[CIS Partner Summit Highlights] Sumsub: AI-Powered Trust Infrastructure for Digital Asset Businesses

Table of Contents

1. Why Digital Asset Businesses Need Trust Infrastructure

2. Sumsub: AI-Powered Risk Management and Operational Scalability

3. Sumsub’s Core Services

4. Conclusion: Trust Infrastructure as an Enabler of Institutional Digital Asset Adoption

 

 

1. Why Digital Asset Businesses Need Trust Infrastructure

1.1 Onchain Finance Expands the Scope of Trust

The United States is rapidly establishing an institutional framework for bringing traditional finance onchain. Enacted in July 2025, the GENIUS Act established the first federal regulatory framework for payment stablecoins. That same year, the SEC launched Project Crypto and issued a no-action letter for DTC’s securities tokenization pilot. Alongside these policy developments, major financial institutions, including J.P. Morgan and DTCC, are building onchain financial infrastructure. Bank deposits, securities, and traditional capital market infrastructure are becoming connected to wallets, public blockchains, exchanges, and decentralized finance (DeFi).

As traditional financial activity moves onchain, trust and compliance controls are extending to wallets, public blockchains, exchanges, and DeFi. The checks familiar to traditional finance, including customer and business identity, beneficial ownership, investor eligibility, source of funds, sanctions exposure, and audit records, now coexist with risks arising from pseudonymous wallets, round-the-clock cross-border transactions, smart contracts, and external protocols. Existing securities laws continue to apply to tokenized securities, preserving regulatory obligations when assets take an onchain form.

Security threats also persist. According to CertiK, 344 Web3 security incidents caused approximately $1.32 billion in losses in the first half of 2026. Wallet compromises and phishing were major causes of loss, with DeFi, centralized services, and individual wallets all among the targets. As assets move onchain, operational controls that continuously identify participants and transaction risks become increasingly important alongside technical security.

Institutions participating in onchain finance need an ongoing understanding of risks associated with counterparties, transactions, and wallet activity. This requires an operating framework that connects participant identity and wallet-control checks, transaction risk detection, and the investigation and reporting of suspicious signals. Trust infrastructure connects customer, business, wallet, and transaction data to support continuous risk assessment after onboarding, providing a foundation for institutional digital asset businesses.

1.2 Core Capabilities Across the Customer Lifecycle

Trust infrastructure in this article refers to a risk management framework spanning customer onboarding, ongoing monitoring, investigation, and reporting. Information from customer and business verification, eligibility checks, and wallet-control verification informs transaction monitoring and subsequent responses. New transaction and behavioral data then feed back into customer risk assessments. The following stages describe this continuous process through the customer’s use of a service.

First, onboarding verifies individual customers through Know Your Customer (KYC) checks and participating businesses through Know Your Business (KYB) checks. Identity documents and address information establish individual identity, while corporate registries and business documents help verify a company’s existence, directors, and ultimate beneficial owners (UBOs). Screening customers and relevant individuals associated with a business against sanctions lists and politically exposed person (PEP) records establishes an initial risk assessment.

Second, service access checks establish whether customers are eligible to use a product or execute a transaction. Depending on the business, these may verify age, investor status, residence, and wallet ownership. Reusing identity information already verified during onboarding can reduce repeated reviews.

Third, asset transfers and transactions require ongoing monitoring of fiat and digital asset flows, wallet-address risk, and device and behavioral signals. Signs of money laundering or fraud may trigger additional review or transaction restrictions. Virtual asset service providers (VASPs) subject to the Travel Rule exchange required originator and beneficiary information with their counterparties.

Finally, post-transaction processes investigate alerts and record supporting materials and decision rationales. Customer risk scores are updated, and cases requiring reporting can be linked to submissions to a financial intelligence unit (FIU), creating an audit trail.

