Onfido, a global identity verification platform, today announced a partnership with BitPay to accept payment in bitcoin. BitPay is also using Onfido’s technology to meet Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements and onboard new users to its platform swiftly and securely.
Partnering with BitPay helps Onfido expand into international markets where credit card payments are impractical. While over 2 billion adults worldwide are un – or underbanked, half of these own a smartphone. BitPay enables transactions from any computer or mobile device, meaning Onfido can deliver identity verification services to a large number of otherwise underserved global users.
In addition to Onfido being able to accept payment in bitcoin, Onfido is also the KYC provider for BitPay. For BitPay, using Onfido’s identity verification technology helps them onboard more users, more quickly. With the demand for digital currencies reaching unprecedented levels, crypto payments providers are coming under increasing scrutiny. Onfido helps BitPay meet with its KYC requirements, keeping fraud off the platform without compromising BitPay’s ability to scale. Onfido is quickly becoming the go-to provider for KYC in this space, and is already used by over 30 of the world’s largest crypto exchanges and wallets.
As well as opening up access to new users, bitcoin payments also help increase payment transparency and reduce the fraud risks associated with credit cards. Cryptocurrency provides increased transactional transparency and security as every transaction is verified, recorded and stored on the blockchain. The transaction itself contains no sensitive information, and as a push transaction, similar to taking cash out of a wallet, the user sends the exact amount of bitcoin needed to pay the bill. This eliminates traditional credit card fraud and identity theft risks associated with credit cards. As a result, there are no chargebacks, which cost merchants almost $19 billion in 2017 alone.
Onfido’s machine learning technology powers identity verification for over 1,500 customers worldwide. With just a photo of an identity document and a smartphone camera, users can confirm their identity and gain access to a host of online services, helping businesses onboard more customers, more securely.
“At Onfido, it’s our mission to build an open world where identity is the key to access. Partnering with Bitpay was the obvious choice for both our businesses. BitPay enables us to securely service more people in a way that is cost-effective and quicker than a bank wire, while we can deliver them the most trusted identity verification service in the crypto space.”
BitPay is one of the largest crypto payments provider. It processes over $1 billion annually from merchants and B2B customers. BitPay verifies the funds and accepts the bitcoin on behalf of the organization; businesses then receive a settlement in fiat currency within one to three business days.
“We’re delighted to be working with Onfido to enable them to accept payment in bitcoin. We selected Onfido as our internal identity verification platform as it had the most robust functionality and was easiest to use. Allowing crypto companies to pay in bitcoin shows Onfido’s commitment to the crypto space, and we’re excited to be working together to make crypto more secure, for more people.”
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