Blockchain-based, 100% automated KYC (Know Your Customer) service

ended

Online identity theft / fraud due to database breaches, phishing or malware is a global issue with huge costs. In the first half of 2017, 1.9 billion records were stolen worldwide – up 164% compared to the last six months of 2016 – costing on average €3.1 million per breach. After these hacks, fraudsters use the stolen data to impersonate their victims online in a few hours. Online businesses try to shield themselves from the use of stolen or fraudulent IDs by requesting documents to their customers to assert if ‘they are who they say they are’. These global routines are known as ‘Know Your Customer’ (KYC) checks and they aim to ensure that businesses enroll and transact only with legitimate customers. The major downsides of KYC are the slow, manual and costly processes (up to 100€ per check) that delay enrolment for up to 12 days, and the ‘hoarding’ of ID proofs in company’s servers, degrading personal data protection in case of a breach. KYC is compulsory for regulated services (e.g. banks) to mitigate fraud, money laundering and financing of terrorism, but non-regulated services, e.g. AirBnB or Uber, also do KYC checks to avoid fraud costs and reputation loss. To address the problem of unauthorized uses of a legitimate ID (and fraud attempts with non-legitimate IDs) while protecting the personal data of end-users, Authenteq is developing a blockchain-based, 100% automated, identity proofing service – Authenteq ID – with biometric user authentication, ideal for online services that need a trusted ID for user enrolling or to validate high-risk transactions. With the rise of e-commerce and mobile payments (CAGR of 15.9% in the 2016-2021 period), a substantial growth can be expected on the millions of online KYC checks performed annually. To access the multibillion business opportunity of solving KYC checks online, our objective is to establish solid evidence of the economic benefits of Authenteq ID, and risk-free, seamless operation in representative KYC routines.