of Attributes, or QEAAs. Others may be issued by or on behalf of a public sector body responsible for an Authentic Source.
The wallet supports Selective Disclosure. This means that a user can share only the attributes required for a specific transaction, instead of presenting a full document or complete data set.
For example, a user may need to prove that they are over 18 without revealing their full date of birth, or prove that they hold a valid qualification without sharing unrelated personal information.
The architecture also includes privacy-by-design principles. This means that the wallet should minimise unnecessary data sharing, help prevent tracking across services and provide clear information to the user before data is shared.
Private sector use cases may include onboarding for financial services, telecom registration, age verification, travel, mobility, employment, education, healthcare and access to digital platforms.
The aim is to create a wallet that can be used across different sectors without requiring users to create a new account, repeat identity checks or upload the same documents again and again.
The ARF provides a common reference for implementation. It explains how wallet units, issuers, relying parties, trust services and supervisory bodies interact. It also describes design principles such as user-centricity, accessibility, interoperability, privacy by design and security by design.
The ARF itself is not the law. It supports the implementation of the European Digital Identity Regulation and the related Implementing Acts, which contain binding requirements.
Recent implementing regulations further specify mandatory technical requirements for wallet units, cryptographic mechanisms, wallet attestations, signatures and seals, trust marks and wallet interactions. This means that EUDI interoperability increasingly depends not only on supporting common protocols, but also on implementing the specific European profiles and trust mechanisms defined in the regulatory framework.
A Wallet Provider provides the wallet solution. A PID Provider issues the foundational identity data. An Attestation Provider issues additional attestations that can be stored in the wallet.
A Relying Party requests and verifies data from the wallet. A relying party may be a public authority, a private service provider, an employer, a bank, a university or another organisation that needs to verify information from the user.
Other important roles include supervisory bodies, conformity assessment bodies, registrars, access certificate authorities and trust service providers. These roles help create the assurance layer needed for a regulated European digital identity ecosystem.
A Wallet Instance is the application or interface that the user interacts with. This may be a mobile app or another user-facing wallet environment.
A Wallet Unit is the unique configuration of the wallet solution provided to a specific user. It includes the wallet instance and the cryptographic components needed to bind credentials securely to the user and the wallet.
The framework includes mechanisms for registration, certification, revocation, relying party registration, security incident handling and lists of certified wallet solutions.
A EUDI Wallet Trust Mark is intended to help users recognise certified and trusted wallet solutions or services within the ecosystem.
Trust is also supported through components such as Trusted Lists, access certificates, wallet unit attestations and other mechanisms that allow ecosystem participants to verify each other.
The Wallet Relying Party Repository is intended to provide trusted information about relying parties, including their identifiers, authorisations and service metadata.
This allows the wallet to inform the user who is requesting data and for what purpose before the user decides whether to share information.
The European Commission’s Relying Party Engagement Programme supports organisations in identifying priority use cases, required credentials, wallet capabilities, business benefits and implementation challenges.
Interoperability is also relevant beyond the European Union. An EU–Japan pilot demonstrated that learning credentials could be issued and verified across European and Japanese test environments using established international standards, despite differences in governance and implementation.
This makes relying-party readiness, credential discovery and tested end-to-end interactions increasingly important parts of wallet adoption.
OpenID4VCI is used for issuing credentials to wallets. OpenID4VP is used for requesting and presenting credentials to relying parties.
Credential formats include SD-JWT VC and mdoc. These formats support different use cases, including selective disclosure and mobile document scenarios.
The ecosystem may also use technologies such as the Digital Credentials API, Digital Credentials Query Language, Verifiable Credentials, Verifiable Presentations and Key Binding.
The architecture includes concepts such as the Wallet Secure Cryptographic Device and the Wallet Secure Cryptographic Application. These components help protect cryptographic operations and critical assets within the wallet.
The wallet may also rely on hardware-backed security components such as secure elements, trusted execution environments, secure enclaves or other protected key storage mechanisms, depending on the implementation.
