Sarah Clark, SVP of Digital Identity at Mastercard, discusses Mastercard's ID network and the challenges and opportunities in the reusable identity space. The conversation includes go-to-market strategies, collaboration for a global ecosystem, use cases of reusable identity, decentralized identity approaches, and the future of digital identity in Web3.
Mastercard has developed the ID network, enabling the sharing of reusable identities globally.
An industry-wide ecosystem and collaboration are crucial to support the future of reusable IDs.
Deep dives
MasterCard's ID network and the importance of identity in payments
Sarah Clark, SVP of Digital Identity at MasterCard, discusses MasterCard's ID network and explains how identity is closely related to safer and more secure payments. MasterCard has been actively involved in reusable identity and has developed the ID network, which enables the sharing of reusable identities with trust globally. The company's corporate strategy focuses on creating an ecosystem for scalable and secure identity solutions. The ID network is commercially live in Australia and Brazil, with pilot activities and plans to launch in the UK and US. Clark emphasizes the importance of an industry-wide ecosystem and collaboration to support the future of reusable IDs.
Use cases and strategies for reusable identity
Clark discusses various use cases and strategies for reusable identity. High-frequency use cases, such as age verification, offer value and help drive adoption. Other use cases include university life, where digitally active students require a contiguous knowledge of their digital identity, and single relying parties looking to streamline identity verification and authentication processes across multiple use cases. Clark also highlights the importance of high-assurance use cases, where strong identity verification is crucial, such as wireless providers using reusable IDs to onboard customers. She emphasizes the need for multiple players to come together to create an ecosystem for scalable and globally accepted reusable IDs.
Challenges and solutions in onboarding individuals to reusable IDs
Clark addresses the challenges faced by relying parties when onboarding individuals to reusable IDs. While an app is required for onboarding, relying parties have concerns about redirecting users to download a separate app or requiring document scans and selfies within their own app. Clark acknowledges the need to balance individual choice and the requirements of relying parties, highlighting the benefits of using a service that offers minimized data sharing and liability protection. She believes that over time, user experience and data privacy regulations will drive the acceptance of onboarding processes within separate apps.
The future of identity and the role of an open ecosystem
Clark envisions a future where digital identity and Web3 concepts converge, embracing decentralization, individual ownership, and ownership over creative works. She sees strong potential for the pairing of identity and digital currencies in an open ecosystem. However, Clark also recognizes the importance of regulations, governance, and the role of technology giants like Apple and Google. She believes an open ecosystem is necessary to address the diverse needs of relying parties and ensure widespread adoption of reusable IDs.
In this episode, we sit down with Sarah Clark, SVP of Digital Identity at Mastercard, to discuss Mastercard’s ID network.
As one of the world’s largest payments networks, Mastercard has been on the leading edge of reusable identity. Sarah takes us into Mastercard’s corporate strategy related to identity, plus some of the specific go-to-market strategies the company has employed in Australia and Brazil where its network is live.
The conversation continues as Sarah explains why now is the time for reusable identity to take off. We discuss the challenges relying parties and traditional identity verification companies face with the advent of reusable identity as well as how tech giants like Apple and Google will play a role.
And as always, we end the conversation by delving into why Sarah believes that digital identity is the best place to be if you want to work in the cutting edge of technology.