Developing eIDAS 2.0-Compliant Digital Identity Platforms

With the European Union’s introduction of eIDAS 2.0 and the EUDI Wallet framework, organizations must focus on creating eIDAS 2.0-compliant digital identity platforms. These platforms need to meet strict regulatory standards and provide better user experiences. This shift in regulation is not just about compliance; it offers a chance for businesses to create more secure, compatible, and reliable identity solutions.

New regulations will soon require large private sector companies to accept these digital identity solutions. This makes early adoption a competitive edge. Organizations that invest in compliant platforms now will be in a better position to navigate the changing rules, build customer trust, and take advantage of new business opportunities. 

With years of experience in crafting secure, compliant digital identity platforms, we’ve seen firsthand the impact of eIDAS 2.0’s evolving regulations. IdeaUsher understands the intricate details of this framework and how it shapes the future of digital identity. This is why we’re sharing our insights through this blog: to help you get started on building a platform that’s compliant, secure, and ready for cross-border functionality.

Key Market Takeaways for Digital Identity Platforms

According to MordorIntelligence, the global digital identity market is set for strong expansion, expected to rise from USD 64.44 billion in 2025 to USD 145.80 billion by 2030. A key driver is eIDAS 2.0, which requires every EU member state to issue a digital identity wallet by 2026. This regulation is pushing governments and businesses to adopt solutions that can guarantee security while still delivering smooth, user-friendly access to digital services.

Source: MordorIntelligence

Companies such as Thales, IDnow, and iProov are emerging as front-runners in this shift. Their platforms already meet eIDAS standards and are being deployed in critical areas, from mobile IDs issued by governments to biometric verification in banking. Strategic alliances are accelerating progress: 

Thales works closely with EU states on identity programs, while iProov partners with ING and public agencies to provide trusted liveness verification.

Collaboration across the ecosystem is becoming essential as adoption scales. The European Wallet Consortium, which includes players like NOBID, Thales, and Nets, is building the foundations for wallets that can operate seamlessly across borders. These efforts show how eIDAS 2.0 is not only shaping compliance requirements but also laying the groundwork for a trusted digital economy that extends well beyond Europe.

From eIDAS 1.0 to eIDAS 2.0: A Brief History 

Before diving into the power of eIDAS 2.0, it’s essential to understand where it all began. eIDAS 1.0, introduced in 2014, was a critical first step. It had two main focuses:

• Electronic Identification: It set up a framework for recognizing national eID systems across borders. This meant that if your country had a digital ID, it should be accepted for accessing public services in another EU country.
• Trust Services: It laid down a legal foundation for electronic signatures, timestamps, and other services, giving them the same legal status as traditional paper documents.

While eIDAS 1.0 was an important starting point, it had some limitations. The adoption was uneven, and the framework mainly served public sector needs, often resulting in fragmented user experiences.

The updated eIDAS 2.0 regulation addresses those gaps and accelerates Europe’s digital transformation, with major upgrades.

These changes mark a shift from fragmented national solutions to an integrated, continent-wide ecosystem of trust.

Understanding European Digital Identity Wallets

The European Digital Identity Wallet is the practical tool that makes eIDAS 2.0 a reality. It’s a secure, personal digital container, essentially an app on your phone, that stores your identity data and official documents.

Here’s what the EUDI Wallet aims to do:

• Empower Citizens: Give individuals full control over their personal data.
• Simplify Digital Life: Provide a single, easy-to-use method for identification and authentication across the EU.
• Enhance Security: Reduce the reliance on vulnerable passwords and centralized databases.
• Enable New Services: Open the door for innovative business models that require high levels of trust and verification.

Why the EUDI Wallet is the Centerpiece of eIDAS 2.0?

The EUDI Wallet is more than just a feature; it’s the engine driving the entire regulation. Here’s why it’s so important:

• It Shifts the Power Balance: Instead of organizations holding your data, you control it. The wallet ensures that your consent is required before any data is shared.
• It’s a Unifying Tool: While eIDAS 1.0 focused on connecting different national systems, the Wallet provides a common, standardized interface. This makes cross-border interoperability simple for the average person.
• It Drives Private Sector Adoption: By making the Wallet mandatory for large private service providers, the regulation ensures it becomes a ubiquitous tool, benefitting both users and businesses.

Without the Wallet, eIDAS 2.0 would be just another set of rules. With it, it becomes a transformative platform for the future of digital interactions.

eIDAS 2.0-Compliant Platforms Vs Other Digital Identity Platforms

Today, there are many digital identity solutions, ranging from social logins (“Sign in with Google”) to specialized corporate verification tools. But eIDAS 2.0-compliant platforms are fundamentally different. They represent an entirely new category built on a foundation of law, trust, and user rights.

