The OpenWallet Foundation will release the first modules in 2023

The OpenWallet Foundation (OWF) is expected to accept open source contributions within two months and expects to release its first open source modules in late 2023. In a recent conversation with Mobile Time, Drummond Reed, director of services of the trust in Gen, one of the companies cooperating with the international consortium, said it is too early to predict when the first modules will be available for commercial launches.

Launched in February this year, the OWF brought together 17 companies and 20 entities to develop open, interoperable and secure standards for digital wallets. The main backers of the attack are Accenture, Futurewei, Visa, Gen (controller of Avast and Norton) and the Linux Foundation Europe which hosts the action. Also participating are companies such as American Express, Deutsche Telekom and Swisscom, as well as organizations such as the Trust Over IP Foundation, Universitat Rovira i Virgil and the Digital Dollar Project.

It is worth noting that this is the second major project of the Linux Foundation. The other is the Sylva Project, which has been developing a new open source telecommunications framework since November 2022.

goals

According to the head of the General, the group’s goal is not to create wallets and credentials, but an open code that will be the basis for the development of wallets by organizations, governments and companies: “Wallets (created with the OWF code) will seek equality of features with the best available wallets and interoperability with major cross-border projects like the European Union Digital Identity Card,” Reed said in an email response.

The executive further explained that once developed, OWF’s open-source code can be used by “anyone, anywhere” who wants to build or integrate into an interoperable, open-standards digital wallet. Something that can drive use cases for industries that require digital credentials, digital signatures, digital payments, or other trusted digital interactions. Among the areas cited that could develop open source wallets are: finance; insurance; health; education; retail sales; tourism; government; electronic games.

“One of the reasons OWF was created is that open standard digital wallets will be the primary tool consumers will use to take full advantage of DeFi and regulatory initiatives like Open Banking,” Reed explained. “In a very literal analogy, we could say: just like carrying credentials in a physical wallet to take advantage of our financial system today, you won’t get very far in the banking or credit system without some form of issued identity credential from the government. . A digital wallet will be where you store digital identifiers, keys and credentials that will allow you to participate safely, privately and securely in the world of decentralized finance,” he added.

CALL

In the Linux Foundation’s white paper ‘Why the World Needs an Open Source Digital Wallet Now’, researcher Gordon Graham says there are a number of problems with existing digital wallets, such as technology vendor lock-in, lack of interoperability and interference . business models. For these reasons, the author calls for joint work between companies and organizations.

“The digital wallet is becoming the digital interface of our lives. But wallets are in their infancy these days, they are inconsistent and non-standard. This is the time for everyone (enterprises, organizations and government) to come together to create a major driver of adoption of standards with built-in interoperability to help our digital world thrive.”

“Our economy and social progress are being held back by the limitations of current digital wallets, in particular the lack of interoperability. At the same time, countries and many groups are rushing to create their own wallets. That’s why we need secure and open digital wallets for anyone to use on any device, operating system, currency and language,” he concluded.

structuring

Currently, OWF is in the process of establishing its operational and governance structure. But some work is already underway, such as the Governance Stack working group working to define open standards from W3C, ISO, the Decentralized Identity Foundation and the Trust Over IP (ToIP) Foundation for technical interoperability. Then, this group should move towards governance in interoperability, with the aim of guaranteeing the functioning of a portfolio between different countries or sectors.

According to Reed, Gen aims to operate in all areas of creation at OWF: requirements; architecture; the code; and interoperability testing.