Are you ready
to comply with
eIDAS 2.0?

Regulation (EU) 2024/1183, known as eIDAS 2.0 (“electronic IDentification, Authentication, and Trust Services”) is the update to Regulation (EU) No 910/2014.

It entered into force on May 20, 2024, establishing a European Digital Identity Framework and making cross-border electronic identification a reality.

This article serves as your comprehensive guide to understanding the implications of this eIDAS Regulation revision and outlines the essential steps your company must take to be compliant.

What is eIDAS 2.0?

In June 2021, the European Commission unveiled a proposal to update the existing eIDAS Regulation (No 910/2014).

This proposed update, commonly referred to as eIDAS 2.0, stands as a response to the ever-evolving technological landscape and the dynamic needs of the EU digital market and seeks to improve the security and reliability of electronic identification and trust services.

To accomplish this, the main shift in the regulation is the creation of a unified European Digital Identity with a Digital Identity Wallet as a key component.

While we'll delve deeper into this concept shortly, it's essential to recognize that the new eIDAS regulation encompasses more than just the EU Digital Identity Wallet.

eIDAS 2.0 expands the regulation's scope to include more types of electronic trust services, including electronic registered delivery services, electronic certificates for authentication, and electronic seals for digital documents. This means it regulates new services like attestation of attributes and electronic ledgers, among others.

Moreover, eIDAS 2.0 places a strong emphasis on interoperability and security, which are areas to be improved within the current eIDAS regulation. It achieves this by offering technical standards and specifications to reduce fragmentation and by imposing new security requirements for cryptographic algorithms and key management while increasing the focus on data protection.

Understanding the European Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet

The EUDI Wallet is a mobile application that the Member States will provide free of charge to their citizens, residents, and businesses to store and share digital credentials to verify their identity and personal information across the European Union.

For a full breakdown of how the EUDI Wallet works, see our dedicated guide.

Who is impacted by eIDAS 2.0?

The regulation stipulates that all Member States must introduce at least one European Digital Identity Wallet built on common technical standards aligned with the Architecture and Reference Framework (ARF).

The public sector will be the first to be impacted, as government bodies will be required to accept EU Digital Identity Wallets as soon as they are officially rolled out.

However, the reach of the European Digital Identity Wallet is not confined solely to the public sector. Private service providers required to use strong user authentication for online identification, including those in transportation, energy, banking and finance, social security, healthcare, telecommunications, and education, must accept European Digital Identity Wallets as an authentication method.

Additionally, very large online platforms (with more than 45 million users), which require user authentication for accessing their services, are also obligated to accept and facilitate the use of European Digital Identity Wallets.

It's essential to stress that for users, the use of the wallet is optional. However, the objective is to equip over 80% of the European population by 2030 with a digital wallet that will allow them to prove their identity and authenticate themselves when accessing online services.

In fact, the Europe Decentralized Identity Market is projected to experience substantial growth, with a forecasted CAGR of 77.8% during the period from 2022 to 2028.

When is eIDAS 2.0 mandatory?

Last reviewed: April 2026

eIDAS 2.0 entered into force on May 2024 and in late 2024 the initial core Implementing Acts were adopted.

Member States have to provide Digital Identity Wallets within 24 months after the adoption of the Implementing Acts, and impacted organizations will have to accept them as an authentication method in the following year.

This sets the deadline for the Member States and public sector acceptance in late 2026 and for the private sector-impacted organizations in late 2027.

What happens if your organisation doesn’t comply with eIDAS 2.0?

Organisations that delay compliance risk sanctions, non-compliant KYC/AML processes, and reduced legal certainty in digital transactions.

They may also face barriers to onboarding users and delivering cross-border services as wallet acceptance becomes mandatory in key sectors.

Beyond compliance, late adoption leads to higher integration costs, rushed system changes, and fragmented user experiences. It also increases exposure to fraud, disputes, and liability due to weaker trust frameworks.

Meanwhile, early adopters will benefit from faster onboarding, better UX, and stronger trust—leaving lagging organisations at a clear competitive disadvantage.

Why is eIDAS 2.0 an opportunity for organizations?

The introduction of eIDAS 2.0 offers several advantages for organizations:

• Reduce Fraud: Verifiable credentials use advanced cryptography so you can automatically verify data authenticity and issuer organization.
• Increase User Conversions: Reduce drop-off rates during onboarding with passwordless access and one-click compliant identity verification.
• Enhance Security: Reinforce protection with biometrics, strong encryption, and distributed storage to reduce the risk of data breaches.
• Cut costs: Reduce operational expenses related to customer identity verification processes, compliance, and data storage.

How to prepare for eIDAS 2.0 Regulation: Step-by-Step Checklist

Step 1: Understanding eIDAS 2.0 Requirements

Start by gaining a solid understanding of the eIDAS 2.0 regulation and its specific requirements for your organization.