A Pseudonym can allow a user to interact with a service without directly revealing their full identity, where this is appropriate and legally allowed.
Zero-Knowledge Proof techniques may support use cases where a user needs to prove that a statement is true without revealing the underlying data. For example, this could be used to prove eligibility or age without disclosing more information than necessary.
The EUDI Wallet is mainly person-centric. It focuses on natural persons who manage their own identity data and attestations. The European Business Wallet is organisation-centric. It focuses on businesses, public sector bodies, mandates, organisational identity, business credentials and secure business communication.
In practice, the two wallets may work together. A person may use their EUDI Wallet to authenticate themselves, while a European Business Wallet may be used to prove that the person is authorised to act on behalf of an organisation.
For citizens and residents, the wallet can make it easier to access services and share trusted information without repeatedly submitting documents or creating new accounts. For public authorities, it can support more efficient digital public services. For private organisations, it creates new possibilities for onboarding, verification and trusted digital interaction.
The impact will depend on practical implementation. Wallets must be easy to use, widely accepted, technically interoperable and trusted by users, issuers and relying parties.
FIDES focuses on the practical conditions needed for adoption: interoperability, reusable credentials, clear profiles, testable implementations, trusted issuers and relying parties, and discoverable credential types.
A successful EUDI Wallet ecosystem requires more than regulation and wallet apps. It requires public and private organisations to understand which credentials exist, who issues them, which wallets support them and how they can be used in real-world processes.
Through community tools, interoperability profiles, catalogs, testbeds and practical use cases, FIDES helps make the EUDI Wallet ecosystem more understandable, testable and reusable.
Why was the EUDI Wallet introduced?
The original eIDAS framework enabled Member States to notify national electronic identification schemes for cross-border recognition. However, the practical result was fragmented. Not every Member State offered a widely usable digital identity solution, and cross-border use remained limited in many situations.The EUDI Wallet is intended to address these gaps. Every Member State must make at least one wallet available, so that citizens and residents can use a recognised European digital identity across the EU.
The goal is not only to digitise identity documents, but to create a common trust framework for digital interactions. This framework should make it easier to access services, share verified information and reduce dependence on large private identity platforms.
Who is the EUDI Wallet for?
The EUDI Wallet is primarily designed for individuals: EU citizens and residents who want to use a digital identity wallet to manage and present their own data.The wallet can be used in many personal contexts, such as accessing public services, proving identity, sharing a diploma, opening a bank account, proving age, using a digital driving licence or accessing cross-border services.
The European Digital Identity framework also refers to use by businesses. However, for organisational use cases, the EU is now developing a more specific framework: the European Business Wallet. The EUDI Wallet should therefore be understood primarily as the person-centric foundation, while the European Business Wallet focuses on organisations, mandates and business processes.
What can users do with it?
The EUDI Wallet allows users to request, store and present trusted digital information. This includes foundational identity data, but also other attestations such as qualifications, licences, permits, professional attributes or entitlements.A user can present information from the wallet to a Relying Party, such as a public authority, bank, university, employer, mobility provider or online service.
The wallet is designed for both remote and proximity interactions. A remote flow is used when a service is accessed online, while a proximity flow is used when the user and the verifier are physically close to each other, for example at a counter, gate or inspection point.
PID and attestations
A central element of the EUDI Wallet is Person Identification Data, or PID. PID is the foundational identity data that establishes the identity of the wallet user under EU or national law.PID is issued by a PID Provider. This provider is responsible for issuing and revoking the PID and for binding it securely to the user’s Wallet Unit.
In addition to PID, the wallet can hold Electronic Attestations of Attributes. These attestations contain verified attributes about a person, such as a diploma, professional qualification, driving licence, residence information, age attribute or social security document.
Some attestations may be issued as Qualified Electronic Attestations of Attributes, or QEAAs. Others may be issued by or on behalf of a public sector body responsible for an Authentic Source.
