Bitcoin Exchange Gets Biometric Authentication

A cryptocurrency exchange service is taking advantage of biometrics to foster a sense of security among users.

The service, Coinbase, facilitates the trade of the Bitcoin and Ethereum digital currencies. The company says that because the value of these currencies is determined by the free online market, there’s a heightened risk of fraud, and as such it sought a more reliable means of ensuring that users are who they say they are, particularly to help ensure that its service complies with Know Your Customer requirements across the 33 countries in which it operates.

To that end, it has sought the help of Jumio, whose Netverify platform is designed to use facial recognition to match smartphone and PC users against their ID documents. Users confirm their identities via live video feed, which Jumio says is designed to pick up “even the slightest facial movement” in order to ensure liveness detection, according to a statement from the company.

With so many traditional financial services organizations now embracing biometric technology to verify customers’ identities for online transactions, it only makes sense that a cryptocurrency exchange service would do the same.

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November 2, 2016 – by Alex Perala