IOTA Foundation
Eike Hass
Co-Chair
Graeme Hampton
Co-ChairThe Identity Working Group aims at facilitating the exchange of ideas, best practices and domain-specific knowledge between the digital identity and blockchain communities, including researchers, governments and international institutions. The Working Group supports and fosters the creation of an identity ecosystem for interoperable, trusted blockchain services. This will be achieved by providing compliance and foundational layers for the governance and interoperability of identity systems that can be used in blockchain applications.
Objectives
The Working Group has selected five objectives around which it will carry out its annual work:
• Creating a positioning on how trust is defined in decentralized identity and how trust in SSI services can be evaluated/assessed in the different parts of the world
• Fostering dialogue with the EU policymakers and decision-makers around the topic of eIDAS and the upcoming EU Digital ID
• Organise and run workshops focused on interoperability with stakeholders from projects such as DHS Silicon Valley Innovation Program, EBSI-ESSIF, ESSIF-Lab, Canadian SSI projects, ToIP, etc.
• Collaborate with the INATBA standardisation committee with a focus on ‘ISO TC 307’, ‘ITUT’ and ‘CEN-CENELEC’ to coordinate on projects and documents.
Outputs
Open Letter for the preservation of the Electronic Ledger's provisions in eIDAS 2 |
Policy position on the European Digital Identity Framework (eIDAS) |
Event: Industry views on solutions for eID in Europe |
Mobile Driver's Licence (mDL) and Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) comparison |
Position paper: Decentralised Identity: What's at Stake? |
Why is it essential?
Identity plays an essential role for trusted blockchain applications. It is needed to create a collaborative context with a high level of transparency to encourage honest and good players to provide business value-added functions and supports governance and interoperability.
PODCAST SERIES: IDENTITY TALKS
HOSTED BY
Episode 1: eIDAS 2.0 in Review
Hosts: Eike Hass (IOTA Foundation) and Graeme Hampton (Independent Advisor)
Guests: Jim Mason (TrustGrid) and Steffen Schwalm (msg)
The episode explores the potential of eIDAS 2.0 and blockchain-based digital identity in Europe and beyond, highlighting regulatory timelines, interoperability, real-world use cases, and challenges for both citizens and businesses.
Episode 2: Trust Mechanisms in eIDAS 2.0
Hosts: Eike Hass (IOTA Foundation) and Graeme Hampton (Independent Advisor)
Guest: Maarten Boender (4Sure Technology Solutions)
The episode explores the practical implementation of eIDAS 2.0 and the role of trust in the digital identity ecosystem, highlighting the responsibilities of stakeholders, certification mechanisms, citizen and business incentives, and how blockchain can support trust without storing personal data.
Episode 3: Internationalisation of National Identity
Hosts: Eike Hass (IOTA Foundation) and Graeme Hampton (Independent Advisor)
Guests: Fabio Budris (QuarkID) and Tim Weingaertner (Hochschule Luzern)
The episode explores the internationalisation of national identity, highlighting the existing gaps between government and private sector in the digital identity landscape. Guests discuss the shortcomings of current national identity systems when it comes to cross-border interoperability and the political hurdles hindering global recognition.
Episode 4: Blockchain Meets eIDAS 2.0
Hosts: Eike Hass (IOTA Foundation) and Graeme Hampton (Independent Advisor)
Guest: Alex Tweeddale (cheqd)
The episode explores the role of blockchain in the future of digital identity under eIDAS 2.0, focusing on legal entity trust, privacy safeguards, and the shift toward digital identity wallets. Guest, Alex Tweeddale (cheqd), discusses regulatory challenges, the potential of decentralised identifiers, and the balance between innovation and control in the EU digital infrastructure.
Episode 5: Financial Crime
and Digital Identity
Hosts: Eike Hass (IOTA Foundation) and Graeme Hampton (Independent Advisor)
Guest: Irina Gorbach (Crystal Intelligence)
The episode explores fraud prevention in blockchain ecosystems by focusing on digital identity and risk analytics. It highlights emerging fraud schemes, criminal evasion tactics, and the importance of behavior-based identity for compliance. Topics include risk-based KYC, programmable identity, and how interoperability and explainability can enhance trust in decentralised environments.
Episode 6: Privacy in the Spotlight:
How Technology Measures Up
Hosts: Eike Hass (IOTA Foundation) and Graeme Hampton (Independent Advisor)
Guests: Ingrid Vasiliu-Feltes (Institute for Science, Entrepreneurship and Investments) and Gabriel Sánchez-Román Urrutia (Halborn)
The episode explores the evolving role of privacy in digital identity, examining how regulation, technology, and governance intersect to shape trust. Guests discuss the impact of eIDAS 2.0 on privacy by design, the potential of zero-knowledge proofs to protect personal data, and the importance of user-friendly adoption. The conversation also highlights the risks and opportunities at the convergence of blockchain, AI, and IoT, and considers how future systems can balance security with individual control.
Episode 7: The European Blockchain Sandbox: A Safe Space for Risk & Growth
Hosts: Eike Hass (IOTA Foundation) and Graeme Hampton (Independent Advisor)
Guest: Alex Tweeddale (cheqd) and Tom Jansson (IOTA Foundation)
The episode unpacks the European Blockchain Sandbox as a testing ground for compliance and innovation, where regulators and innovators collaborate on digital identity use cases. Guests Alex Tweeddale (cheqd) and Tom Jansson (IOTA Foundation) discuss tokenized KYC for self-hosted wallets, trust registries under eIDAS 2.0, and the principle of keeping personal data off-chain for GDPR compliance. They explore how decentralized systems can meet AML and law enforcement requirements while future-proofing against quantum risks, and emphasize the need for interoperability to bridge fragmented “digital islands” of identity.
Episode 8: The Current State of National Identity: From Pilot to Product
Hosts: Eike Hass (IOTA Foundation) and Graeme Hampton (Independent Advisor)
Guest: Carsten Stöcker (Spherity)
The episode explores Europe’s push toward verifiable digital identity under the eIDAS 2.0 framework, examining the gap between policy ambition and practical implementation. Guests discuss the convergence of citizen and business identity wallets, the role of the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure in ensuring trust and sovereignty, and the emerging intersection of AI and digital credentials.
Episode 9: How AI and Digital Identity Converge to Shape the Future of Trust
Hosts: Eike Hass (IOTA Foundation) and Graeme Hampton (Independent Advisor)
Guest: Horst Treiblmaier (Modul University Vienna)
The episode explores the convergence of AI, blockchain, and digital identity within the European regulatory landscape, including eIDAS 2.0 and the AI Act. The discussion highlights how blockchain can function as a trust layer for AI by providing immutable audit trails and mitigating AI’s inherent trust gaps. Key themes include accountability in complex AI-mediated systems, the protection of individual privacy through decentralisation and user control, and the growing need for trust frameworks to address emerging threats such as deepfakes and synthetic identities.
Episode 10: Confidentiality in Corporate Digital Identity
Hosts: Eike Hass (IOTA Foundation) and Graeme Hampton (Independent Advisor)
Guest: Silvan Jongerius (TechGDPR)
The episode examines the urgent transformation of corporate digital identity and confidentiality in light of Europe’s move toward eIDAS 2.0 legal person wallets. The discussion challenges traditional, document-based company verification models, exposing their inability to guarantee truth, reveal beneficial ownership, or prevent large-scale failures. Key themes include the use of cryptographic verification and selective disclosure to enable cross-border trust without unnecessary data exposure, the balance between corporate confidentiality and transparency, and the potential of reusable, decentralised trust mechanisms to replace today’s fragile, paper-driven systems with a more resilient digital foundation.