KYC and Xumm

What is KYC?

KYC is short for Know Your Customer.

It is a requirement in the heavily regulated financial sector (such as banks, payment institutions, securities and also for virtual assets) to identify and verify a client and then to verify the identity of the client.

Many governments have already imposed KYC on the crypto industry and are requiring that crypto exchanges and other service providers enforce the KYC process for their clients. 

Do I have to go through the KYC process to use Xumm?

The short answer is no, not yet. It is, for now, still entirely optional. Xumm is a non custodial wallet and those services are not yet regulated. However, countries and their national supervisors are working together in the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) to introduce more obligations around virtual assets and virtual asset service providers in order to identify bad actors/people that use crypto for illegal purposes. Therefore, in time, KYC is expected to become more common/required. 

Do I have to go through the KYC process to get an airdrop?

That depends on the airdrop. Some projects on the XRPL require that you go through the KYC process in order to participate. Normally, the project would provide the means to do this.

Why would I want to go through the KYC process if it's optional? 

Many people feel that going through the KYC process is a way of adding legitimacy to their XRP Ledger account. At Xumm, we work together with professional partners to be able to properly identify and verify the identity of the person. The optional identification process already has many safeguards in place to make sure that it is the actual person registering. But there are always risks and uncertainties.

What about Xumm Pro? 

Note: Xumm Pro is not yet available.

When you subscribe to Xumm Pro, you can still voluntarily (opt-in) KYC. But only those who go through KYC get access to the Pro features like a profile, PayString, uploading your avatar and showing your real name when sending payment requests. 

Because we only want to support trustworthy profiles to be created & to prevent imposters, your avatar & display name will be compared to your ID information. This way, everybody in the ecosystem will be able to trust other users and their profiles, names, avatars, if they have a Pro subscription.

What about Xumm Pro with On-ramp and Off-ramp (fiat to XRP and vice versa)? 

Note: On-ramp and Off-ramp is not yet available.

If you upgrade your Pro subscription with On-ramp and Off-ramp features, you will need to go through the KYC process. Part of this is due to the Dutch government under which we are regulated. Part of this is due to how our new feature “Profiles” works.

Will Xumm disclose my identity if I go through the KYC process?

Xumm does not disclose the information to third parties, unless it is necessary due to legal obligations. We work together with experts to fulfil our commitment in building and maintaining a safe XRP ecosystem. In our privacy statement you will find the personal data we process and the grounds for processing. 

How do I go through the KYC process?

When Xumm Pro is released, we will provide an easy and user friendly way to go through the KYC process, until then you have several options:

1) GlobaliD - You can create an account here: https://global.id/ and go through the KYC process by following the instructions in this article:

How to add your XRP Ledger account address verification credentials (attestation) to your GlobaliD identity profile

2) Veriff or other KYC providers - There are several KYC providers in the industry providing KYC services.

I went through the KYC process but I can't see it in Xumm.

Xumm does not currently have a place to verify that you went through the KYC process. We assume that you already know that you completed it so there is no reason to display it. 

...but just in case, here are a couple of ways to check:

• You can visit this site: https://bithomp.com/ and enter your r-address and look for:  Xumm: verified √ 

• You can visit this site: https://xrpscan.com/ and enter your r-address and look for ->                          

Where can I learn more about the Global ID and the KYC process?

• How often / when will GlobaliD profile information be updated?
• What information shows when with GlobaliD + XUMM account verification?
• How long before a "blue checkmark" shows after completing the GlobaliD + XUMM flow?
• What are the requirements for a "blue checkmark" to show up next to an account?

I went through the KYC process with Global ID, why do I need to go through it again with Xumm Pro?

Xumm is a separate company than Global ID, and we have our own legal obligations and safeguards. We cannot obtain the information gathered by Global ID to perform our own identification and verification. We need to do this ourselves as we need to ensure all documents are current and up to date.

You've mentioned Xumm Pro a couple of times, where do I learn more about it?

We are super excited about the release of Xumm Pro, which is scheduled for Q3 2022. More information will be released in the upcoming months.

Notes

We understand that you might have additional questions regarding this topic so you are welcome to contact us any time via the Xumm Support xApp in Xumm or you can simply scan this QR code with Xumm and be directed there automatically.