Here’s what sets eIDAS 2.0 platforms apart:

How eIDAS 2.0-Compliant Digital Identity Platforms Work?

Understanding how eIDAS 2.0-compliant digital identity platforms work requires looking beyond the legal jargon and delving into the seamless technical flow that happens behind the scenes. It’s a well-orchestrated system involving cryptography, standardized protocols, and user consent, all designed to ensure a secure and trusted digital identity experience.

At its core, this process involves three key actors:

• The Issuer: A trusted entity (like a government, university, or bank) that creates and signs digital credentials.
• The Holder: The user, storing and managing credentials via the EUDI Wallet on a smartphone.
• The Relying Party (Verifier): A service (such as a website, bank, or rental car company) that needs to verify something about the user.

Let’s break down how this digital identity ecosystem works from start to finish.

Step 1: The Foundation of Trust 

The journey of a digital identity starts with the Issuer. Before a user can prove anything, they need something to prove. Here’s how that process unfolds:

Onboarding Process

The user initiates the process to obtain a digital version of physical documents. For instance, they may authenticate through a secure government portal using a national ID or bank login.

Credential Issuance

The Issuer (e.g., a government body) generates a Verifiable Credential (VC). This digital file contains identity details (like name, date of birth, nationality) and is signed cryptographically by the Issuer, making it tamper-proof and authentic.

Secure Transfer to the Wallet

Once created, this Verifiable Credential is securely transferred to the EUDI Wallet. The wallet stores the credential using high-end encryption, often leveraging the phone’s Secure Element (hardware security) to protect the private keys tied to the credential.

Step 2: The User in Control 

This is where eIDAS 2.0 truly stands out. Now, the user has control over their data. Here’s how it works when a Relying Party (like an e-commerce site) needs to verify something about the user (e.g., that the user is over 18 for an age-restricted purchase):

• The Request: The e-commerce store sends a precise request to the user’s wallet, asking for a Verifiable Presentation (VP). This could be a request like, “Please prove that you’re over 18.”
• User Consent: The wallet app will display the request, showing exactly what information is being asked for: “[E-commerce Store] requests proof that the user is over 18.” The user will be able to approve or deny the request.
• Creating the Proof: If the user approves, the wallet will use cryptography, specifically Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs), to create a proof. This proof confirms the statement “the holder of this credential is over 18” without revealing the user’s exact birthdate.
• The Presentation: The proof (the Verifiable Presentation) is then sent back to the Relying Party, which can instantly verify its authenticity.

Step 3: The Chain of Verification

How can the e-commerce store trust the proof from a wallet it’s never encountered before? This is where eIDAS 2.0’s decentralized trust model really shines:

Verifying the Signature

The Relying Party’s system checks the cryptographic signature on the Verifiable Presentation. This signature traces back to the private key in the user’s wallet, proving that they are the legitimate holder of the credential.

Trusting the Issuer

Next, the Relying Party verifies that the Verifiable Credential within the presentation was indeed issued by a trusted source, such as a government agency.

The Trust List

How does the Relying Party know which Issuers to trust? It consults the European Trusted Lists, official, publicly available lists of all Qualified Trust Service Providers (QTSPs) and other trusted entities accredited under eIDAS. The government’s root certificate will be listed here, confirming its trustworthiness.

This entire process, from verifying the signature to confirming the Issuer’s trust, happens in milliseconds.

Benefits of eIDAS 2.0-Compliant Digital Identity Platforms

eIDAS 2.0-compliant digital identity platforms make customer onboarding quicker and cheaper, cutting down manual processes and third-party fees. They open up new revenue streams by turning identity verification into a service you can offer to others. 

Business Advantages:

1. Faster, Cheaper Customer Onboarding 

Traditional KYC processes are slow and costly, with long verification times and high third-party fees. With eIDAS 2.0, customers can verify their identity in minutes using pre-verified, government-backed credentials, cutting onboarding costs by up to 80% and increasing conversion rates. This ensures automated, high-assurance compliance with AML regulations.

2. New Revenue Models 

Rather than being a cost center, identity verification can become a new revenue stream. By offering KYC-as-a-Service or Verified Identity services, you can monetize your identity verification system, creating a high-margin revenue model while positioning your company as a central trust anchor in your industry.

