The OpenWallet Foundation (OWF) has added Google as a premier member and bolstered its objective to drive open-source interoperability. When commenting on the inclusion of Google Wallet as a member of the foundation, a representative from the OWF explained the decision by emphasising Google’s position as a leader in the wallet space.

They further added that they expect that, by leveraging Google’s expertise in the domain, the OWF will advance its goal of creating a healthy wallet ecosystem. Google Wallet’s joining of the OWF has been explained as an example of the growing recognition of the importance of open-source software for digital wallets. MOSIP’s new projects Apart from announcing Google as its premier member, the OWF additionally reported that it welcomed its first code contribution from the Modular Open Source Identity Platform (MOSIP).

As an open-source platform created to implement digital identity systems at a national scale, MOSIP became a member of the OWF since the launch of the foundation, earlier in 2023. However, the newly announced contribution reportedly marks the start of the development of components for an open-source software engine specifically designed for portable and secure digital wallets. Moreover, as outlined in the official statement, MOSIP plans to contribute code components for the issuance of verifiable credentials and for BLE-based credential sharing, based on OpenID specification.

The components have purportedly been developed as part of MOSIP’s mobile wallet suite Inji. When providing input regarding the latest announcement, a representative from MOSIP stated that the platform shares the OWF’s goals of creating open, secure, and interoperable systems for transactions. They also added that they believe that, in the future, digital wallets will play an important role in shaping how people use their digital IDs.

The OWF’s strategy and past developments The OWF is a project of the Linux Foundation Europe. More precisely, the foundation exists as a collective of companies and non-profit organisations that joined forces in a bid to drive global adoption of open, secure, and interoperable digital wallet solutions. The OWF also seeks to provide access to expertise and advice through its Government Advisory Council.

One of the additional goals of the OWF is to define a set of best practices when it comes to digital wallet technology. The foundation aims to do so by encouraging collaboration between its members on defining standards-based OSS components that issuers, wallet providers, as week as other parties can use to initiate implementations that preserve user choice, security, and privacy. .