Introducing the Travel Rule Universal Solution Technology (“TRUST”)

We are proud to announce the launch of the Travel Rule Universal Solution Technology (TRUST), an industry-driven solution designed to comply with a requirement known as the Travel Rule while protecting the security and privacy of our customers. TRUST is a platform that allows cryptocurrency exchanges to securely send information legally required by the Travel Rule. The solution is named TRUST because that’s what we seek to instill in our customers when they use our products and services.

The current U.S. TRUST membership includes the following: Anchorage, Avanti, Bitgo, bitFlyer, Bittrex, BlockFi, Circle, Coinbase, Fidelity Digital Asset Services, Gemini, Kraken, Paxos, Robinhood, Standard Custody & Trust, Symbridge, TradeStation, Zero Hash, and Zodia. And we are expanding to other global jurisdictions shortly.

Why is TRUST necessary?

The Travel Rule requires financial institutions to share certain basic information about their customers when sending funds to another financial institution over a certain amount. Custodial cryptocurrency exchanges (like other financial institutions) have to satisfy this rule, which was written before crypto even existed. To do this, a leading group of crypto exchanges came together to figure out how to create a solution in the crypto space, while continuing to protect the security and privacy of our customers’ personal information. This unprecedented broad effort led to a jointly designed solution (TRUST), which we hope will soon become an industry standard for addressing these requirements.

What was our goal in designing the TRUST solution, and how did we achieve it?

Our core goal in designing TRUST was to achieve top-tier compliance with the Travel Rule, while fully honoring consumer expectations over how their information is handled. In order to do this, we incorporated important safeguards as part of the TRUST solution:

  1. No central store of personal data: We never centrally store sensitive customer information where it could be targeted by an attacker or misused by a third-party. The required information is only directly sent from one TRUST member to another, through end-to-end encrypted channels, and the receiver is required to safeguard it.
  2. Proof of address ownership: TRUST includes a mechanism for the receiving exchange to prove that it’s the owner of the receiving crypto address before customer information is sent–to confirm that the right information is sent to the right exchange.
  1. Core security & privacy standards: We require all TRUST members to meet core security and privacy requirements before joining the solution. And we are using Exiger, a global market leader in technology-enabled compliance and risk management solutions, to help us meet that bar, and to provide ongoing support.

Now that we’ve launched TRUST, what are the next steps?

We are focused on adding new members, so that TRUST can provide comprehensive compliance across the crypto industry. The Travel Rule’s reach is expanding internationally, and so must our solution. We are not just focused on exchanges licensed in the U.S., but are expanding to many other global jurisdictions this year.

The launch of TRUST resoundingly demonstrates that top-tier compliance can go hand-in-hand with a core industry value–robust protection of customer privacy and security.

To learn more about joining TRUST, click here

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