FAQ

The UWI provides a suite of enterprise-grade services that enable businesses to offer wallet-based products, services, and experiences to their own customers.

Any exchange of data requires coordination among stakeholders that fall into four common types of roles:

• Wallet Holders who have agency of the wallet and its contents

• Data Providers or Issuers who generate the data, credentials, or tokens

• Data Consumers or Receivers who request, verify, or otherwise consume the data, credentials, or tokens

• Network Operators who govern and define the standards for interactions with the ecosystem

To amplify the utility of UWI and better facilitate interactions and exchange of value between businesses and customers, we provide a comprehensive set of services designed to be used by each type of role.

The 5 services that underpin the platform are:

• Wallet Solutions: SDK and APIs for enterprises to integrate, embed, or build a secure wallet

• Credential and Token Management: Functionality to create, transact, manage, and analyze the use of credentials and tokens

• Data Verification and Exchange: Privacy-preserving services that facilitate the exchange of data and value to personalize experiences and streamline customer acquisition

• Network Orchestration: Ecosystem and governance management tools to ensure trust and compliance across network participants

• AI Agent Network Orchestration: A service that is natively enabled by UWI and allows for multiple autonomous AI agents to be trained and act upon the data (money, identity, objects, entitlements) users gather in their wallet applications.

These UWI services will enable enterprises and the ecosystems they participate in to unlock interoperable, seamlessly orchestrated experiences for their end-consumers. The UWI services are intended to be modular, so they can be used selectively or in combination, depending on how an enterprise chooses to integrate and deploy UWI.

We are seeing clear signs that the external environment (1) policies/regulation, (2) technology, (3) the broader consumer perspective has already begun to transition from its infancy to an expansion phase. This is the time for consumer centric businesses to start their journey towards a user-centric data model, underpinned by Universal Wallet Infrastructure.

1) Policies/Regulation

• Due to stricter regulations such as GDPR and CCPA, and the elimination of third-party cookies, there is a significant pressure cost on companies to securely store, manage, and delete user data upon a user’s request.

• Government implementation of digital wallets is progressing rapidly in various countries, as evidenced by EU Digital Identity Wallet (EUDIW, which will be applicable to all 27 member states of the EU and is expected to be enforced within 36 months from November 2024), Singpass, Hong Kong ID, and BankID (an electronic identification system in Sweden).

2) Technology

There are a series of technological tipping points we are seeing:

• Web3 – powered by DLT/Blockchain – is a proven tech foundation that enables immutable, tamper-proof, and user-controlled capabilities that are needed for a user-centric model. Web3 has proven its resilience and relevance, with investments in the space5 bouncing back recently, we see meaningful momentum.

• Digital wallet technology usage is expanding, as we see Apple and Google enable key elements of identity, money, and objects; while neither provider enables the full suite of services that we think are required for a user centric model, we do see both providers making a gradual progress towards identity, money, and objects.

• Authenticity, relevance, and data protection in the Age of AI is a rising concern. AI will need a decentralized counterbalance that ensures trust across a global set of enterprise and consumers; moreover, AI will need permissioned, end-user data to deliver optimal, personalized end-user experiences.

3) User and Ecosystem Readiness

In the last year we have seen the launch of two major industry-wide collaboration initiatives:

• Global Acceptance Network (GAN), a non-profit initiative spanning multiple enterprises, seeks to establish a trust layer for the Internet by setting the standards and governance for the cross-ecosystem exchange of verifiable data.

• Open Wallet Foundation (OWF), a consortium of companies and non-profit organizations collaborating to drive global adoption of open, secure and interoperable digital wallet solutions as well as providing access to expertise and advice.

• We are also seeing a lot of interest from a wide-ranging set of enterprises since we commenced the Universal Wallet Infrastructure work. There is a growing list of clients who want to collaborate on the UWI concept and have bought in to share requirements for our Minimum Viable Product (MVP) build.

Consider an individual consumer. If one were to think of identity alone, they manage so many different identities – as a citizen of a country, as contributor to a pension plan, as an insured person, as an investor, as an employee of a company, and as a user of loyalty program of various brands.

Often the same information is required across these various identities such as legal name, age, physical characteristics, residential address etc. Yet the same information must be separately shared for each one of these applications, with due diligence carried out and maintained by different organizations.