The scope of trust infrastructure required by a digital asset business depends on its business model, jurisdiction, the legal nature of its assets, customer composition, and wallet and blockchain architecture. Sumsub is a prominent AI-powered trust infrastructure provider that connects KYC, KYB, transaction monitoring, fraud prevention, the Travel Rule, and investigation and reporting tools in one platform. This article examines its service scope, key characteristics, individual capabilities, and integrated operations to help businesses and financial institutions assess trust infrastructure as they prepare to launch or expand digital asset services.

 

2. Sumsub: AI-Powered Risk Management and Operational Scalability

Sumsub provides AI-powered trust infrastructure that helps businesses verify customers and counterparties and manage money laundering and fraud risks throughout transactions. A shared operational layer connects individual and business verification, AML Transaction Monitoring, Fraud Prevention, and the Travel Rule. AI analyzes risk signals and investigation materials while assisting with repetitive tasks. Businesses can combine verification results with transaction and behavioral data to manage the customer lifecycle continuously, from onboarding through investigation and reporting. As of September 2, 2026, Sumsub serves at least 4,000 clients and works with eight of the world’s ten largest crypto exchanges.

2.1 Services Connecting Customers, Businesses, and Transactions

Sumsub’s core solutions include individual and business verification (KYC and KYB), AML Transaction Monitoring, Fraud Prevention, and the Travel Rule, supported by an Operational Layer. Verification checks identity documents, corporate registration, and beneficial ownership, alongside email and phone risk assessment, device intelligence, and AML screening. AML Transaction Monitoring detects suspicious patterns in transactions and fund flows, while Fraud Prevention identifies risks across devices, behavior, and account relationships. The Travel Rule supports the exchange of required originator and beneficiary information for virtual asset transfers. Information from each solution feeds into the Operational Layer’s Workflow Builder, Case Management, Risk Scoring, analytics, and reporting tools.

Businesses can combine capabilities from each solution according to their operating model and regulatory requirements. KYC and KYB address the verification needs of individuals and companies, while transaction monitoring, fraud prevention, and the Travel Rule address their respective risks and obligations. The Operational Layer brings these results together so customer verification and subsequent responses follow consistent procedures.

Coverage and integration options also accommodate institutional implementation needs. Sumsub supports at least 14,000 types of identity documents issued across at least 220 countries and territories. Businesses can integrate through APIs, web and mobile SDKs, verification links, or QR codes. Webhooks deliver verification results to existing systems, and a sandbox allows teams to test procedures before launch. Companies can embed verification directly in their services or use separate links, choosing an approach that suits their existing architecture and stage of implementation.

2.2 Global Adoption and Interoperability

As of September 2, 2026, Sumsub serves at least 4,000 clients and verifies at least two million people daily. It works with eight of the world’s ten largest crypto exchanges and has experience supporting large-scale onboarding and regulatory requirements across multiple countries.

For the Travel Rule, which requires the exchange of originator and beneficiary information during virtual asset transfers, Sumsub supports a directory of at least 2,100 VASPs and five protocols: CODE, GTR, Sygna, TRP, and its own protocol. Secure email provides a route to counterparties without a compatible connection. Jurisdiction-specific rule bundles support configuration across 35+ markets; applicability and information requirements vary by jurisdiction.

Sumsub supports integrations with blockchain analytics services, including Crystal, Chainalysis, Fireblocks, Elliptic, Merkle Science, and TRM Labs. Its Bring Your Own Key (BYOK) option allows customers to register an existing analytics provider’s API key, retain their current contract, and connect wallet and transaction risk signals to Sumsub’s review workflows. Available analytics capabilities and integration methods vary by provider.

2.3 AI-Powered Operations for Scalable Risk Management

Sumsub’s Operational Layer brings together identity, transaction, fraud, and other risk signals and connects them to follow-up actions under a business’s policies. AI assists with the analysis of complex investigation cases and risk prioritization, reducing repetitive information handling and workflow configuration. Businesses can expand verification, investigation, and reporting as customer and transaction volumes grow while managing the burden of manual processing.

