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As European authorities accelerate efforts to introduce centralized digital identity frameworks, Mastercard is working aggressively to insert itself into the core of this transformation.
The payments giant presents its involvement in the EU’s digital ID agenda as a natural extension of its expertise in secure transactions. Under the branding of “convenience” and “trust” is a much deeper issue: a private corporation with a history of controlling access to commerce is helping to shape how individuals will prove their identity across both public and private life.
Michele Centemero, Mastercard’s Executive Vice President for Services in Europe, has publicly endorsed the European Commission’s ambition to roll out the European Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet to as many as 80 percent of EU citizens by 2030. “By 2030, the European Commission expects up to 80% of EU citizens could use it for everyday tasks like renting a car, signing a lease or verifying age online,” he said. “At Mastercard, we are working to support this evolution.”
According to Centemero, identity verification should feel as seamless as tapping a card. That framing serves Mastercard well, since it also helps justify why a payment processor should be involved in identity infrastructure at all.
The company’s involvement isn’t superficial. Mastercard holds a central role in two major EU-funded pilot programs: the NOBID project and the WE BUILD Consortium.
Both are focused on testing real-world scenarios where identity verification is built directly into the act of making a payment.
Mastercard’s goal is to link verified attributes such as age, student status, or residency to its transaction systems. The result is a system where every purchase can also double as a form of ID verification.
While Mastercard calls this innovation, it also has been accused of tightening its grip on how people access services. The company has already been accused of a willingness to restrict purchases or services based on opaque internal policies. Giving it a hand in identity verification extends that influence into areas that go well beyond finance.
If your access to goods or services depends not just on having the money to pay, but also on Mastercard’s approval of your identity data, the line between public service and corporate control becomes dangerously hard to find.
Online identity verification is already a source of friction for many users. Mastercard points to the fact that over 40 percent of online fraud in Europe involves identity theft and claims that its participation in digital ID development will reduce both risk and inconvenience. But the promise of greater efficiency often masks the loss of autonomy that comes with centralized, corporate-managed identity systems.
The company is also leveraging its role in shaping international standards. Mastercard is a participant in organizations like the FIDO Alliance and EMVCo and is a founding member of the OpenWallet Foundation.
These bodies influence how identity attributes are secured, shared, and verified globally. Mastercard is not only helping define the technical framework; it is working to ensure that its own infrastructure is embedded within it.
In the UK, Mastercard is certified under the government’s Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework (DIATF). This certification allows the company to serve as a provider of orchestration services for digital ID and to plug into national systems like the controversial Gov.UK Wallet.
Through this setup, businesses can verify identity information sourced directly from users’ digital wallets using Mastercard infrastructure.
The company is also looking beyond national borders. It is investing heavily in mobile driver’s licenses, or mDLs, which can be integrated into digital wallets. Mastercard’s Leonard Botezatu has emphasized the value of ISO-standardized mDLs as a way to unify digital ID systems across jurisdictions. “To solve the fragmentation problem, an international standard like the mDL ISO was needed,” he said. The aim is not just interoperability, but global reach.
While Mastercard presents its involvement as necessary to build a modern, secure identity ecosystem, the reality is more complex.
A system where a global payment processor helps define and control the terms of digital identity carries inherent risks. When the same company can deny access to financial services and verify your eligibility to access state or private platforms, it creates a closed loop where individual agency is sidelined in favor of corporate governance.
For digital identity to truly respect privacy and freedom, it must be designed with decentralization, transparency, and user control at its core.
Handing that responsibility to a company with a financial interest in expanding its reach into identity infrastructure undermines that goal. The EUDI Wallet may offer technical efficiency, but the cost could be long-term erosion of personal control over identity itself.
