The Business Case of Decentralized Identity

There is a lot of talk about the business case for decentralized identity (DCI) in general and the EU DI wallet in particular. The latter conversation varies per country, with some countries and regions already having an established ID approach in place that is used at scale and underpinned by a proven business model. That is for instance the case with the Nordic Bank ID. Transaction-based business model and strong usage, depending on the country on average more than 10x per day per citizen.

On the other hand, the focus for the EU DI wallet often is still limited to a strong identification with high LoA (Level of Assurance), QES (qualified electronic signatures with emphasis on “qualified”), and authentication. That raises the question: Where is the money in DCI? Is it in authentication, signing, and identification? Is it in micropayments for instance for providing data via verifiable credentials (VCs)? Is it in delivering VCs to the backend processes? Where are the big benefits? Where are the red oceans (solutions already in place) versus the blue oceans (innovating beyond replacement)?

In the first part of this session, Martin Kuppinger, Principal Analyst at KuppingerCole Analysts, will present his perspectives on potential business cases and a vision for decentralized identity that delivers on the promise and (EU) goal of fostering digital business, and that works at scale.

In the second part, a panel of DCI experts will discuss their perspectives on business cases.