RegTech 100 company, IdentityMind has launched a virtual currency risk assessment following recent sanctions on Bitcoin.
Its service was released in result of the recent action taken by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset (OFAC) of adding two Bitcoin addresses linked to sanctioned Iranians to the OFAC specially designated nationals list. This was the first time a regulatory body attributed a crypto address to an individual, in a bid to identify unlawful players.
Through the new virtual cryptocurrency risk assessment solution, financial institutions will be able to protect themselves and identify illicit actors working in the crypto space.
Its platform uses intelligence to ensure individuals and businesses are not involved with sanctioned virtual currency addresses and does so through a three-part solution. The first step is blacklisting sanctioned address to prevent customers sending or received funds from these addresses.
Step two is using blockchain technology to monitor transaction history of addresses and alert a financial institution is Bitcoin moved to sanctioned addresses.
Finally, the new solution is able to relate Bitcoin addresses to names. The IdentityMind electronic DNA software builds identities for each customer which contains all payment instruments they are associated with, including Bitcoin.
Alongside this, IdentityMind also enables financial institutions to monitor new and existing customers’ associations with digital identities with high virtual currency risk. This includes ransomware, stolen tokens, darknet, or virtual currencies which could be reported by OFAC’s SDN list in the future.
IdentityMind chief products and marketing officer Jose Caldera said, “Having know your customer (KYC) and sanctions screening technology that can seamlessly integrate knowledge of virtual currencies and blockchain analysis is becoming essential for ensuring that the digital financial infrastructure isn’t being used for money laundering or terrorist financing.
“The step taken by OFAC is a reaffirmation of the importance of virtual currencies in the financial ecosystem. IdentityMind stands ready to help FIs, FinTechs, payment facilitators (PayFacs) and digital marketplaces comply with virtual currency BSA-FinCEN regulations.”
Earlier in the month, IdentityMind was named in the RegTech 100 for the second consecutive year. The list is made up of the most innovative RegTechs that every financial institution needs to know about.
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