Step 2: Building a Pilot

Conduct a pilot project to gather insights and refine the user experience before implementing digital identity wallets organization-wide. Here's what you should do:

a. Assess Current Systems and Processes:

• Processes: Evaluate your organization's existing identity verification and authentication processes.
• Data: Identify which customer data you are collecting and their sources of trust (who issues/attests to the veracity of the information)
• Systems: identify which systems are used in customer onboarding, authentication and data storage processes.

b. Define Specific Use Cases:

• List several use cases and evaluate complexity, necessary stakeholders, generated impact, and capability to scale.
• Choose one that allows you to demonstrate the benefits and that can be expanded gradually to a larger customer base as you gain experience.
• Beyond identity verification and authentication processes, explore the possibility to issue credentials to your users.
• Create user stories and journey maps to visualize how users interact with the ID Wallet in the selected use case.
• Estimate volumes for active users and issued credentials.

c. Choose the Right Technology Partner:

Select a digital identity technology solution, such as Gataca, that complies with the EUDI Wallet and eIDAS 2.0 standards and requirements.

Consider factors like deployment options (on-premise versus cloud strategies), industry expertise, implementation times, scalability, customization, user-friendliness, and support quality.

Step 3: Incremental Scaling

A successful pilot serves as a foundation for incremental scaling.

• Expand the use of wallets to different and more complex use cases or to a larger user base.
• Promote and educate your user base on using digital identity wallets for authentication and facilitate customer support if needed.
• Establish ongoing monitoring and auditing procedures to ensure continuous compliance with eIDAS 2.0.

How can Gataca help?

Our solutions are aligned with eIDAS 2.0 and EUDI Wallet specifications, ensuring compliance with the regulation.

Talk to us to explore how our solutions can cater to your organization's specific compliance needs.

The European Digital Identity (EUDI), a key component of the recently approved eIDAS 2.0 regulation, is a cross-border digital identity initiative set to transform identity verification online.

Using an ID wallet, known as the EUDI Wallet, the European Digital Identity will allow users to identify and prove facts about themselves online in a simple, private, and secure manner.

It will be available to all citizens, residents, and businesses in the European Union in 2026—although some governments already have beta versions, while others are running pilot initiatives.

As an organization, you may be impacted by this regulation, having to accept EUDI Wallets as a new authentication method. In this article, we’ll look into the EUDI Wallet, why it is needed, and how to prepare for it with Gataca.

What is the European Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet?

The EUDI Wallet is a free mobile app that the Member States will make available to both individuals and businesses to store and share verifiable credentials, which are digital documents and attestations for identification.

Therefore, the EUDI Wallet makes it easy for users in the European Union to prove their identity and share personal information online, whether for government services, online shopping, or other internet platforms.

Imagine it as the digital wallets you use for payments on your phone, such as Apple Pay or Google Pay, but going one step further, storing credentials like national IDs, passports, diplomas, health records, and more.

Additionally, with the utmost security and respect for privacy, the EUDI wallet will enable you to control your data across the web, letting you decide what information to share, with whom, and when.

According to the regulation, each member state can decide whether to develop its own wallet, mandate a specific wallet provider, or create an open market for private wallet providers while certifying selected solutions.

Nonetheless, all EUDI Wallets will be standardized across the EU and accepted by all member states, opening up new possibilities for cross-border activities.

Are EUDI Wallets replacing existing ID documents and digital identity systems?

It is important to note that the EUDI Wallet won't replace the current physical documents, as its usage is optional. Instead, it provides a portable and convenient digital version of these documents that is equally valid.

Also, for now, the EU Digital Identity Wallet won't replace existing identity management systems; it will work alongside them.

Must your organizations accept ID Wallets for authentication?

The European Digital Identity Wallet isn't just for government services.

Private service providers in industries like transportation, energy, banking, finance, social security, healthcare, telecoms, and education that use strong user authentication, as well as large online platforms with over 45 million users, must also accept and facilitate the use of European Digital Identity Wallets. The deadline for this is late 2027.

However, even if the regulation doesn't impact your business, it is important to note that the goal is to have over 80% of Europeans equipped with a digital wallet by 2030, so you would benefit from embracing them.

And this is not just in the European Union. Initiatives worldwide are adopting ID Wallets and verifiable credentials, suggesting global adoption and interoperability in the next years.

Why do we need the EUDI Wallet?

Existing digital ID systems in the EU have notable shortcomings, such as being limited to certain online services and lacking cross-border recognition.

Moreover, as digital transactions and interactions grow, so does digital crime. As a result, digital services often require lengthy and complicated identity verification processes to protect against cyberattacks, which affects the user experience.

On top of this, when apps or websites prompt us to create new accounts or sign in through other platforms like Google, we don’t really know what happens to our data.

