Self-sovereign identity and digital wallets

Abstract Current approaches to managing digital identities struggle to meet the demands of ongoing digital transformation. They either create fragmented identities tied to specific online services, making it difficult for users to manage, or they raise concerns about being locked into corporate identity providers and data protection issues. Additionally, they provide limited support for machine-verifiable identity attributes. This reliance on third parties for managing machine identities can put companies at a market disadvantage. Therefore, there is a pressing need for a unified identity management solution that allows for the portable and interoperable use of verifiable identity data across services. The recently announced European Digital Identity Wallet marks a significant step forward in digital identity management. This initiative aims to provide EU citizens with a unified, secure, and convenient way to access both public and private online services, thereby enhancing the efficiency and security of digital interactions and prioritizing user needs. Self-sovereign identity (SSI) forms the basis for such a wallet-based identity ecosystem that supports electronic market growth. However, as a relatively new concept, SSI still lacks a unified theoretical analysis and a thorough exploration of its value propositions for digital ecosystems and networked businesses.