In a recent conversation with Paul Grassi (Principal Product Manager for Identity Services at Amazon), he mentioned that the ecommerce giant wants to move from verification to acceptance.
Traditionally, Amazon handled all the heavy lifting: scanning physical documents, running credit checks, and matching selfies to confirm a user’s identity. While effective, those steps create extra friction for customers and risk collecting more data than necessary.
Now, Amazon aims to accept digital ID credentials that have already been verified by trusted issuers (like state governments).
In practice, that means if you need to prove you’re over 18, you can tap a button in an app to share just that one fact, without uploading your entire license or typing in personal details.
Here’s why it’s a game-changer:
- Less Friction for Users
- Fewer hurdles during sign-up or checkout, speeding up the purchase of restricted goods (e.g., alcohol or other age-gated items).
- Fewer hurdles during sign-up or checkout, speeding up the purchase of restricted goods (e.g., alcohol or other age-gated items).
- Improved Privacy
- Shares only the specific data point required, like age, rather than your entire address or driver’s license number.
- Shares only the specific data point required, like age, rather than your entire address or driver’s license number.
- A Push Toward Broader Industry Adoption
- Large-scale acceptance accelerates adoption. Other companies, states, and issuers may follow suit when they see a global retailer leading the charge.
Enter Mobile Driver’s Licenses
A key part of Amazon’s plan involves mobile driver’s licenses (mDLs),digital versions of your standard license stored on a smartphone.
Several states have already issued mDLs, while others are in various stages of testing or legislation. Despite the fragmented rollout, Amazon sees itself as a perfect fit for the acceptance model:
Streamlined User Experience
No more scanning or uploading physical documents. Users simply tap to confirm their identity when buying age-restricted goods.
Privacy by Design
mDLs allow minimal disclosure: share “Yes, I’m over 21” rather than handing over your full name and birthdate.
Overcoming Fragmentation
Some states build their own mDL apps; others rely on Apple or Google wallets. Amazon’s approach is to integrate with all viable systems rather than wait for a single national standard.
Solving the Chicken-and-Egg Dilemma
States want a reason to scale up mDL deployment, and major retailers want enough users to make it worthwhile. With a behemoth like Amazon poised to accept mDLs, it may help break the stalemate and spark faster adoption nationwide.
Why It Matters
The growing acceptance of digital verifiable credentials signals a future where verifying your identity online is both faster and more private.
If Amazon successfully streamlines these technologies, it could reshape how we prove who we are for countless transactions, raising the bar for both convenience and data protection.
