Digital wallets are increasingly expected to do more than pay: they may also hold identity credentials, tickets, licenses, and digital keys. But when each service or country builds a separate, closed system, people face fragmented apps, limited portability, and uncertain interoperability. Open-source software, paired with shared standards and accountable governance, offers a practical route toward wallets people can use across devices, services, and borders—without pretending that one universal wallet already exists.
Why digital wallets need to work together
Today’s wallets often divide everyday tasks among payment apps, bank apps, identity apps, and separate ticket or access apps. The Linux Foundation identifies vendor lock-in, poor interoperability, and uneven security as problems created by this proliferation. A wallet that works only within one company’s app or one national scheme cannot reliably serve a traveler, a migrant, a merchant, or someone using an online service across borders.
Portability is more than installing the same app on another phone. A useful wallet ecosystem needs compatible ways to issue, store, present, and verify credentials and payments across different devices, operating systems, services, and currencies. Without agreement on those interfaces, two wallets can both call themselves digital wallets and still be unable to exchange anything.
Why the need is pressing now
The European Union is moving digital identity from policy toward deployment. The European Commission says the Digital Identity Regulation entered into force in May 2024 and sets an expectation that wallets will be available from 2026, with each Member State providing at least one wallet built to open-source common specifications. That date is a policy target, not proof that every national wallet is already available or offers identical features.
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Cross-border use also depends on more than identity rules. Different regulations, currency conversion, and incompatible technical systems can prevent a wallet from working when its holder travels. The International Telecommunication Union argues that global interoperability requires open standards and partnerships among governments, standards bodies, and developers. In the ITU’s words, “From making payments easier to proving identity, digital wallets can make meaningful differences in people’s lives,” said Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin on 22 January 2025.
What open source changes—and what it does not
More transparency and room to collaborate
Open-source software makes its code available for inspection and collaboration under its license. The European Commission’s digital-identity FAQ says this supports transparency and developer collaboration. The Commission also points to common standards as a way to improve interoperability, simplify verification, lower development costs, and make it easier for new entrants to participate.
The Linux Foundation’s wallet work likewise presents open collaboration as a way to improve cost efficiency, shorten time to market, and support interoperability, security, privacy, and simplicity. These are potential advantages, not automatic outcomes: releasing code does not by itself make a wallet secure, private, or compatible with other systems.
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- Proven security at scale: Over 9 years and millions of cards issued with no known remote hacks, while military‑grade EAL6+ security keeps your private keys locked inside the chip. Your cryptocurrencies stay strongly protected from online attackers.
- Tap once to manage your entire crypto wallet across 90 blockchains - no USB cables or Bluetooth, no batteries, no setup. Access 14,100+ coins & tokens, DeFi, NFTs, and staking instantly from your phone
- Smart backup: Use your second Tangem Wallet as your Backup keys with end‑to‑end encryption; no more papers, pictures. If one card is lost, the remaining can still restore full access, with an optional seed phrase available for advanced users.
- Engineered to last up to 25 years: Waterproof (IP69K), shockproof and tested for extreme temperatures from −25°C to 50°C. A durable cold wallet with long‑term protection and independently audited security.
- Trusted by 6 million users worldwide (4.9 App Store, 4.8 Google Play) - buy, sell, swap, stake, and spend cryptocurrency directly. The secure offline storage wallet designed for how people actually use crypto wallets
Governance and security remain essential
A trustworthy wallet still needs clear responsibility and operational safeguards. These include secure key storage, reliable cryptographic validation, credential revocation, certification, privacy-by-design, accessible interfaces, and clear duties for credential issuers, wallet providers, and the services that accept credentials. The ITU’s 2025 work item on wallet security explicitly spans blockchain, identity, payment, central bank digital currency (CBDC), and digital-key use cases.
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Open-source projects also need effective governance: someone must maintain specifications and repositories, review and release changes, coordinate security fixes, and resolve disputes. Readers should distinguish between software whose source code is open and an ecosystem whose specifications, certification, and decision-making are open and accountable.
How user control can work in practice
The European Commission describes the EU Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet as a way for users to share only the information a transaction requires and use credentials across borders. The principle is data minimization: a service asking whether someone meets an age threshold should receive an age assertion rather than a full identity record, when the credential and implementation support that form of selective disclosure.
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This is a design objective, not a guarantee that every deployment will minimize data perfectly. The actual experience depends on the credential, the wallet implementation, and the service requesting proof. A privacy-conscious wallet should make it understandable what is being shared, with whom, and for what purpose.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why payments are part of the interoperability problem
Wallet portability is also a payments issue. The Financial Stability Board recommends aligning cross-border payment data frameworks while preserving transaction security, anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorist-financing controls, sanctions objectives, and individual privacy. Shared standards must therefore enable systems to communicate without discarding the safeguards that payments require.
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That balance matters: a payment credential or instruction that travels across systems is useful only if the receiving system can interpret it correctly and apply the appropriate controls. Open standards are infrastructure, not just a software-label preference.
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Is an open digital wallet the same as a crypto wallet?
No. “Open source” describes how software is made available and developed; it does not define what assets or credentials a wallet holds. A crypto wallet generally manages cryptographic keys used to control or interact with blockchain assets. A digital identity or payment wallet may instead store credentials, payment methods, tickets, or access keys. Some systems may overlap, but neither open-source status nor the word “wallet” means that a product is a cryptocurrency wallet.
What to check before trusting a wallet
Evaluate a wallet by the systems and protections it actually supports, rather than by the word “open” alone.
- Interoperability: Which credential formats, payment rails, devices, services, and countries are supported? Are the relevant standards shared?
- Privacy: Can it support selective disclosure and data minimization? Does it explain what is shared, and what telemetry or usage data it collects?
- Security: How are keys generated, stored, and recovered? How are credentials revoked? Are updates, independent review, and incident response explained?
- Governance: Who controls the specifications and code repositories, approves releases, handles certification, and resolves disputes?
- Usability and inclusion: Does it support accessibility and relevant languages? Can it work offline where needed, on lower-cost devices, and after a user loses hardware?
- Scope: Does it cover the credentials and functions you need—such as identity, payments, tickets, keys, licenses, health records, or academic attestations?
The point is not to find one app that does everything today. It is to build an ecosystem in which people can move between services and devices, disclose only what a transaction needs, and rely on security and governance that remain clear even when multiple organizations are involved.
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