User control and selective disclosure
User control is one of the key principles of the EUDI Wallet. Users should be able to decide which data they share, with whom, and for what purpose.The wallet supports Selective Disclosure. This means that a user can share only the attributes required for a specific transaction, instead of presenting a full document or complete data set.
For example, a user may need to prove that they are over 18 without revealing their full date of birth, or prove that they hold a valid qualification without sharing unrelated personal information.
The architecture also includes privacy-by-design principles. This means that the wallet should minimise unnecessary data sharing, help prevent tracking across services and provide clear information to the user before data is shared.
Public and private sector use cases
The EUDI Wallet is intended to support a broad range of public and private sector use cases. Public sector use cases may include access to government services, digital permits, social security documents, education credentials, residence information and cross-border administrative procedures.Private sector use cases may include onboarding for financial services, telecom registration, age verification, travel, mobility, employment, education, healthcare and access to digital platforms.
The aim is to create a wallet that can be used across different sectors without requiring users to create a new account, repeat identity checks or upload the same documents again and again.
The Architecture and Reference Framework
The EUDI Wallet ARF, or Architecture and Reference Framework, describes the architecture, roles, components and interactions of the EUDI Wallet ecosystem.The ARF provides a common reference for implementation. It explains how wallet units, issuers, relying parties, trust services and supervisory bodies interact. It also describes design principles such as user-centricity, accessibility, interoperability, privacy by design and security by design.
The ARF itself is not the law. It supports the implementation of the European Digital Identity Regulation and the related Implementing Acts, which contain binding requirements.
Recent implementing regulations further specify mandatory technical requirements for wallet units, cryptographic mechanisms, wallet attestations, signatures and seals, trust marks and wallet interactions. This means that EUDI interoperability increasingly depends not only on supporting common protocols, but also on implementing the specific European profiles and trust mechanisms defined in the regulatory framework.
Roles in the EUDI Wallet ecosystem
The EUDI Wallet ecosystem consists of several roles. The user is the person who uses the wallet to manage and present identity data and attestations.A Wallet Provider provides the wallet solution. A PID Provider issues the foundational identity data. An Attestation Provider issues additional attestations that can be stored in the wallet.
A Relying Party requests and verifies data from the wallet. A relying party may be a public authority, a private service provider, an employer, a bank, a university or another organisation that needs to verify information from the user.
Other important roles include supervisory bodies, conformity assessment bodies, registrars, access certificate authorities and trust service providers. These roles help create the assurance layer needed for a regulated European digital identity ecosystem.
Wallet Unit, Wallet Instance and Wallet Solution
The ARF distinguishes between several technical wallet concepts. A Wallet Solution is the overall product or system provided by a wallet provider. It can include software, hardware, services, configurations and security components.A Wallet Instance is the application or interface that the user interacts with. This may be a mobile app or another user-facing wallet environment.
A Wallet Unit is the unique configuration of the wallet solution provided to a specific user. It includes the wallet instance and the cryptographic components needed to bind credentials securely to the user and the wallet.
Trust, certification and supervision
The EUDI Wallet is not an ordinary identity app. It is part of a regulated trust framework. Wallet solutions must meet requirements for security, privacy, certification and interoperability.The framework includes mechanisms for registration, certification, revocation, relying party registration, security incident handling and lists of certified wallet solutions.
A EUDI Wallet Trust Mark is intended to help users recognise certified and trusted wallet solutions or services within the ecosystem.
Trust is also supported through components such as Trusted Lists, access certificates, wallet unit attestations and other mechanisms that allow ecosystem participants to verify each other.
Relying Party registration
Relying Parties play a crucial role in the EUDI Wallet ecosystem because they request data from users. To protect users, relying parties must be identifiable and must request only the data they are authorised to request.The Wallet Relying Party Repository is intended to provide trusted information about relying parties, including their identifiers, authorisations and service metadata.
This allows the wallet to inform the user who is requesting data and for what purpose before the user decides whether to share information.
