Skip to content

EUDI Wallet And OpenETR

The European Digital Identity Wallet and OpenETR solve related but different problems.

The EUDI Wallet is centered on identity, credentials, user control, selective disclosure, authentication, and presentation to relying parties. OpenETR is centered on durable electronic records, evidence events, linked evidence, and recognition of effect under domain policy.

They should be seen as complementary layers, not competing architectures.

The EUDI Wallet Question

The EUDI Wallet asks:

Who is presenting this identity, attribute, credential, or authorization?

In the EUDI ecosystem, wallets help citizens, residents, and businesses hold and present identity data, certificates, and other digital documents. The broader architecture coordinates wallet providers, issuers, and service providers around common specifications, interoperability, privacy, and user control.

That is a powerful model for:

  • proving identity;
  • presenting attributes;
  • authenticating to public or private services;
  • selectively disclosing information;
  • carrying official or trusted credentials;
  • supporting electronic signatures and trust services.

The OpenETR Question

OpenETR asks a different question:

What happened concerning this Digital Artifact?

OpenETR identifies content as a Digital Artifact by digest. Signed records concerning it form a DCR. Validation checks that evidence, and an identified ruleset derives Consequential State.

The graph may include:

  • an Anchor Event;
  • Publisher Notices;
  • transfer or evidence events;
  • attestations;
  • encumbrance and discharge events;
  • redemption and termination events;
  • linked evidence records;
  • profile and participant references;
  • verifier warnings or recognition annotations.

OpenETR is therefore artifact-centric. The central unit is not the holder's wallet; it is the Digital Artifact, its DCR evidence, and the consequential state derived from that evidence.

Core Record Ruleset 1.0 supplies the minimum anchor-and-notice model. Transfer, Current Controller, encumbrance, and discharge are extension semantics where a domain ruleset requires them.

Practical Distinction

Many digital trust systems need both identity and object history.

For example:

  • a warehouse operator may need to prove it is authorized to issue a receipt;
  • a manufacturer may need to prove it is the recognized issuer of a Product Passport;
  • a repairer may need to prove it is allowed to attach a lifecycle evidence record;
  • a bank may need to prove authority to record an encumbrance or discharge;
  • a regulator may need to inspect who signed which record and when.

An EUDI Wallet or wallet-held credential can help answer the identity and authorization question.

OpenETR helps answer the object-history question.

Complementary Roles

Function EUDI Wallet OpenETR
Primary focus Identity, credentials, authentication, selective disclosure, presentation. Durable records, evidence records, linked evidence, object history, recognition inputs.
Main unit Wallet holder and wallet-held credentials. Digital Artifact identified by digest.
Main question What credentials does this person or organization present? What signed events exist for this object?
Technical center Wallet, issuer, verifier, service provider interactions. Digital Artifact, DCR, derived state, verifier policy.
Recognition boundary Relying party decides whether to accept a presented credential. Verifier, registry, authority, or relying party decides what effect to give the derived state.

How They Can Work Together

A practical integration could look like this:

EUDI Wallet credential
  -> proves identity, role, mandate, or authorization
  -> OpenETR profile signs a record event
  -> OpenETR DCR preserves durable signed evidence
  -> DCR evidence is validated and an identified ruleset derives consequential state
  -> registry / authority / relying party evaluates effect

In that model, the wallet is not replaced.

The wallet helps establish who is acting, what credential they hold, and what authority they can present. OpenETR then records what that actor did to a particular digest-identified record.

Product Passport Example

For Product Passports, an EUDI Wallet could help an economic operator or representative authenticate to an issuer, registry, customs authority, marketplace, or service provider.

OpenETR could then record:

  • the original Product Passport digest;
  • the Anchor Event for that passport artifact;
  • the recognized organization profile key that issued it;
  • linked evidence records for repair, recall, recycling, audit, or end-of-life documents;
  • durable query links and QR codes;
  • verifier output about whether the graph satisfies a selected Product Passport policy.

The wallet supports identity and presentation. OpenETR supports durable object history.

Warehouse Receipt Example

For warehouse receipts, wallet-held credentials could help prove that:

  • a warehouse operator is licensed or recognized;
  • a bank officer is authorized to record a pledge or discharge;
  • a holder is entitled to present a receipt;
  • a regulator or court officer has authority to inspect a record.

OpenETR would still preserve the receipt's artifact digest and DCR: its Anchor, transfer path, encumbrances, discharges, redemption, termination, and related evidence.

The legal effect of the graph remains a recognition-layer question.

Policy Implication

Policymakers should avoid treating digital wallets as the only trust layer for durable electronic records.

Wallets are essential for identity, credentials, and user-controlled presentation. But many important records also need an artifact-centric DCR that survives outside any one wallet session, application, registry, or platform.

OpenETR offers that artifact-centric DCR evidence layer.

It lets identity systems, registries, institutions, and authorities evaluate durable signed evidence without requiring every domain to collapse into a single wallet model.

What OpenETR Should Not Claim

OpenETR should not claim to be:

  • an EUDI Wallet;
  • a replacement for EUDI Wallet specifications;
  • an identity wallet for citizens or businesses;
  • a selective-disclosure credential system;
  • a trust service provider;
  • a legal recognition engine.

Instead, OpenETR should claim the narrower role:

A protocol for deriving consequential state from end-verifiable evidence
concerning durable electronic records.

It preserves durable signed evidence about digest-identified records so that wallets, registries, authorities, and relying parties can evaluate recognition and effect.

Sources