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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteThe Davos panel’s central proposal was to make digital wallets interoperable infrastructure—not merely phone apps that hold documents. For a wallet to work across borders and sectors, credentials from different issuers must be portable, verifiable, secure and shared under the user’s control. The EU’s Digital Identity Wallet rollout is a near-term test of that approach, but the panel did not announce a single global wallet or protocol.
What the Davos panel proposed
The OpenWallet Forum High Level Panel met in Davos on 22 January 2025. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the Linux Foundation organized the session, which was hosted by the Government of Switzerland. Its focus was global interoperability for wallets and credentials, followed by a call for enhanced cooperation.
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The core idea is that a wallet becomes useful across everyday life only when credentials issued by different organizations can be stored, presented and verified across borders and sectors. That is a broader problem than putting digital copies of documents in one app: organizations also need compatible ways to issue and check credentials, and users need meaningful control over what they disclose.
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How a universal wallet would work
In this context, “universal” means a wallet that can work with credentials and services from multiple issuers and sectors, rather than a single app or document system accepted only in one setting. The general model has three roles: an issuer provides a credential, a wallet holds it for the user, and a verifier checks it when the user presents it. Cross-border use depends on those roles being able to work together under shared technical and governance arrangements.
- Issuance: A public agency, school, bank, employer or other organization issues a digital credential, such as a licence or qualification.
- Storage and control: The credential is held in a wallet that the user can access. The panel’s desired direction includes local storage and user-controlled disclosure, rather than requiring every service to receive a complete identity record.
- Presentation: When a service asks for proof, the user presents the relevant credential or information. A privacy-oriented design should make the requested disclosure clear and avoid exposing unrelated data.
- Verification: The service checks that the credential and its issuer are authentic using compatible specifications and trusted arrangements. Without interoperability between issuers, wallets and verifiers, a credential that works at home may not work abroad.
This is a design model, not a claim that every country has deployed a common system. The Davos materials set out priorities for cooperation; they do not establish one worldwide technical standard, a universal wallet provider, or a global adoption timetable.
What could go in the wallet
The proposed scope extends well beyond identity cards. The Davos agenda names driver’s licences, education certificates, passports, visas, banking cards, medical cards, employee IDs, civil-status certificates, land titles and health records as examples. The OpenWallet Forum call for action also describes identity, health records, driving licences, travel documents, education qualifications, payments and digital assets as possible contents or functions.
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Those examples do not mean every wallet will carry every credential, or that every service will accept each type. The practical value depends on issuers making credentials available and relying parties—such as government agencies, employers, banks or travel services—being able to accept and verify them.
What the panel says is needed for a “best future”
| Priority | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| Interoperability | Common technical specifications for issuers, wallets and verifiers, plus cross-border credential exchange and testing. |
| Security and certification | Reliable wallet implementations and ways to establish that credentials and relying parties are authentic. |
| Privacy and user control | Selective sharing, transparent transactions, and limits on tracking or profiling. |
| Usability and inclusion | Accessible designs that work across users, sectors and countries, with implementation support for countries that need it. |
| Multistakeholder governance | Ongoing coordination among governments, standards bodies, device manufacturers, software developers, academia and civil society. |
| Sector coverage | Working use cases in public services, finance, health, travel, education and commerce. |
These priorities are interdependent. A wallet can be technically secure yet fail as shared infrastructure if a foreign verifier cannot read its credentials. Likewise, broad acceptance without privacy protections or a way to challenge misuse would weaken user trust. Governance therefore includes more than agreeing on formats: it must also address accountability and redress when credentials are rejected, compromised or handled improperly.
The EU Digital Identity Wallet is a concrete test, not a global template
The European Union has turned part of the wallet vision into a legal and technical rollout. The European Commission adopted five implementing regulations in late 2024 covering core wallet functionality and certification. The rules establish uniform standards for cross-border document formats, reliability, security, privacy, local data storage, user-controlled disclosure and a privacy dashboard. The Commission described the regulations as a major step toward member states releasing wallets by the end of 2026.
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The Council of the EU says each member state must make a wallet available to citizens by 2026 and accept wallets from other member states. The wallet is voluntary for individuals: issuance, use and revocation are free for natural persons. Application software components are open source, subject to justified exceptions.
| Question | What the EU framework establishes |
|---|---|
| Must individuals use a wallet? | No. The Council describes it as voluntary. |
| What must member states do? | Make a wallet available by 2026 and accept wallets from other member states, according to the Council. |
| What do the rules cover? | Core functionality and certification, including common document formats, security, privacy, local storage, user-controlled disclosure and a privacy dashboard. |
| What does it cost natural persons? | Issuance, use and revocation are free, according to the Council. |
| Is the software open source? | Application software components are open source, subject to justified exceptions. |
The EU framework is a regional implementation, not proof that wallets will automatically interoperate worldwide. Other jurisdictions would still need compatible approaches, and services would need to adopt them. The Council’s named spokesperson, Belgian Secretary of State Mathieu Michel, said the aim was a secure wallet that leaves people in control of personal data and could set a global benchmark; that is an ambition, not evidence of worldwide acceptance.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What universal wallets could change for businesses
The World Economic Forum describes a shift from separate tools—such as payment apps and mobile driver’s licences—toward infrastructure that could integrate identity, money and tokenized objects. If people can authorize trustworthy data sharing across services, businesses may be able to build new services around that capability. But the commercial opportunity depends on earning trust through cybersecurity, transparency, interoperability, auditability, fairness, privacy and redress, not simply launching another wallet app.
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The World Economic Forum cited a Market Data Forecast projection, published in 2024, of 21.5% growth to an $8.6 billion tokenization market by 2028. This is a forecast for the tokenization market, not a measurement or forecast of digital-wallet adoption, and it should not be treated as consensus market evidence.
For organizations evaluating the opportunity, the infrastructure work may matter more than the consumer-facing app: integrating issuers and relying parties, testing cross-border compatibility, supporting certification, and defining ways to handle errors and disputes. No reliable global wallet-adoption figure or deployment-cost estimate is established here, so those should not be inferred from the tokenization projection.
How to judge a wallet approach
A wallet’s feature list is not enough to tell whether it can serve as shared infrastructure. Governments and organizations assessing a proposal can ask:
- Interoperability: Which standards and cross-border tests demonstrate that credentials work between issuers, wallets and verifiers?
- Portability: Can a user present a credential to more than the issuer’s own app or service?
- Privacy and control: Can users see what is being requested, share only what is needed and review transactions?
- Security and assurance: How are wallet implementations, credentials and relying parties authenticated and certified?
- Accountability: Who handles complaints, mistaken rejections, misuse or compromised credentials, and what redress is available?
- Inclusion and resilience: Can people with different accessibility needs use it, and what happens when a device or network is unavailable?
- Adoption: Which public and private services actually accept the credentials, beyond the wallet provider’s demonstrations?
- Open development and procurement: What components are open source, what exceptions apply, and can public buyers evaluate or change suppliers?
The Davos panel’s main contribution was to frame wallet development as a cooperation and interoperability challenge. The EU supplies a specific regional rollout with rules and a 2026 deadline; the wider global vision remains dependent on compatible standards, credible safeguards and real acceptance by services across borders.
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