KYC Solutions: Interview with IdentityMind Global Product Management Leader Faisal Nasar

IdentityMind Global in Palo Alto, California, United States, provides an SaaS platform that builds, maintains, and analyzes digital identities worldwide, allowing companies to perform identity proofing, risk-based authentication, and regulatory identification while detecting and preventing identity fraud.

The company believes that KYC solutions are valuable for every ICO.

Applicature spoke with IdentityMind about fundamental KYС advantages as well as what it takes to implement it in a cryptocurrency project.

How does KYC protect an ICO project from potential risks?

ICOs are an amazing way for companies to raise funds. This year, over $9 billion has been raised, which is more than all of last year. However, there are regulatory requirements, and doing KYC and all the other regulatory stuff protects companies from having to shut down or give the funds back. Our responsibility is to help ICOs conduct a compliant offering so they don’t have to worry about KYC and AML regulatory issues.

What are KYC requirements for an ICO?

KYC requirements differ, depending upon which country you’re located in. In the U.S., it’s important to review the:

• IP and device
• physical address of a person’s residence
• government-issued document
• sanctions check

In Canada, it’s important to perform a single- or dual-source validation. Without this, you’re not compliant in this country. In Switzerland, KYC requirements depend upon what your company does.

However, all countries expect you to conduct customer due diligence to the standard of their country, and EDD based on risk.

Why does IdentityMind establish partnerships with tech companies? Who are your partners currently, and what are your expectations for collaboration with them?

IDM partners with companies to make our clients’ lives easier. We’ve partnered with Applicature to help support our clients who need marketing or technical support.

Why do you need cooperation in the spheres of token economy and custom development?

ICOs are great, but everything related to them is hard. As a company looking to launch an ICO, you need to do so many things. You need to market to both institutional investors and individuals, have technology, and, usually, travel the world building hype. Essentially, you can’t do it alone; you can’t conduct tech development, create a marketing strategy, and monitor compliance. So, the best thing to do is to focus on where you can add the most value, and choose partners to help with the rest.

What important steps should be taken to implement the right KYC integration?

Be sure to do KYC before you issue tokens. Collect the IP address, physical address, name, and proof that this person is the person under control.

What are the main pillars of your company?

eDNA, or electronic DNA, is the main pillar. What does this mean? If we see a contributor from one client, we build a digital identity for him or her, and that digital identity comes with a reputation. Then, if we see the same contributor somewhere else, we can tell that he or she has been seen before, and whether he or she is good or bad.

What are the main features/advantages of your KYC platform?

IDM is the only automated KYC and AML solution for ICOs. We look at IP, device, name & address, government documents, and accredited investor validation.

What are your expectations for 2018? What are your plans for the future? Any relevant upgrades planned?

We’re very excited about the long-term prospects of ICOs. Our expectation is that the ICO market will continue to be lumpy, as there’s regulatory uncertainty in comments made by the SEC and FinCEN. If and when those get sorted, we expect to see large growth in the space as larger companies, who have been holding out, jump in when they have certainty.