From wallet development to service adoption
The focus of the EUDI Wallet ecosystem is increasingly shifting from wallet development to adoption by service providers. Wallets create value only when public and private services are able to request, understand and verify credentials in real processes.The European Commission’s Relying Party Engagement Programme supports organisations in identifying priority use cases, required credentials, wallet capabilities, business benefits and implementation challenges.
Interoperability is also relevant beyond the European Union. An EU–Japan pilot demonstrated that learning credentials could be issued and verified across European and Japanese test environments using established international standards, despite differences in governance and implementation.
This makes relying-party readiness, credential discovery and tested end-to-end interactions increasingly important parts of wallet adoption.
Technical building blocks
The EUDI Wallet ecosystem uses a set of standards and technical specifications to enable interoperability. These include protocols for issuing and presenting credentials, credential formats, trust mechanisms and interfaces between ecosystem actors.OpenID4VCI is used for issuing credentials to wallets. OpenID4VP is used for requesting and presenting credentials to relying parties.
Credential formats include SD-JWT VC and mdoc. These formats support different use cases, including selective disclosure and mobile document scenarios.
The ecosystem may also use technologies such as the Digital Credentials API, Digital Credentials Query Language, Verifiable Credentials, Verifiable Presentations and Key Binding.
Security and cryptographic protection
The EUDI Wallet architecture is based on security by design. Sensitive data and cryptographic keys must be protected through secure wallet components and appropriate assurance mechanisms.The architecture includes concepts such as the Wallet Secure Cryptographic Device and the Wallet Secure Cryptographic Application. These components help protect cryptographic operations and critical assets within the wallet.
The wallet may also rely on hardware-backed security components such as secure elements, trusted execution environments, secure enclaves or other protected key storage mechanisms, depending on the implementation.
Privacy-enhancing technologies
The EUDI Wallet framework aims to reduce unnecessary disclosure of personal data. Selective disclosure is one important mechanism, but the broader architecture also considers pseudonyms and privacy-enhancing cryptographic techniques.A Pseudonym can allow a user to interact with a service without directly revealing their full identity, where this is appropriate and legally allowed.
Zero-Knowledge Proof techniques may support use cases where a user needs to prove that a statement is true without revealing the underlying data. For example, this could be used to prove eligibility or age without disclosing more information than necessary.
Relationship with the European Business Wallet
The EUDI Wallet and the European Business Wallet are closely related, but they serve different primary purposes.The EUDI Wallet is mainly person-centric. It focuses on natural persons who manage their own identity data and attestations. The European Business Wallet is organisation-centric. It focuses on businesses, public sector bodies, mandates, organisational identity, business credentials and secure business communication.
In practice, the two wallets may work together. A person may use their EUDI Wallet to authenticate themselves, while a European Business Wallet may be used to prove that the person is authorised to act on behalf of an organisation.
Why this matters
The EUDI Wallet could become a foundational layer for digital trust in Europe. It creates a common framework for identity, credentials, user control and cross-border interoperability.For citizens and residents, the wallet can make it easier to access services and share trusted information without repeatedly submitting documents or creating new accounts. For public authorities, it can support more efficient digital public services. For private organisations, it creates new possibilities for onboarding, verification and trusted digital interaction.
The impact will depend on practical implementation. Wallets must be easy to use, widely accepted, technically interoperable and trusted by users, issuers and relying parties.
The role of FIDES
For the FIDES Community, the EUDI Wallet is an important foundation for the wider digital trust ecosystem.FIDES focuses on the practical conditions needed for adoption: interoperability, reusable credentials, clear profiles, testable implementations, trusted issuers and relying parties, and discoverable credential types.
A successful EUDI Wallet ecosystem requires more than regulation and wallet apps. It requires public and private organisations to understand which credentials exist, who issues them, which wallets support them and how they can be used in real-world processes.
Through community tools, interoperability profiles, catalogs, testbeds and practical use cases, FIDES helps make the EUDI Wallet ecosystem more understandable, testable and reusable.