AuditOne, a security & compliance enabler for the digital asset space, is thrilled to announce a partnership with Sumsub, a leading identity verification platform that works to address the complex problem of identity verification in the decentralized Web3 ecosystem. As part of the partnership, Sumsub's leading Know Your Customer (KYC) and Know Your Business (KYB) verification services are integrated into AuditOne's platform, enhancing trust and regulatory compliance across blockchain projects. More than 400 KYC/KYB have been completed by several partners & clients from AuditOne already.

This partnership comes at a time when scrutiny has increased around fraud and regulatory compliance in Web3 companies. AuditOne and Sumsub pursue a joint approach to address these challenges in order to ultimately provide Web3 investors, platforms, and communities greater assurance that their peers in the Web3 space are verified and accountable.

Sumsub’s Role In KYC and KYB Made Seamless

Sumsub will be the driving force for identity verification and compliance. Sumsub is trusted by more than 4,000 confident clients around the world. Its platform includes a suite of compliance tools, individual KYC checks, KYB verification, and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) monitoring. From a practical standpoint, this means that when someone or some organization is onboarding through AuditOne’s portal, they will go through Sumsub’s verification engine. They will check personal IDs and business documents, run facial biometrics, and screen applicants against international watchlists from sanctions, politically exposed persons, and adverse media. Using Sumsub's integrated AI-driven compliance toolkit, AuditOne can assess the Web3 project team and its investors as good actors, not sanctioned entities, which helps protect the ecosystem.

AuditOne’s Client Portal

AuditOne’s client portal, the AuditOne Services platform designed for Web3 businesses and projects, will be the user-facing side of the solution. Through this portal, crypto project teams and DAO founders can easily complete their identity verification as part of their onboarding or audit process. This platform was intentionally created for the decentralized industry's needs, and many verifications can be done with just a few clicks using Sumsub verification tools. For instance, a project team can log into AuditOne’s portal and request a KYC/KYB verification. The team is then steered to submit requested information and personal ID documents that will be securely submitted to Sumsub, which is the verification partner. To guarantee that every team member’s identity is legitimate and confirmed through official documentation and background screening, Sumsub’s combination of automated and manual checks is prescribed. After the checks are complete, AuditOne’s portal flags the project as ‘verified’, and the status can easily be shared with stakeholders. The integration has a seamless design, enabling web3 companies to have compliance as a built-in step rather than a blocker, as AuditOne’s portal is designed to deliver, so there is no need for web3 companies to engage a KYC provider separately; the compliance workflow is already embedded into the AuditOne portal. By designing these tools for the specifics of crypto projects (i.e., companies that have many international and pseudonymous identities), AuditOne's client platform transforms compliance into a simple built-in process instead of a blocker.

NFT-Based Verification Badges On-Chain

A unique aspect of the partnership between AuditOne and Sumsub is that verified users and businesses are issued NFT verification badges. After successfully passing KYC/KYB through Sumsub's system, the individual or the project team is issued a soulbound NFT, a non-fungible token that represents the verified status and is bound to the blockchain wallet address. This token is unique in that it is non-transferable like regular NFTs, because it is a permanent, non-digital form of identity verification. The AuditOne platform lets users know, "Securely verify your identity with our KYC…Get a soulbound NFT that verifies your identity on chain." In other words, the NFT is a cryptographic proof that a particular wallet is owned by a known, verified entity.

These on-chain credentials have a large impact on the Web3 ecosystem. Because the verification badge is on the blockchain, any decentralized application or platform can read the credential information automatically and change their interactions based on it. For example, a DeFi platform or launchpad could state that project wallets need to hold the AuditOne KYC NFT in their wallet prior to listing a token or raising funds. Platforms using AuditOne's Trust Layer could even check in real-time against the blockchain to see if a user or business has completed the KYC process.

Having identity data tied to the wallet, rather than shared over and over with each service, also improves privacy and experience - users can prove to platforms that they are verified by simply showing their NFT and not giving their personal information everywhere. These blockchain-based verification tokens will create an entirely new level of trust and transparency and change identity into an asset that is portable and not tied to a service, all while keeping the decentralized nature across all services.

Increasing Trust and Security

The partnership between AuditOne and Sumsub serves to provide a huge benefit to investors and Web3 platforms alike by providing trust and compliance. For investors, the benefit is that they are assured that the projects they are funding are going through a reputable process. Most crypto scams, aka "rug pulls," come from anonymous teams, so due diligence is almost impossible. AuditOne ensures accountability through KYC when project founders are required to disclose their identity (in a confidential way) to Sumsub's verifiers. If fraud were to happen from a verified team, law enforcement at least has an identity trail to investigate. So investors can “feel safer investing in verified project teams, since KYC decreases chances of rug pulls.”, because fraud can happen with any verified project team. Although knowing a team has been verified does not ensure that a project will be successful or without risk, it does make it more difficult for the malicious actor to claim complete anonymity.

Conclusion

The partnership between AuditOne and Sumsub is a very encouraging step towards adding trust in the Web3 world. The arrangement leverages AuditOne's experience with blockchain security and Sumsub's verified identity validation product to create a more secure and compliant foundation for decentralized projects. KYC/KYB and AML processes can be daunting these days, but the way both organizations allow these to be user-friendly and still provide proof of verification on the blockchain is impressive. Both organizations are tackling one of the primary challenges in web3 - how to maintain decentralization and privacy of participants, while still knowing who is behind the transactions and the projects in the web3 space.