- BitPay enables Onfido to accept payment in Bitcoin, helping deliver identity verification services to more of the world’s unbanked
- New partnership also sees Onfido deliver AI-based KYC to largest global crypto payments provider
January 23, 2019, San Francisco: Onfido, the award-winning 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.
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.
BitPay is the largest global 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 settlement in fiat currency within one to three business days.
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 those 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.
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.
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 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.
Husayn Kassai, CEO and co-founder of Onfido, said: “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.”
Stephen Pair, President and CEO at BitPay, said: “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.”
About Onfido
Onfido verifies the world’s identities. We develop AI that sorts true IDs from false, and then compares them against facial biometrics. That’s how we help businesses onboard more customers, more securely. Our technology brings more users onto your platform, driving down fraud risk at onboarding and beyond. Recognised as a global leader in machine learning, we’re backed by Salesforce and Microsoft.
As a team of 250 technologists spread across 6 countries, we’ve raised $ 60m in funding. We power verification for 1,500 customers including, Bitstamp, Revolut and AllState.
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For further press information or enquiries, please contact press@onfido.com.
About BitPay
Founded in 2011, BitPay is the pioneer and the most experienced company in bitcoin and blockchain payments. Its suite of products enables businesses to send and receive cross border payments, also enabling consumers to manage digital assets with the BitPay Wallet and turn digital assets into dollars with the BitPay Prepaid Visa® Card. The company has offices in North America, Europe, and South America and has raised over $ 70 million from leading investors including Founders Fund, Index Ventures and Aquiline Technology Growth. For more information visit https://bitpay.com
The BitPay Visa® Prepaid Card is issued by Metropolitan Commercial Bank, member FDIC, pursuant to a license from Visa, U.S.A. Inc. “Metropolitan” and “Metropolitan Commercial Bank” are registered trademarks of Metropolitan Commercial Bank © 2014. Use of the Card is subject to the terms and conditions of the applicable Cardholder Agreement and fee schedule, if any.
Source: RealWire