IdentityMind Global, Digital Identities You Can Trust, today announced that it has created a new business unit specifically dedicated to providing know your customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) solutions to address the regulatory and compliance requirements of the rapidly growing Initial Coin Offering (ICO) and cryptocurrency markets.
“Market momentum for ICOs and cryptocurrencies is strong and we recognize that IdentityMind can deliver an even higher quality of sales, service, and support by creating a dedicated business unit,” said Garrett Gafke, CEO, IdentityMind. “IdentityMind has proven itself to be the ‘go to’ partner for digital currency exchanges and companies initiating ICOs. Companies recognize that no one understands the evolving global regulatory climate for ICOs and cryptocurrencies better than IdentityMind.”
To help further meet the needs of the ICO market, IdentityMind recently announced its KYC Plug-in product for ICOs, a turnkey SaaS solution that enables KYC and AML checks on prospective ICO participants.
According to Gafke, the funding of ideas is increasingly adopting ICOs as an alternative to traditional venture capital as an important mechanism but the key to continued growth and success is the industry’s ability to comply with existing and new regulations while protecting investors. “This prevents ICOs from getting shut down and maintains credibility among investors and the market,” said Gafke.
In the last six months, IdentityMind has worked with over 40 ICO customers, evaluating more than 100,000 users around the world who contributed almost a billion dollars in tokens. Clients include Airtoken, Bitt, BurstIQ, CRYPTO20, DataBroker DAO, Dragon Corporation, Liquineq, Sparkle Coin, Sweetbridge, and others. According to industry researcher Token Report, there were approximately 266 ICOs in Q3 2017 and 500 in Q4. Collectively, all ICOs in 2017 raised over $4 billion. And according to the Financial Times, in looking at over 1,387 cryptocurrencies in 2017, there were over 39 cryptocurrencies with a market cap over $1 billion.
IdentityMind appointed Neal Reiter as director of the new business unit. Reiter had been instrumental in IdentityMind’s growth in the cryptocurrency industry over the last four years. Prior to joining IdentityMind, Reiter led the West Coast operations of Booz Allen Hamilton’s financial crimes team where he supported global financial institutions and multinational corporations with regulatory compliance issues. Reiter is a frequent industry speaker and author on how companies can comply with know your customer (KYC), anti-money laundering (AML) and existing and upcoming ICO regulations in the U.S. and around the world.
“Working with IdentityMind, we’ve been able to take in purchasers and distribute tokens faster,” said Roderik van der Veer, CTO, DataBrokerDAO. “Purchasers get approved in real time rather than weeks.”
“IdentityMind has been a valued compliance partner whom we’ve enjoyed working with,” said Martin Kopacz, Chief Compliance Officer, Xapo Inc. “IdentityMind’s trusted reputation and industry experience translated into an accelerated and better AML process for our continued international expansion.”
