A coalition of American crypto companies has unveiled the TRUST platform. It will enable safe sharing of customer information under the FATF Travel Rule and help combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
TRUST moves our industry forward.
We’re proud to be one of 18 leading U.S. crypto exchanges to participate in TRUST, an industry-led Travel Rule solution.
Learn more here👇https://t.co/O48lrQIJrY
— Coinbase (@coinbase) February 16, 2022
Travel Rule Universal Solution Technology (TRUST) will allow VASP providers to share with each other over encrypted channels the following data:
- the sender’s name and wallet data;
- the recipient’s name and wallet data;
- the sender’s physical address, his passport details or a user identifier tying him to the company, birth date or place.
During development, the developers consulted with FinCEN.
Former Coinbase chief compliance officer Jeff Horowitz, when he announced the creation of TRUST in 2020, compared the platform to a “centralized bulletin board”.
VASPs post messages to determine who may own an address involved in a transaction. When another organization requests an address within its transaction, they may participate in a peer-to-peer exchange of information. In this way TRUST allows participants to prove that they are the intended recipient of client information before it is transmitted.
Founding members with equal stakes are Anchorage, Avanti, BitGo, bitFlyer, Bittrex, BlockFi, Circle, Coinbase, Fidelity Digital Assets, Gemini, Kraken, Paxos, Robinhood, Standard Custody & Trust, Symbridge, Tradestation, Zero Hash and Zodia Custody.
Joining the consortium requires the unanimous consent of all participants and a successful third-party audit for regulatory compliance. Going forward, the group plans to expand the platform’s use beyond the United States, notably to Canada.
As other jurisdictions define their Travel Rule requirements, the solution can be adapted to local standards. It is not ruled out that changes may also be needed in the platform’s governance model after expanding its participant base.
Despite its centralized nature, TRUST seeks to ensure “holistic compliance across the crypto industry”.
Earlier in October FATF completed the development of the guidance. It explains how regulator requirements apply to stablecoins and does not introduce new standards for VASPs and the industry as a whole.
USDT issuer Tether announced testing of a digital identification solution from Notabene.
Subscribe to ForkLog news on Telegram: ForkLog Feed — full news stream, ForkLog — the most important news, infographics and opinions