A national eID and an EU digital identity wallet are not the same thing. A national eID is a country-specific credential that lets you prove who you are within that country’s systems. The EUDI wallet goes further: it is a standardised, cross-border digital container that can hold your national eID alongside other verified credentials, and it works across all EU member states. This article walks through how each one works, what sets them apart, and what this means for organisations preparing for eIDAS 2.0.

How does a national eID actually work?

A national eID is a government-issued digital identity credential that allows a person to authenticate themselves and access services within a specific country. It is issued and managed at the national level, which means each EU member state has its own system, its own technical standards, and its own set of services that accept it.

In practice, a national eID can take several forms: a physical smart card with a chip, a mobile app, or a username-and-password system backed by a verified identity. The Netherlands has DigiD, Germany has the Online-Ausweisfunktion on its national identity card, and Austria has ID Austria. These systems work well within their own borders, but they were not originally designed to work seamlessly across countries.

Under the original eIDAS regulation, member states could notify their national eID schemes so that other countries were obliged to accept them for cross-border public services. That was a step forward, but adoption remained uneven. Many private sector services were not included, and the user experience varied significantly from one country to the next.

What is the EUDI wallet and what can it store?

The European Digital Identity Wallet, or EUDI wallet, is a standardised digital application that EU citizens and residents can use to store, manage, and share verified identity data across borders and across both public and private services. It is the centrepiece of eIDAS 2.0 and is designed to give people a single, interoperable digital identity that works throughout the European Union.

The wallet is not just for proving who you are. It is built to hold a wide range of verified credentials, including:

• A person identification data set (the digital equivalent of your national eID)
• A mobile driving licence
• Educational diplomas and certificates
• Professional qualifications
• Health documents such as the European Health Insurance Card
• Travel documents and digital travel credentials
• Payment authorisation data
• Proof of organisational representation

Large-scale pilots launched in 2023 and running through 2025 tested the wallet across eleven real-life scenarios, from opening a bank account and claiming prescriptions to signing contracts and accessing social security benefits. These pilots involved more than 350 organisations across 26 member states, Norway, Iceland, and Ukraine, and provided valuable feedback that shaped the wallet’s final design for interoperability and security.

What are the key differences between a national eID and an EU wallet?

The core difference is scope and flexibility. A national eID is a single credential issued by one government for use primarily within one country. The EUDI wallet is a multi-credential container that is standardised across the EU, works for both public and private services, and gives users control over exactly what data they share and with whom.

Here is a more detailed comparison:

1. Issuer and governance: A national eID is issued and governed by a single member state. The EUDI wallet framework is governed at the EU level under eIDAS 2.0, with each member state responsible for providing a certified wallet to its citizens.
2. Cross-border reach: National eIDs work primarily within their home country. The EUDI wallet is designed to work across all EU member states by default.
3. What it holds: A national eID typically holds a single identity credential. The EUDI wallet can hold multiple verified credentials from different issuers.
4. Private sector access: National eIDs are mostly used for public services. The EUDI wallet is explicitly designed for private sector use as well, including banking, telecoms, and healthcare.
5. User control: National eIDs present a fixed set of attributes. The EUDI wallet supports selective disclosure, meaning users can share only the specific data point a service actually needs, such as proving you are over 18 without revealing your date of birth.
6. Technical standard: National eIDs vary in technical implementation. The EUDI wallet is built on a common architecture and reference implementation defined by the European Commission.

Can a national eID and the EUDI wallet be used together?

Yes, and in fact the EUDI wallet is designed to build on top of existing national eID infrastructure. The wallet does not replace a national eID. Instead, a person’s national eID is typically used to onboard into the wallet, providing the verified identity foundation from which other credentials are then issued and stored.

In practical terms, a citizen might use their national eID or an existing verified identity to set up their EUDI wallet. Once the wallet is active, it contains a person identification data set that carries the same level of assurance as the national eID, but in a format that is interoperable across borders and usable with a much wider range of services.

For organisations, this means that supporting the EUDI wallet does not require abandoning existing integrations with national eID schemes. Both can coexist. The wallet simply extends what is already possible, and for financial services organisations in particular, this opens up new ways to streamline onboarding and compliance across multiple markets without building separate integrations for each country.

Which organisations are required to accept the EUDI wallet?

Under eIDAS 2.0, certain categories of organisations are legally required to accept the EUDI wallet as a means of identification and authentication. This obligation applies to both public sector bodies and a defined set of private sector entities, provided they currently use electronic identification or strong authentication for their services.

The private sector categories that fall under this obligation include:

• Banks and financial institutions that require strong customer authentication
• Providers of electronic communications services
• Providers of transport services
• Energy providers
• Healthcare organisations that provide patient-facing digital services
• Very large online platforms as defined under the Digital Services Act

For public sector services, the obligation is broader: any public body that already requires electronic identification must accept the EUDI wallet. Organisations that do not currently use any form of electronic identity verification are not automatically required to adopt it, but many will choose to do so as the ecosystem matures. Government organisations are among the first to be directly affected by these requirements.

When should an organisation support the EUDI wallet instead of relying on national eIDs?

An organisation should prioritise EUDI wallet support when it operates across multiple EU countries, serves users who need to share more than just a basic identity credential, or wants to future-proof its compliance architecture under eIDAS 2.0. Relying solely on national eIDs makes sense when your service is limited to a single country and your identity needs are straightforward.

The decision becomes clearer when you consider a few specific situations. If your organisation onboards customers from multiple member states, integrating with each country’s national eID scheme separately creates significant technical overhead. The EUDI wallet offers a single integration point that covers the entire EU. Similarly, if your service involves verifiable credentials beyond basic identity, such as professional qualifications, health data, or educational certificates, the wallet is the only standardised way to handle these at scale.

Organisations in healthcare and pharmaceuticals face a particularly relevant use case: the wallet supports prescription claims and health insurance cards, which means cross-border patient identification and document sharing becomes far more manageable than it is today with fragmented national systems.

There is also a strategic timing argument. In 2026, the EUDI wallet is moving from the pilot phase to live deployment in member states. Organisations that begin preparing their integration and compliance frameworks now will be better positioned than those that wait until the obligation is enforced. The wallet is not a distant future requirement; it is an active transition happening now.

How TrustTech helps with national eID and EUDI wallet integration

Understanding the difference between a national eID and the EUDI wallet is one thing. Translating that understanding into a working, compliant identity infrastructure is another. TrustTech helps organisations navigate exactly this transition, whether they are starting from a national eID integration or building towards full EUDI wallet readiness under eIDAS 2.0.

Working with TrustTech, organisations can:

• Assess their current identity infrastructure and identify gaps relative to eIDAS 2.0 requirements
• Design and implement wallet-ready onboarding flows that reduce friction and drop-off
• Integrate with national eID schemes and the EUDI wallet through a single platform
• Enable reusable, cryptographically verified credentials for KYC, compliance, and qualified signatures
• Meet cross-border interoperability requirements without rebuilding separate integrations per country

TrustTech’s platform is built on European digital identity standards and is designed for regulated sectors including finance, government, healthcare, and pharmaceuticals. Whether you are preparing for a regulatory deadline or looking to improve the digital experience for your users, the right foundation makes all the difference. Get in touch with TrustTech to discuss how your organisation can prepare for the EUDI wallet and the broader shift in European digital identity.