About Me
My name is Franz Geffke. I’m a Senior Identity Engineer at TWIN (IOTA Foundation), where I build the digital identity layer for global trade: verifiable organisational identity, EU Digital Identity Wallet integration, and the trust infrastructure between them. Alongside that I take a small number of independent engagements in digital identity and AI for regulated products.
I’m based in Lisbon, Portugal. I was born in East Germany and have spent most of my career delivering systems in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, with Bangkok as the longest stop. That mix is the point: I’ve shipped identity and health platforms for a Thai provider, co-founded a real-estate platform in Dubai, and now work to EU standards. Reach me at mail@gofranz.com or on LinkedIn.
Work
Fourteen years building production systems across digital identity, healthcare IoT, regulated digital assets and real estate, sometimes as the engineer, sometimes as the founder.
My current focus:
- Digital identity: OID4VP, SD-JWT VC, W3C Verifiable Credentials, KERI/vLEI, OIDC/CIBA, OAuth 2.0
- Regulated AI: AI features inside identity and compliance products, kept within the EU AI Act and GDPR
- Backend systems: TypeScript (Fastify, NestJS), Rust (Actix Web)
- Regulated digital assets: KYC/AML-gated exchanges and asset marketplaces; smart contracts in Move and Solidity
- Healthcare IoT: remote patient monitoring, BLE/WebRTC, real-time gateways handling regulated patient data
I focus on solutions that solve concrete problems and create lasting value, using technology as a tool, not an end in itself.
Some of that experience is available directly. I take a few outside engagements: identity and systems work, building AI into regulated products, or reviewing AI features other teams already shipped. See what I take on.
Experience
| Years | Role | Organisation | What |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 to present | Senior Identity Engineer | TWIN (IOTA Foundation), Berlin / remote | OID4VP verifier interop-tested with the EUDI Reference Wallet; GLEIF vLEI to IOTA DID bridge; OID4VCI credential issuer; Keycloak-based multi-tenant IdP |
| 2021 to present | Principal Engineer, now advisory | Softmax Co., Ltd, Bangkok, Thailand | Digital identity platform (OIDC/CIBA, KYC) backing 10+ partner products; remote patient monitoring; KYC-gated digital-asset exchange and marketplace |
| 2019 to present | Founder | goFranz, Lisbon, Portugal | Independent engagements plus SaaS and open-source products (Formshive, Checkoutbay, GPTMuse, PantherX) |
| 2016 to 2020 | Co-founder and CTO | Sky-Hype AG, later Sky-Hype FZCO, Dubai, UAE | Global real-estate portal; scaled to 50,000 daily active users; seed funding; built the engineering team |
| 2013 to 2016 | Software Engineer | DKKMA Ltd., UK / Malaysia | 20+ client web projects, analytics dashboards |
| 2010 to 2013 | Infrastructure and integration | Q-Windows Thailand, MJM Networks Singapore, VBH Hardware China | Early roles in infrastructure and systems integration |
The resume has the detailed version, formatted for print.
Standards and ecosystems
The specifications I implement day to day, and the bodies behind them:
- OpenID Foundation: OpenID for Verifiable Presentations, OpenID for Verifiable Credential Issuance, High Assurance Interoperability Profile, OpenID Connect and CIBA
- IETF: SD-JWT and SD-JWT VC, OAuth 2.0, JOSE
- W3C: Verifiable Credentials Data Model, Decentralized Identifiers, Bitstring Status List
- European Union: EU Digital Identity Wallet architecture and reference implementation, EU AI Act, GDPR
- GLEIF and Trust over IP: verifiable LEI (vLEI), KERI, ACDC
- IOTA: IOTA Identity (
did:iota), Move smart contracts
“User sovereignty by design” in the footer is a design principle from this field: self-sovereign identity (SSI), where the person or organisation holds their own credentials and discloses only what a transaction needs.
Recent projects
Digital identity · EU
OID4VP Verifier, EUDI Wallet Interop
Berlin, Germany
Organisational identity · Finance
GLEIF vLEI to IOTA DID Bridge
Berlin, Germany
Healthcare
Remote Patient Monitoring System
Bangkok, Thailand
Identity · Mobile
Mobile Authenticator
Bangkok, ThailandBeyond work
New experiences and cultures draw me to live and work in different countries, and with stronger foreign ties comes a different perspective on business and life, which I keep embracing.
I’m a privacy advocate and a supporter of technologies and ideas that promote personal freedom, decentralise certain aspects of power, and are accessible to everyone, now or in the near future.
When I’m not working, I like to disconnect and return to a different era: crackling vinyl, glowing amplifiers and tennis. Here’s what I’m reading: Bookshelf.