Identity layer
Recognising customers and wallets across fintechs without duplicating KYC
Identity is the hidden coupling
Payments fail interoperability tests when identity does not travel. If Fintech B cannot trust that a wallet belongs to the same person KYC'd at Fintech A, regulators treat the transfer as high risk—whether the settlement asset is USDC, EURC, or XOFC.
An identity layer provides portable signals: verified customer ID, wallet ownership proof, consent artefacts—not necessarily raw PII.
Components on GoldRail
| Component | Role |
|---|---|
| Customers | Tenant-scoped customer records linked to verified profiles |
| OpenConnect | Persistent authorised link between wallets on different fintechs |
| OpenConnect ID | Identity assertions for cross-app authentication flows |
OpenConnect answers: "User U on App A authorises wallet W for transfers to App B." Customers answers: "This external ID maps to a KYC-verified profile."
Privacy by design
Share minimum necessary attributes—hashed identifiers, verification level, expiry—not full document images. Align retention with GDPR-style erasure requests even when on-chain addresses remain immutable.
QR and address binding
The shared QR convention binds institution to destination, letting wallets route payment intent without a central directory lookup at scan time. Deeper identity checks still occur at settlement when amounts exceed thresholds.