Workflow Builder, a core tool in the Operational Layer, lets businesses configure verification steps in their preferred order and under specified conditions. For example, a workflow can offer different identity verification methods based on the customer’s country and request liveness checks or additional documents when further verification is needed. Liveness checks establish that a real person is participating, rather than a photograph or recorded video. Teams connect steps and conditions visually and test the workflow before applying it. When entering a new country or serving a new customer segment, they can adjust the same workflow to include the necessary checks.

When a transaction produces suspicious signals, the relevant information comes together in an investigation case. Reviewers examine customer identity, submitted documents, transaction history, and alerts to determine which activity is suspicious and record the basis for their findings. Where reporting is required, case information can support reports for FIU submission in supported jurisdictions. Reviewers check the contents and submit them through the relevant authority’s channels. Throughout this process, Summy AI Copilot summarizes cases and risk signals and helps prepare drafts, reducing information-handling and configuration work.

Sumsub’s Operational Layer connects its services and carries verification results into investigation and reporting, supporting continuous risk management from customer checks through subsequent responses. Businesses can reduce the need to move data between tools and re-enter the same information while adapting procedures to changes in their business and regulatory environment.

 

3. Sumsub’s Core Services

Sumsub’s core capabilities address the key stages of the digital-asset risk lifecycle, from establishing trusted identities and assessing customers to monitoring transactions and managing investigations. Businesses can combine these capabilities according to their customer base, products, and regulatory requirements.

3.1 Verifying Customer Identity and Service Eligibility

Sumsub’s identity verification services use email, phone, IP, and device signals collected before registration to classify initial risk and adjust the checks applied. Businesses can deploy document, liveness, address, database, and video verification in stages according to customer risk and jurisdiction. The platform currently supports at least 14,000 types of identity documents across at least 220 countries and territories and can process at least 96 languages.

• Know Your Customer (KYC): Identity documents and official databases verify the customer’s name, date of birth, and document authenticity. Sanctions and politically exposed person (PEP) checks help establish initial risk.
• Know Your Business (KYB): Corporate registration, governance, directors and ultimate beneficial owners (UBOs), business documents, questionnaires, and anti-money laundering (AML) checks are handled in one workflow.
• Additional Identity and Eligibility Checks: Address and non-document verification, liveness and deepfake detection, and video verification cross-check submitted information against the actual user. Checks can also establish service eligibility, including age and ownership of bank accounts and payment methods.
• Reusable Identity (Reusable KYC and Sumsub ID): Reusable KYC transfers existing verification information, with the customer’s consent, between participating businesses within the Sumsub ecosystem. The receiving business applies additional checks under its own policies and makes the final approval decision. Sumsub ID allows users to select stored identity information and documents to share with a new service, then reconfirm their identity through liveness verification.
• Web3 Attestations: Sumsub integrates with Chainlink, an oracle platform connecting external data and blockchains, to make verified identity attributes usable onchain. After KYC and a wallet signature establish the link between a customer and a wallet, Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Identity (CCID) supports proof of required attributes, such as age, without disclosing the underlying personal data.

3.2 Managing Transaction and Account Risks and Exchanging Transfer Information

Sumsub provides AML Transaction Monitoring, Fraud Prevention, and the Travel Rule as distinct solutions. Transaction monitoring analyzes suspicious patterns in fiat and crypto transactions, while Fraud Prevention analyzes anomalies in device signals, behavior, and account relationships. The Travel Rule handles the exchange of required information with counterparty businesses. Companies can connect the results to customer risk profiles and investigation cases to identify transactions and accounts requiring review. AML Transaction Monitoring supports at least 300 preconfigured rules and custom rules, with natural-language tools available to draft new rules.

• AML Transaction Monitoring: Transaction and event data are assessed against preconfigured or custom rules. Risk scores update as new behavioral, transaction, and geographic information accumulates, and suspicious activity detected by rules generates alerts and investigation cases.

