Government Digital Wallets: Empowering Citizens with Secure, User-Controlled Digital Identity

A core component of a Government’s Identity strategy is a ‘Digital Wallet’.

Digital wallets play a pivotal role in modern government digital identity systems, acting as the secure, user-controlled interface where individuals store, manage, and selectively share their digital credentials.

Digital wallets have evolved from simple payment apps or crypto tools into essential components of identity infrastructure, especially in the context of verifiable credentials, self-sovereign principles, and large-scale government deployments.

A digital identity wallet is a secure mobile application (or sometimes cloud-based tool) that serves as a personal repository for verifiable digital credentials. These credentials are cryptographically signed digital versions of official documents or attributes issued by trusted authorities—such as governments, educational institutions, or regulated entities.

Digital Ireland

Ireland’s Government Digital Wallet is a secure mobile app that allows citizens to store, manage, and selectively share verified digital versions of important official documents—such as driving licences, birth certificates, death certificates, European Health Insurance Cards, and Public Services Cards—directly on their smartphones or devices.

Built on and evolving from the existing MyGovID system (Ireland’s established digital identity platform for single sign-on to public services), it complies with the EU Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet framework.

This is intended to enable privacy-preserving selective disclosure, authenticity verification when sharing credentials with relying parties, reduced reliance on physical documents, and seamless access to public services. Users maintain control over their data through opt-in sharing mechanisms and strong privacy safeguards aligned with GDPR.

It forms a core component of Ireland’s Digital Public Infrastructure under the Digital Public Services Plan 2030, integrating with the Life Events approach and portal to support proactive, user-centred service delivery (e.g., bundled journeys for life events like birth registration).

Pilots, including successful tests among public servants and a planned Q1 2026 pilot (potentially involving 2,000 participants) focused on age verification features for online safety (such as restricting social media access for under-16s), have progressed, with public rollout anticipated in 2026 to meet EU deadlines. This positions the wallet as a foundational tool for efficient, interoperable, and inclusive digital government interactions.

EU Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet

The EU Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet standards are defined under the eIDAS 2.0 Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2024/1183, adopted in May 2024 and effective with full implementation by late 2026), which mandates that each EU Member State provide at least one compliant EUDI Wallet—a secure, user-controlled mobile app (or equivalent) for storing, managing, and selectively sharing verified digital credentials like personal identification data (PID), driving licences, qualifications, health cards, and more.

The core technical blueprint is the Architecture and Reference Framework (ARF) (latest versions available on GitHub from the European Commission), which outlines a harmonised ecosystem ensuring interoperability, security, and privacy across borders. Key standards and principles include:

• Privacy by design and selective disclosure — Users share only necessary attributes (e.g., proving age over 18 without revealing full date of birth or name) using techniques like zero-knowledge proofs or attribute-based credentials, minimising data exposure and preventing tracking.
• User control — Full user sovereignty over data, with opt-in sharing, revocation capabilities, and no mandatory use (voluntary adoption).
• High security — Wallets must achieve Level of Assurance High (or equivalent), incorporating strong encryption, secure cryptographic devices (e.g., hardware-backed secure elements), multi-factor authentication, and compliance with certifications.
• Interoperable protocols and formats — Built on open standards such as ISO/IEC 18013-5 (for mobile driving licences/mDL), W3C Verifiable Credentials, OpenID for Verifiable Presentations (OpenID4VP), and others for issuance, storage, presentation, and verification between issuers (e.g., governments), wallets, and relying parties (service providers).
• Cross-border recognition — All compliant wallets are mutually recognised across the EU, enabling seamless use for public and private services.
• Additional features — Support for qualified electronic signatures (free for users), authentication, and electronic attestations of attributes (EAA/QEAA).

The European Commission provides a Toolbox with common specifications, guidelines, and a reference implementation to guide national deployments, ensuring consistency while allowing Member States flexibility in national apps.

This framework promotes trust, reduces reliance on physical documents, and enhances efficiency in digital interactions while prioritising GDPR-aligned privacy and user empowerment. As of March 2026, technical specifications continue to evolve through updates to the ARF.