Inrupt enters growing digital wallet market with pitch from WWW inventor

Inrupt has launched a digital wallet, which comes with a notable endorsement from an internet pioneer.

A press release says the Inrupt Data Wallet “represents the next evolution of standard, interoperable digital wallets.” It quotes Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web and CTO and co-founder of Inrupt, who says “browsers shaped the Web 1.0 era, and Web 2.0 was all about apps. But Web 3.0 is all about empowered individuals and personal data.”

Inrupt’s entry into the digital wallet sweepstakes promises to accept a wide variety of data and offer users a significant degree of control over how their personal information is shared and used. It offers flexible controls for secure sharing and has been built to be user-friendly for both organizations and individuals, to maximize accessibility. Consent for access is always coupled with each piece of data. The wallet offers white label app code in a single API, and is built on the company’s Enterprise Solid Server (ESS), which is “powering mission-critical deployments of the Solid protocol, the open web standard, around the world,” making it easy to reuse stored data in a wide variety of apps and services.

“It’s clear that digital wallets are the new basecamp for a huge variety of digital activities,” says John Bruce, CEO of Inrupt. “What’s not yet determined is whether this change will reinforce the power of the few, or open new advantages for the many.” It is estimated that more than 60 percent of the world’s population will use digital wallets regularly by 2026. To date, wallets have centered around financial transactions. But diverse use cases for identity verification, age assurance, passports, ticketing and more are on the way.

Organizations, says Bruce, need to assess their wallet strategy, as the world moves away from siloed applications toward a more harmonized, interoperable approach to digital credentials.

“Digital wallets aren’t just for payments anymore. With the Data Wallet adding identity and consent capabilities, they are quickly becoming the gateway to our digital lives and will soon be the main interface used for data sharing, management and collaboration,” says Osmar Olivo, VP of Product at Inrupt. “By moving towards standardization with an underlying infrastructure like Solid, this wealth of information can be used flexibly, securely, and as intended across any sector in order to deliver better services, products, or experiences.”

Article Topics

data privacy  |  data sharing  |  digital ID  |  digital wallets  |  identity management  |  Inrupt  |  interoperability