3. Seamless Cross-Border Expansion

Expanding into new EU countries is usually complex and costly. With eIDAS 2.0, digital identities are recognized across all EU member states, making cross-border expansion easier and faster. This reduces time-to-market and eliminates country-specific integration and legal complexities.

Technical Advantages:

1. High Interoperability

Proprietary systems create vendor lock-in and costly integrations. eIDAS 2.0 uses open standards like OpenID Connect and W3C Verifiable Credentials, ensuring your platform can easily integrate with other compliant systems across the EU. This makes future integrations faster and cheaper.

2. Future-Proof Compliance

Regulations often change, requiring businesses to retrofit their systems. By building on the EU’s Architectural Reference Framework (ARF), eIDAS 2.0 ensures your platform is designed for long-term regulatory agility, reducing compliance costs and avoiding disruptive re-engineering.

3. Stronger Fraud Prevention

Traditional identity verification methods are vulnerable to fraud. eIDAS 2.0 leverages Qualified Electronic Signatures and secure hardware, making identity spoofing almost impossible. This significantly reduces identity fraud and enhances trust, improving security for all users.

How to Develop an eIDAS 2.0-Compliant Digital Identity Platform?

We specialize in developing secure, scalable, and eIDAS 2.0-compliant platforms for our clients. We ensure that each solution meets EU standards for digital identity and trust services, enabling seamless cross-border functionality. Here’s how we build eIDAS 2.0-compliant platforms for our clients.

1. Align with ARF

We begin by aligning the platform with the Architectural Reference Framework (ARF). Our team maps the technical and compliance requirements to ensure the system meets eIDAS 2.0 standards and adheres to EU regulations for digital identity.

2. Integrate EUDI Wallet

Next, we integrate EUDI wallet functionality, including selective disclosure and attribute-based verification. This allows users to manage and share their identity information securely, ensuring both privacy and compliance with EU requirements.

3. Connect with QTSPs

We then establish secure connections with Qualified Trust Service Providers (QTSPs). This ensures the platform can issue qualified certificates and digital signatures, enabling legally recognized digital transactions across the EU.

4. Cross-Border Interoperability

To support cross-border functionality, we implement standardized APIs like OpenID Connect and SAML. Our team tests and validates interoperability across EU member states, ensuring seamless identity exchange and authentication.

5. Privacy & Security by Design

Privacy and security are integral to the platform’s design. We incorporate secure hardware module, tamper-proof logs, and consent management to protect user data and ensure GDPR compliance from the outset.

6. Test & Certify Compliance

Before launch, we conduct rigorous compliance testing to ensure the platform meets the requirements of eIDAS 2.0. We work with regulators for certification, guaranteeing full legal and technical compliance before deployment.

Tools & APIs for Digital Identity Platforms

eIDAS 2.0 sets clear rules for building secure and interoperable digital identity platforms across the EU. To meet these standards, platforms need the right tools and frameworks for authentication, privacy, and security. Key technologies like OpenID Connect, ZKPs, and HSMs are crucial for ensuring compliance and seamless user experience.

1. OpenID Connect / SAML

OpenID Connect and SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language) are two key protocols for authentication and identity federation. They enable secure and interoperable communication between identity providers (IdPs) and service providers (SPs) across different systems and platforms.

• OpenID Connect: Built on OAuth 2.0, it’s a modern, scalable authentication layer, widely used in web, mobile, and cloud apps.
• SAML: An XML-based protocol, commonly used for SSO in enterprise and government services, with a longer history.

2. Zero-Knowledge Proof Protocols

Zero-Knowledge Proofs let someone prove they know something, like a password, without actually showing it. This is great for selective disclosure, where users can confirm things like their age or nationality without sharing all their personal details. It’s a powerful way to keep privacy intact while proving identity.

• ZKPs play a central role in enhancing user privacy by enabling the verification of claims (e.g., age verification, identity validation) without disclosing sensitive data.
• ZKP Libraries such as zk-SNARKs (Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge) and zk-STARKs (Scalable Transparent Argument of Knowledge) can be integrated into eIDAS 2.0 platforms to ensure that users’ data is not unnecessarily exposed.

3. Hardware Security Modules 

Hardware Security Modules are physical devices used for secure key generation, storage, and management. In the context of eIDAS 2.0, HSMs are critical for ensuring the security and integrity of digital signatures and encryption keys used to authenticate and validate digital identities.

• HSMs are typically used to generate and store private keys securely, ensuring that the keys never leave the device, making them resistant to both online and offline attacks.
• Under eIDAS 2.0, it is a legal requirement for Qualified Trust Service Providers or QTSPs to use HSMs to provide high-assurance electronic signatures and seals.

