US-based AmericanFortress, which describes itself as a privacy and post-quantum layer for existing blockchains, has announced a partnership with Sumsub, a trust infrastructure provider for the crypto industry, to introduce verified identity to crypto through a product called FortressID. Under the arrangement, Sumsub’s reusable identity capabilities will verify users and issue a verified credential, while AmericanFortress will then link that credential to the user’s FortressName as their FortressID.
Once the AmericanFortress Wallet and SDK launch in production, every paid custom FortressName will include one Sumsub verification at no additional cost. Each wallet receives a free name at signup, while the included verification and FortressID are tied to paid names.
A FortressName is a human-readable identifier that users can send crypto to instead of a long wallet address. A single name can be used across multiple blockchains, with 13 supported at launch. 0G’s .0gm namespace is the first partner namespace, and buyers of a paid name within it will receive the included verification and FortressID.
Verified names will display a badge on the receive screen and in FortressChat, AmericanFortress’s encrypted messenger. The badge shows that the holder has been verified, but does not disclose the details behind the credential.
Selective disclosure and data handling
Holders decide which counterparties can see their FortressID, which supported information is shared, and when. Through FortressChat, users can share a signed proof with or without the underlying identity document. A proof can confirm a specific blinded fact, for example that the user is over 18 or resides in a named jurisdiction, or it can reveal a document such as a driving licence, depending solely on the user’s choice.
After a verified user has shared their FortressID with a counterparty, subsequent payments from that name can carry the proof. According to the company, AmericanFortress keeps no central store of identity data, and identity details are not written to a blockchain. At the same time, holding a FortressID also does not allow others to determine which addresses the name uses.
Reusable identity and counterparty assurance
The partnership targets a recurring point of friction in crypto: users typically have to complete verification again on each new platform, leaving copies of their documents behind each time. Christian Nunez, Senior Partnerships Manager, North America at Sumsub, said reusable identity is intended to address this, giving counterparties assurance that the person on the other side has been properly checked without requiring users to give up their privacy.
Michal Pospieszalski, Founder and CEO of AmericanFortress, noted that crypto has made it easy to move money but difficult to know who is on the other side of a transaction. Until now, the common solution has been for users to hand over their passport to every company that requests it. The company’s position is that identity should remain with the user, attached to the name at which they receive payments, and be shown only to parties they select, with Sumsub’s verification providing a standard that a bank would accept.
The model ties verification to the name used to receive payments, rather than to each individual service a user joins, and places control over what is disclosed, and to whom, with the credential holder.