The moment digital money and digital objects enter the fray, the situation moves from static to dynamic with all the continuous transactions between various people and organizations across various platforms. The complexity grows multifold.

UWI resolves these complexities by bringing to bear the key components of an individual’s identity, money, and objects seamlessly across an individual’s various brand and organizational relationships.

The UWI platform leverages a modern and robust technology stack to facilitate secure and efficient data exchange and orchestration.

• Decentralized Architecture: UWI employs a decentralized architecture, potentially built on blockchain technology or a distributed ledger system. This ensures data integrity, transparency, and resilience, as there is no single point of failure.

• APIs and SDKs: Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and Software Development Kits (SDKs) are crucial for seamless integration with various systems and applications. UWI provides well-documented APIs and SDKs to enable data providers and consumers to connect to the platform and exchange information securely.

• Secure Communication Protocols: Secure communication protocols, such as HTTPS and TLS, are employed to encrypt data transmitted between different parties, ensuring confidentiality and preventing unauthorized access.

• Data Standardization: UWI enforces data standardization through schemas or defined data formats. This ensures interoperability between different systems and facilitates efficient data exchange.

• Smart Contracts: If built on blockchain technology, UWI will utilize smart contracts to automate certain processes, such as data access agreements and payment settlements. This enhances efficiency and reduces reliance on intermediaries.

• Privacy-Enhancing Technologies (PETs): UWI could incorporate various PETs, such as differential privacy or homomorphic encryption, to further protect user data while enabling data analysis and utilization.

• Monitoring and Auditing Tools: Comprehensive monitoring and auditing tools track data flow, network activity, and system performance. This helps ensure security, identify potential issues, and maintain regulatory compliance.

The specific technologies used in the UWI platform may vary depending on the implementation and specific requirements. However, the core principles of security, interoperability, and privacy will guide the selection and integration of these technologies.

These are some of the key areas in which we are implementing AI technologies in UWI.

• Training Data Provisioning: UWI will serve as a data guardian for AI agents on training data on user preference & context for data sharing.

• Multi Agentic AI Network Enablement: Integrates with multi agentic AI architectures to facilitate secure cross agent and cross enterprise data interchange.

• Trusted Data Infrastructure: UWI will incorporate built-in AI agents seamlessly integrated and operated on a trusted and privacy-preserving infrastructure

By serving as a data guardian, integrating with multi-agent architectures, incorporating built-in AI agents, and ensuring secure, scalable networks, UWI is poised to drive significant advancements and trust in AI technology and its applications.

We are seeking enterprises who are interested sufficiently in this space to sign a Letter of Intent (LOI) to collaborate with NTT Digital and Accenture. The basic premise of the LOI is that the enterprise will commit time to partnering with us on key components that will help us get product/market fit right for LOI participants:

1. use cases specific to the enterprises

2. the target audiences for said use cases,

3. the value potential across priority use cases,

4. and the experience and technology requirements that matter most.

We will seek to cover these insights through design thinking workshop(s). Moreover, LOIs will get early access to the roadmap and initial product concepts/PoCs to help shape the outcomes that matter most to their individual organizations and their users.

We plan a series of rapid drops over the next 18+ months starting Q3 2024 as we release new UWI functionality, engage the ecosystem of collaborators, and activate the market through announcements and publications.

This timeline will continue to evolve. To stay up to date on the latest, sign up to join us as an LOI participant.

Recommendations for push notifications in mobile applications will continue to rely on the push notification services provided by the underlying operating systems. The user experience will remain consistent, delivering the expected functionality and experience without change.

The key difference with UWI lies in the diverse range of data sources that feed into the recommendations. Unlike traditional systems, UWI integrates a combination of personal information, profile data, user preferences, public data, and contextual insights powered by embedded AI agents. These elements work together to generate highly personalized and relevant recommendations for each user.

What sets UWI apart is its ability to leverage data sharing across multiple parties involved in a given activity. This collaborative data exchange enables more accurate and timely recommendations by drawing from a broader spectrum of information. AI-driven contextual awareness further enhances the user experience by adapting to changing circumstances, user behaviors, and environmental factors in real time.

As a result, UWI can deliver more effective, timely re-engagement with users, ensuring that the suggestions and notifications they receive are not only relevant but also aligned with their specific needs and current context. This integrated approach ensures a richer, more personalized experience, fostering stronger user engagement and satisfaction.