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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:

  • 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

Group 2

Group 3

Group 4

Group 5

Group 6

Group 7

Structure & Standards

Identity Data

Access capability

Roles

Examples

Proof/ Presentation

Cryptography

14

10

7

4

6

2

1

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

Group 4

Group 5

Group 6

Group 7

Group 8

Group 9

Key & secret storage

Credential Storage

Agent Controlled

KMS API / Key Mgmt

Wallet Application / Product

Objections / Editorial

Hardware/ Device

DLT

Portability

12

8

6

5

5

2

3

1

1

Wallet

Credential

Agent

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

Group 4

Group 5

Group 6

Group 7

Group 8

Group 9

Group 10

Group 11

Group 12

Representative of Subject

People

Clouds

Controls the wallet

Messaging & Interaction

Edge/ Local

Not relevant / Unclear

Rules or Policy-based

Fees/ Money

Multi-device

DLT

Ownership

12

6

6

6

5

3

2

2

2

1

1

1

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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.

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Credential

Wallet

Agent

Focus on Relationships

Wallet accepts and/or presents credential

Wallet stores keys & cryptographic materials

Wallet stores credentials

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

Wallet stores keys & cryptographic materials

Wallet stores credentials

Credentials used to access wallets

Agents mediate exchange and storage of credentials

Agent helps manage full credential lifecycle

Agent has credentials to prove authority

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.