To address these challenges, ID Wallets, particularly Self-Sovereign Identity Wallets, prioritize security, privacy, and user experience while ensuring interoperability, which is why the European Union introduced the EUDI Wallet.

Benefits of the EUDI Wallet

The advantages of using EUDI Wallets can vary depending on your situation, but one thing is certain: adopting them benefits both your organization and your clients.

Benefits for organizations

• Increase Security: EUDI Wallets use biometrics, strong encryption, and distributed storage to minimize the risk of large-scale data breaches.
• Enhance User Experience: ID Wallets give users passwordless access to online services, eliminating friction during onboarding and lowering abandonment rates.
• Slash Costs: Save costs by reducing operational expenses related to customer identity verification processes, compliance, and data storage.
• Reduce Identity Fraud: Verifiable credentials use advanced cryptography so you can automatically verify their data authenticity and issuer organization.
• Lower Admin Burden: Ease operational processes by reducing paperwork and verification hurdles.

Benefits for individuals

• Simple Identity Verification: ID Wallets eliminate the need to repeatedly provide the same info and facilitate identification online with just one click, speeding up verification.
• Cross-border Interoperability: The EUDI Wallet is designed to work seamlessly across different industries and countries, not limited to the European Union.
• Privacy and Control: Using an ID wallet, users gain greater control over their personal information, choosing what data to share and with whom.
• Top-notch security: Personal information stays secure as EUDI Wallets use strong cryptographic security.

What can you do with the EUDI Wallet?

The EUDI Wallet allows you to access a wide range of services and transactions across the European Union, both online and offline.

This includes applying for public services, opening bank accounts, university applications, proving your identity, storing medical prescriptions, or securing transactions without carrying paper copies of ID documents or dealing with scanned copies.

Practical Example

Imagine applying for a master's degree. Normally, this process involves sending multiple documents and lots of back-and-forth communication if anything's missing. Plus, cross-border programs like ERASMUS face challenges due to different document formats and language barriers.

With the European Digital Identity, a student would simply respond to the university's verification request by selecting the required documents stored in their wallet, all in a standard format. For example, the student might select a national ID and an Academic Diploma issued by the government and their educational institution.

The university instantly verifies the information using the already verified, cryptographically signed Verifiable Credentials. And just like that, the student is onboarded and granted access to the student portal for their Master’s degree—all in seconds!

The state of digital identity in the EU

Last reviewed: April 2026

Several Member States have launched national EUDI Wallet implementations ahead of the formal deadline, including France (France Identité), Austria (eAusweise), and Italy (IT-Wallet), and many others have announced their development.

For a more detailed snapshot of the EUDI Wallet initiatives, see our dedicated article → A Global Snapshot of ID Wallets

Additionally, Large Scale Pilots are testing the EUDI Wallet and providing real-world feedback shaping the final ARF specifications. Two Large Scale Pilots are currently active, with four having concluded their work.

Gataca participates currently in the WE BUILD Consortium and has previously been part of the DC4EU and VECTOR consortia.

Technical challenges

The Architecture and Reference Framework (ARF) (now in version 2.8 as of April 2026) is a collaboratively developed “toolbox” document that guides how to implement the EUDI Wallet in practice with architectural plans & best practices.

It is continuously refined via member State input, large scale pilots and industry feedback, but here are some ongoing debates:

W3C vs ISO

Two dominant standards for digital credentials, ISO/IEC 18013-5 (mDL) and the W3C Verifiable Credentials Data Model, are being discussed.

The EU plans to support both for the EUDI Wallet. However, finding ways for these seemingly incompatible standards to coexist and interoperate is under debate.

SD-JWT

There's a debate about the best method for implementing selective disclosure for Verifiable Credentials. Selective Disclosure for JSON Web Tokens (SD-JWTs) is the method selected in the EUDI Wallet ARF as it offers advantages in terms of ease of implementation and standardized formats.

However, other mechanisms, such as Monoclaim Credentials, BBS+ signatures, selective disclosure predicates, and zk-SNARKs, may provide more specialized capabilities or stronger privacy guarantees in specific use cases.

CAs vs DIDs

Certification Authorities (CAs) and Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) represent contrasting approaches to managing digital identities within a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI).

The current debate is whether DIDs should be built on distributed ledger technologies like blockchain and centralized PKIs, bringing an intermediary perspective to these approaches.

Preparing for EUDI Wallets

Setting up authentication with digital identity wallets and being able to interact with all +27 EUDI Wallets is easier than you think and although the deadline for private organizations is in 2027, we recommend starting a pilot to test and refine your systems.

Solutions like the Gataca are already available and aligned with the EUDI wallet standards and requirements so you can start interacting with all available wallets for identity verification and authentication with full compliance of eIDAS 2.0.