The worlds of digital identity and payments are converging faster than ever. The European Commission has officially requested EMVCo to integrate the European Digital Identity Wallet (EUDIW) into the EMV® 3-D Secure (3DS) framework. For those of us in the payments space, this is a game-changer for Strong Customer Authentication (SCA). So how will the EUDIW reshape the 3DS authentication flow in practice?

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Think of the EUDIW as a new, standardized, and highly secure authentication method available within the 3DS flow:
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1️⃣ Initiation: A consumer starts an online payment. The 3DS2 flow is initiated by the merchant and issuer, just as it is today.

2️⃣ Authentication redirect: This is the key change. Instead of being limited to their banking app or SMS OTPs, the consumer can be offered the choice to authenticate using their EUDI Wallet. However, this key change probably poses the biggest challenge. How will the redirect work? Automatically configured by the issuer? Configured by the user in a personal setting? Additional screen to choose authentication method? How will this work across multiple wallet implementations?

3️⃣ Wallet interaction: The user seamlessly authenticates within their government-backed EUDIW using their preferred method (e.g. biometrics or a PIN).

4️⃣ SCA fulfilled: The wallet generates a trusted "Payment Attestation of Identity" that is passed back to the 3DS ecosystem, cryptographically satisfying the SCA requirement. This creates a user-centric, pan-European authentication method that could streamline the checkout experience, reduce friction, and further enhance security.

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There are some additional challenges though:

- Attribute and Credential Mapping 3DS2 relies on minimal identity data (e.g. cardholder name, device info), while EUDI Wallets can carry verifiable credentials (e.g. age, nationality, licenses). The challenge is to define which credentials are needed for 3DS2 flows and how they are requested, consented to, and verified within the wallet framework.

- User Experience and Consent 3DS2 aims for frictionless authentication, while EUDI Wallets require explicit user consent for each credential presentation.

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The challenge is in balancing security and usability, especially in high-speed e-commerce environments, without degrading the user experience.