When organisations start exploring digital credential verification, one of the first questions we’re often asked is: “How many credentials can you accept? From how many countries? How many different types?”
It’s a totally fair question which makes sense. When you’re investing in verification capabilities, you want to understand scale, reach, and compatibility. But from our perspective, shaped by years of building both the technology and the trust frameworks behind it, that’s only one part of the picture.
The real opportunity lies in asking the next layer of questions: How do we make sure verification remains future-ready? How do we design for interoperability from day one? That’s where digital trust moves from being a checkbox to a true enabler of transformation.
The numbers don’t tell the full story
You’ve probably heard claims like “We support 200,000 credentials,” or “We accept 16,000 document types from over 100 countries.” Impressive on the surface, but the real question is: what do those numbers actually mean?
In a world built on open, interoperable standards, anyone can invent a new credential type or data format. So, counting them doesn’t tell you much about true interoperability, or whether those credentials will still matter in six months’ time.
What really matters is standards compliance and adaptability: the ability to verify credentials anywhere, anytime. In person, remotely, or through new digital frameworks that are quietly knitting ecosystems together. That’s the heart of real digital trust.
Standards: the real measure of coverage
So, when people ask us about MATTR’s coverage, our answer is refreshingly simple:
'If it’s standards compliant, we’ve got it covered.'
Our digital credential capabilities are built from the ground up on open, interoperable standards. The kind that unlocks freedom, choice, and scalability across digital trust ecosystems.
That’s why we don’t just follow standards like ISO 18013-5, ISO 18013-7, the ISO 23220 series, the Digital Credential API (DC API), and W3C Verifiable Credentials. We’re also deeply involved in shaping how these are implemented around the world. Our team contributes to the global standards and policy communities that are defining the future of digital identity in practice, not just on paper.
But technology alone isn’t enough. Real-world interoperability depends on trust frameworks and governance models. The structures that ensure credentials can be issued, presented, and verified safely within trusted ecosystems. That’s why we align with frameworks like New Zealand’s Digital Trust Framework (NZDTF), Australia’s TDIF, the EU’s ARF, and the NIST NCCOE work in the United States. Together, these efforts are building the scaffolding for privacy, security, and cross-border trust.
By anchoring our work in open standards and recognised governance models, MATTR ensures our solutions stay compliant, interoperable, and ready to evolve as technology and regulation advance.
Perhaps most importantly, this approach means no vendor lock-in. Organisations can connect, verify, and scale across multiple issuers, wallet providers, jurisdictions, and frameworks without re-architecting systems or sacrificing user experience.
For those who love the details (we see you 👀), we’ve gone a step further. Instead of publishing a simple count of countries or credential types, we’ve mapped out the landscape, showing which jurisdictions are already standards-aligned and where adoption is growing fast.
You can explore all of that in our coverage infographic, a snapshot of just how far standards-based credentials have come, and how ready MATTR’s solutions are to verify them all.
Beyond standards: what you really need to ask
Standards compliance is the foundation, but it’s not the whole story.
To build a truly successful verification solution, you need to go deeper. The how, who, and what next questions determine not just what your solution does today, but how it will evolve, scale, and connect within the broader ecosystem tomorrow.
1. How can you accept it?
It’s not just about what credentials you can accept. It’s also about how you can accept them, and equally, how those credentials can be presented to you. Verification is a two-way exchange: your solution must support the right standards, channels, and protocols, but so must the wallets that present those credentials.
Can your verification solution handle both in-person and remote interactions? Can it request and receive credentials through standardised interfaces like the DC API? And crucially, do the wallets you’re working with support those same presentation protocols and workflows?
The how defines your flexibility.
Standards-aligned remote verification, for example, opens up new worlds of possibility, from digital onboarding and age verification to secure access and travel. It enables seamless interactions between ecosystems, jurisdictions, and industries, without custom integrations or endless manual workarounds.
When both verifiers and wallets are aligned to the same open standards, every new compliant participant, whether an issuer, wallet, or verifier, becomes instantly interoperable.
That’s what real coverage looks like.
2. Do you have the right entitlements in place?
OEM wallets (those built directly by device manufacturers) now play a central role in the credential ecosystem. But not every verifier can just plug in and go. Many of these wallets (and others that will follow) require specific entitlements and trust relationships before credentials can even be presented or verified.
This is where the right partner matters. You need a provider with proven integrations across major OEM wallet platforms and the experience to navigate entitlement frameworks confidently. It’s not only about connecting systems, but also about ensuring your organisation is recognised and trusted within the ecosystem, so you can verify securely, reliably, and at scale.
3. Can you keep up with evolving standards?
Digital identity is one of the fastest-moving technology domains today. Specifications like ISO 18013-5 continue to evolve. New versions of the DC API are rolling out. OEM wallet support is expanding rapidly across markets and device types.
Staying compliant isn’t a one-off exercise. It’s an ongoing commitment to evolution and innovation. You need a partner who’s not just keeping pace but helping to set the pace.
At MATTR, we stay ahead of the curve because we’re part of the team that’s laying down the road. We’re active contributors to the global standards and policy communities shaping the frameworks that guide interoperability and trust. That means our technology (and yours) is built not just for what’s now, but for what’s next.
4. Do you have the right trust and certificate infrastructure?
Everything ultimately comes back to trust.
True digital trust isn’t just about verifying credentials. It’s about building an ecosystem where issuers, wallets, and verifiers recognise and rely on one another through shared standards and frameworks.
To move from verification to acceptance, you need:
- Access to trusted issuer certificates and the infrastructure to manage them dynamically.
- The ability to onboard new relying parties, maintain trust lists, and connect seamlessly with OEM and regional trust networks.
This is the foundation of a living, connected trust network, one that supports secure, frictionless interactions across every layer of the digital trust ecosystem.
MATTR’s technology takes care of that complexity behind the scenes, managing trust networks, certificates, and evolving protocols, so you can focus on what matters most: delivering meaningful, trusted experiences for your customers.
Building an open, connected future
Ultimately, “coverage” in credential verification isn’t just about how many credential types you can tick off a list. It’s about how adaptable, interoperable, and future proof your verification solution is.
At MATTR, we build the foundations for an open, connected, and trusted digital future. We take care of the complexity, the standards, the integrations, the trust networks, so you can focus on delivering great outcomes that matter.
When you start by asking the right questions, not just how many credentials you can verify, but how well you can verify them; you unlock a solution built to last.
And that’s where true coverage begins.
