The Cost of Convenience: What the EU Digital ID Wallet Might Miss

A Framework for Efficiency or Control?

The European Union wants every citizen to have a Digital Identity Wallet by 2026. On paper, it’s a practical tool: one app to store your driver’s license, health insurance, diploma, even log into websites. But that’s exactly why it’s worth slowing down and asking better questions.

A unified digital identity system touches the core of how we interact with the state, with companies, and with each other. Besides efficiency, it brings in discussions about access, trust, surveillance, and autonomy. And depending on how it’s built, it could either empower individuals or centralize control in ways that are difficult to undo.

The European Commission has tried to address early concerns. They’ve stated that the wallet will guarantee “unobservability” — a technical promise that no one, including governments, can see how you use it. But critics are certainly not reassured by language alone.

The German Federation of Consumer Organizations (VZBV) has pointed out that the proposed architecture lacks the transparency necessary for citizens to understand who might access their data and when. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) added that while digital IDs can reduce friction for services like age verification or cross-border enrollment, they also risk entrenching mass surveillance if not backed by robust, decentralized design.

The real friction here it’s political, ethical and philosophical. Who owns identity? Who grants it? And what happens when you lose access to your wallet — do you effectively become invisible?

This is where decentralized identity models offer the most relevant counterpoint so far. Instead of identities being handed down from a central authority, blockchain-based systems allow users to generate, manage, and verify their identities without a single point of failure or control. You prove who you are — not because a government says so, but because cryptographic trust mechanisms validate it.

Teams like the SourceLess Labs Foundation are building real alternatives: systems that store identity information across a distributed ledger, encrypted and owned by the user. These models aim to eliminate the “login with” dependency on governments or tech giants. Instead of asking permission, users assert ownership.

But these alternatives rarely make it into mainstream policy discussions. That’s the risk: a future where convenience wins over caution, where centralization gets repackaged as user-friendliness.

The EU’s Digital Identity Wallet may simplify how we interact with institutions. But without sustained public debate — and a serious look at decentralized designs — it could also normalize a model of identity that looks private but isn’t. And once those systems are live, reversing course won’t be easy.

To learn more about SourceLess Labs Foundation and the technologies behind decentralized identity, visit sourceless-foundation.org and Sourceless .