State of Identity Podcast Series by Liminal

Who Do You Trust With Your Wallet?

·31 min·3 clips

Cameron D'Ambrosi calls the Nordic digital identity system a globe-leading approach that unlocked tremendous value.

The episode begins with host Cameron D'Ambrosi introducing Christopher von Bietzen, Chief Product Officer at Freya EID, and praising the Nordic digital identity approach as globe-leading. Christopher shares his background, moving from communications and media into digital identity by selling himself into a marketing role at Verisec in 2012, later transitioning to product management. He describes Freya as an identity wallet where users store important identity elements, verified once and reusable across services like tax authorities, entertainment, and KYC processes, connecting to hundreds of services. The host categorizes digital identity approaches into central government systems, self-sovereign identity, and public-private partnerships, placing Freya in the latter. Christopher explains Sweden's model, where the government does not issue EIDs but relies on private actors like Freya and BankID, with BankID holding an 80-year monopoly that Freya challenges. He attributes Freya's success to Sweden's societal trust in government recommendations, similar to COVID response, and a well-organized civic registration system with personal identification numbers. The discussion shifts to EU's EIDAS regulations, with Christopher noting Freya's compliance with EIDAS 1.0 but criticizing EIDAS 2.0 for increasing complexity and doubting its feasibility within two years. An analogy is drawn between Freya and Spotify, comparing streaming music to cloud-based identity, highlighting Sweden's collective spirit. Christopher critiques self-sovereign identity for practical issues like lost passwords and lack of legal validation, advocating Freya's hybrid model that combines user control with legal identity verification. He emphasizes user consent in data sharing and contrasts this with big tech data practices. Predictions include a future with one or two digital identities replacing passwords, account-to-account payments underpinned by identity, and reduced friction in KYC. The episode concludes with contact details and a lighthearted note on Swedish patience, referencing ABBA's 40-year album gap.

As heard by us

A Nordic digital identity success story runs into the politics of making European systems work across borders.

Digital identity is treated as a product challenge and a policy problem in this PlayNext episode. Cameron D'Ambrosio's conversation with Christopher von Bietzen, Chief Product Officer at Freya EID, uses the Nordic model as a practical starting point, then follows Freya's…

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Why you'd press play

You get a Nordic digital identity conversation with Freya, then watch EU interoperability turn into a serious systems problem.

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