IDnow joins EU crypto compliance consortium

IDnow, an identity proofing platform provider, joins a consortium of five partners including the IOTA Foundation, walt.id, SPYCE.5, and Bloom Labs with the goal of making Crypto Asset Service Providers (CASPs) and self-hosted wallets compliant with the European Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulation and the Transfer of Funds Regulation (TFR).

Requirements of the EU regarding crypto assets

The new TFR regulation in the EU mandates that all cryptocurrency transactions will need to carry identifying data of the sender and the receiver. According to the new rule, compliance with TFR is mandatory for all CASPs. Additionally, the new AML regulation will require all CASPs to comply with similar AML rules as other financial institutions. For example, when a user opens an account and registers a wallet with a CASP, an identification process is required to comply with the new AML regulation and TFR.

One challenge for CASPs to adhere to the new rules lies in GDPR compliance, as personal identifiable information (PII) should not be stored on blockchains or Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT). However, to comply with the new regulations, CASPs need to know with whom they are doing business and continuously verify this information.

Raising trust and transparency in crypto asset transactions

To address this challenge, the partners have formed a consortium to propose a system where a trusted party tokenizes an identification process it has witnessed, allowing CASPs to have confidence in this process, without revealing any PII. The resulting soul-bound token (SBT) can be used for blockchain processes, enabling web3 native interactions. Furthermore, the trusted party can reveal the identity information, if requested by an authorised party, such as law enforcement, as well as revoke the SBT, if needed.

Within the consortium, members address the following issues:

• The IOTA Foundation, a non-profit foundation supporting the development of the IOTA protocol, will provide the underlying network as the proposed solution will be implemented on an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible IOTA Smart Contract Chain;

• walt.id, an open source vendor of decentralised identity and wallet infrastructure, will develop, provide, and maintain the trusted witness service for creating and verifying SBTs like identity proofs, while IDnow will deliver the identity verification solution to onboard users into the wallet solution;

• Bloom, an all-in-one wallet for the IOTA, Shimmer, and EVM ecosystem, will provide the capabilities for users to store, present, and prove ownership of the SBT;

• SPYCE.5, specialising in the integration of hybrid blockchain technologies, will provide the essential infrastructure for seamless interchain communication and transaction validation, ensuring the system’s overall efficiency and regulatory compliance.
  
  

Officials from IDnow said that they are happy to be part of this forward-thinking consortium alongside prominent crypto asset industry players to address a pressing need for crypto wallet solutions that comply with new EU regulations. Crypto companies are facing a race against the clock to implement new requirements, which is why they wish to submit this proposed solution to the EU.