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 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.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to go through the KYC process to use Xaman?
No. It is entirely optional. Xaman is a self-custodial wallet and self custody wallets 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.
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 Xaman, we work together with professional partners to be able to properly identify and verify the identity of a person. In many countries, people prefer to know who they are dealing with when it comes to financial transactions.
Which documents can I use to go through the KYC process?
The KYC process requires that you have an official government issued document to help identify who you are. For most countries, this means:
For a current list of supported documents, please refer to this link:
Will Xaman disclose my identity if I go through the KYC process?
Xaman does not disclose personal information to third parties, unless it is necessary due to legal obligations. We work together with industry 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.
Can I go through the KYC process using a "read only" account in Xaman?
Since anyone can import an XRPL account into Xaman as "read only", there is no way for us to verify that you own the account unless your have full signing access to it. (This is also why you can not go through the KYC process on an account that has been blackholed.) The idea behind KYC is to verify your identity and associate this verification with an XRP Ledger account that you own. In order to do that, you need to have "full access" to your XRPL account. This means that you know the secret keys for your account and you have imported them into Xaman.