4. Qualified Trust Service Providers 

A Qualified Trust Service Provider issues digital certificates, signatures, and seals under eIDAS 2.0, ensuring trust and security. Using QTSP APIs, digital identity platforms can integrate with trusted certificate authorities to manage these certificates. This ensures platforms provide legally recognized services, like qualified electronic signatures (QES), across the EU.

5. EU ARF Documentation & SDKs 

The EU ARF documentation and SDKs are crucial for developers building eIDAS 2.0-compliant identity solutions. They provide everything from code samples to best practices, ensuring platforms meet the required regulatory standards. Using these tools helps developers get certified as qualified eID service providers under eIDAS 2.0.

Use Case: Financial Services Integration

Our client, a forward-thinking European fintech startup, wanted to make opening an investment account quick and easy for any EU citizen. However, their current system, bogged down by complex and slow legacy identity verification processes, was holding them back. They needed a solution that could streamline onboarding and scale seamlessly across borders.

• Fragmented Systems: Onboarding customers from other EU countries required navigating a maze of national eID schemes, making the process slow and technically difficult.
• Slow Onboarding: Traditional Know Your Customer (KYC) checks demanded manual document uploads and verification, often taking 5-7 days and resulting in significant customer drop-offs.
• High Costs & Fraud Risk: The manual checks were costly and exposed the company to the risk of document forgery and identity fraud.
• Limited Scalability: The current system prevented the company from expanding seamlessly across the EU.

The need for a secure, universally accepted, and lightning-fast solution was clear. The company had to be ready for eIDAS 2.0, even before it became a regulation.

The Solution

The client turned to Idea Usher to design and implement a robust digital identity platform based on the emerging European Digital Identity Wallet framework. Our team of experienced developers built a seamless integration that allowed the client’s app to:

Initiate a Secure Request

When a new user wants to open an account, the app sends a secure request to pull key identity details, like their name, date of birth, and nationality, from their EUDI Wallet. This ensures that only verified information is used, making the process quick and secure. It’s all about making onboarding seamless while keeping privacy a top priority.

Leverage Selective Disclosure

We used advanced cryptographic protocols to let users share only the necessary info, like proving they’re over 18 without giving away their full birthdate. This ensures their privacy is protected while maintaining trust. It’s all about keeping things secure, simple, and respectful of personal data.

Automate Qualified Verification

The platform automatically verifies credentials by checking Qualified Electronic Signatures from the user’s national trust service provider. This ensures the highest level of security, so both the user and the company can be confident the information is legitimate. It’s a seamless, trustworthy way to guarantee authenticity.

Ensure Cross-Border Interoperability

We designed the solution using the eIDAS 2.0 Architectural Reference Framework, making sure it’s fully compatible with digital wallets from every EU member state. This means it works smoothly across borders, without the technical headaches. The framework ensures everything stays unified and future-proof.

The Outcome: Transforming Compliance 

The results were remarkable, with the client emerging not only as a compliant company but as an industry leader.

Beyond the Numbers: Unlocking New Revenue Streams

The most strategic outcome was the creation of a new revenue stream. With the implementation of a secure, EU-wide verified identity system, the client launched a new B2B service: “KYC-as-a-Service.”

Conclusion

eIDAS 2.0 is more than just a regulation, it’s a catalyst for the digital economy. Businesses that embrace it early will benefit from enhanced trust, streamlined compliance, and a competitive edge in the marketplace. By partnering with experts like Idea Usher, enterprises can seamlessly and securely integrate these platforms, ensuring they stay ahead in an increasingly digital world.

Looking to Develop a Digital Identity Platform?

Navigating the complexities of eIDAS 2.0 can be daunting, but you don’t have to do it alone. At Idea Usher, we bring over 500,000 hours of elite development experience, with a team of ex-MAANG/FAANG developers ready to help you build a future-proof, secure digital identity platform.

What We Offer:

• Selective Disclosure & ZKP Expertise: We specialize in ZKPs, ensuring secure, privacy-first user interactions.
• Cross-Border Interoperability: Our platforms are designed for seamless integration across borders, fully supporting EU-wide interoperability.
• QTSP Certification-Ready: We ensure your platform meets the stringent requirements for Qualified Trust Service Provider (QTSP) certification.

Take a look at our latest projects to see how we bring precision and security to every solution.

Work with Ex-MAANG developers to build next-gen apps schedule your consultation now

FREE CONSULTATION

Free Consultation

FAQs