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What is a Wallet?

For CCG from Community Glossary Group hosted at DIF

Presented by Kaliya Young, MSIMS

Identity Woman

kaliya@identitywoman.net

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Process - asked for community input

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Categorization of Responses:

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  • Digital ethnography meets service design
  • Inductive sorting process with chairs and community contributors
    • Create groups from responses
    • Rank groups from highest to lowest number of responses
    • Gather insights from breadth and depth of groups

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Analysis using a cluster “post it note” process

Group 1

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Group 2

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Group 3

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Group 4

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Group 5

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Group 6

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Group 7

Structure & Standards

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Identity Data

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Access capability

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Roles

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Examples

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Proof/ Presentation

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Cryptography

14

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10

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7

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4

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6

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2

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1

Group 1

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Group 2

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Group 3

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Group 4

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Group 5

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Group 6

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Group 7

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Group 8

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Group 9

Key & secret storage

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Credential Storage

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Agent Controlled

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KMS API / Key Mgmt

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Wallet Application / Product

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Objections / Editorial

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Hardware/ Device

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DLT

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Portability

12

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8

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6

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5

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5

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2

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3

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1

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1

Wallet

Credential

Agent

Group 1

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Group 2

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Group 3

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Group 4

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Group 5

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Group 6

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Group 7

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Group 8

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Group 9

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Group 10

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Group 11

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Group 12

Representative of Subject

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People

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Clouds

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Controls the wallet

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Messaging & Interaction

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Edge/ Local

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Not relevant / Unclear

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Rules or Policy-based

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Fees/ Money

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Multi-device

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DLT

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Ownership

12

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6

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6

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6

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5

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3

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2

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2

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2

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1

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1

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1

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Aggregated Descriptions (Agent, Wallet, Credentials)

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  • Credentials:
    • Credentials provide structured standards for accessing identity data

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  • Wallets:
    • Provide storage of keys, credentials, and secrets, often facilitated or controlled by an agent.

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  • Agent:
    • SIMPLE: Dictionary definition: 
“a person or thing that takes an active role or produces a specified effect”

    • NUANCED: An agent is a software representative of a subject (most often a person) that controls access to a wallet and other storage, can live in different locations on a network (cloud vs. local), and can facilitate or perform messaging or interactions with other subjects.

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Credential

Wallet

Agent

Focus on Relationships

Wallet accepts and/or presents credential

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Wallet stores keys & cryptographic materials

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Wallet stores credentials

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Credentials used to access wallets

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Credential

Wallet

Agent

Focus on Relationships

Agents may have wallets

Wallets can be agents

Agent stores credentials, keys, and /or messages in wallet

Agents let you work with and connect to wallets

Agents support delegation

Agents backup wallets

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Credential

Wallet

Agent

Focus on Relationships

Wallet accepts and/or presents credential

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Wallet stores keys & cryptographic materials

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Wallet stores credentials

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Credentials used to access wallets

Agents mediate exchange and storage of credentials

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Agent helps manage full credential lifecycle

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Agent has credentials to prove authority

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Agents perform vetting or verifier functions

Agents may have wallets

Wallets can be agents

Agent stores credentials, keys, and /or messages in wallet

Agents let you work with and connect to wallets

Agents support delegation

Agents backup wallets

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Aggregated Descriptions (Agent, Wallet, Credentials)

​

  • Credentials:
    • Credentials provide structured standards for accessing identity data

​

  • Wallets:
    • Provide storage of keys, credentials, and secrets, often facilitated or controlled by an agent.

​

  • Agent:
    • SIMPLE: Dictionary definition: 
“a person or thing that takes an active role or produces a specified effect”

    • NUANCED: An agent is a software representative of a subject (most often a person) that controls access to a wallet and other storage, can live in different locations on a network (cloud vs. local), and can facilitate or perform messaging or interactions with other subjects.