  

  • Transaction Rules and Risk Assessment: Rules can reflect jurisdictional and product-specific criteria, with transactions checked in real time.
  • Transaction Network Analysis and Payment Screening: The solution links device fingerprints, IP addresses, and payment identifiers for customers and counterparties to visualize suspicious relationships and generate alerts. Real-time screening also checks transfer parties, payment references, and financial institutions for sanctions and risk signals.
  • Crypto Monitoring: Wallet and transaction analysis identifies exposure to mixers, hacked funds, darknet activity, and high-risk counterparties.
• Fraud Prevention: Device, behavioral, and account-linkage data help detect new-account fraud, account takeovers, payment fraud, and money mule patterns. Risk signals are tracked across registration, identity verification, login, account activity, and transactions.
• Travel Rule: The solution supports counterparty VASP discovery, originator and beneficiary information exchange, message handling, and transaction screening. Secure email provides a route to unconnected counterparties, while signatures and signals from analytics partners offer ways to verify control of unhosted wallets. Obligations and exchanged information are configured according to jurisdictional rules.

3.3 The Operational Layer: Operational Automation and Risk Analysis

Sumsub’s Operational Layer can be viewed through two areas: operational automation, which configures procedures and reduces repetitive work, and risk analysis, which uses collected information to assess risk. Automation tools help verification, investigation, and reporting proceed in a defined sequence. Risk analysis tools provide the basis for deciding which customers or transactions require attention first. Teams can use both to automate routine processing and focus on cases requiring review.

3.3.1 Operational Automation

• Workflow Builder and Rule Engine: Teams can arrange conditions, checks, and follow-up actions without code according to country, customer type, and risk level. The example below routes customers in Germany to electronic identity (eID) verification and other customers to standard KYC after country selection. Businesses can design policy-specific flows and review them before deployment using test mode, change history, and internal approval processes.

  

• Case Management: Templates cover AML Investigation, Screening Hit, Suspicious Activity, and KYC Case. Alerts, documents, investigation notes, assignees, and approval steps come together in one workspace, with checklists and dual approval.
• FIU Reports and Audit Trail: Suspicious transaction reports, investigation histories, and review and approval records link to cases, creating compliance records and supporting the preparation of reports for submission.

3.3.2 Risk Analysis

• Risk Scoring: Customer information, behavior, transactions, and location, device, and IP signals receive weights to calculate an overall risk score, which updates with each new event.
• Customizable Analytics: Dashboards show verification speed, drop-off, rejection reasons, high-risk profiles, and investigation progress.
• Summy AI Copilot: Using data within Sumsub, the copilot summarizes cases, organizes risk signals, responds to natural-language analytical queries, and drafts verification flows and rules. By reducing repetitive information-handling tasks, it helps compliance teams focus on higher-value investigation and decision-making. Staff review and approve generated settings and final risk decisions.

3.4 Industry Applications and Implementation Outcomes

Solutions and operational tools are combined differently according to each industry’s customer types and transaction structures. Financial services and fintech can focus on fiat transactions and regulatory reporting, crypto and stablecoin businesses on wallets and onchain transfers, and trading platforms on investor onboarding and account risk. For tokenized assets and real-world assets (RWAs), verifying investor identity and eligibility and connecting the results to onchain transfer controls are important. The customer metrics below reflect results at the time of each implementation and may vary with the capabilities deployed, prior operating processes, and target markets. The Caliber case illustrates the actual use of investor verification and credentials.

Financial Services and Fintech

Banks, neobanks, payment providers, and lenders can connect individual and business verification, sanctions and PEP checks, fiat transaction monitoring, payment fraud prevention, and FIU reporting. The UK’s iFAST Global Bank implemented document, address, and liveness verification, email and phone risk assessment, and Fraud Network Detection. Following implementation in 2024, customer verification time fell below one minute, and the final verification pass rate across all markets reached 73.5%. Advapay, a technology platform provider for financial institutions and fintech companies, integrated individual and business verification, transaction monitoring, and crypto monitoring into its infrastructure. At initial implementation, onboarding speed increased by a factor of 290 and manual work fell by 95%.

Crypto and Stablecoins

Exchanges, custodians, wallets, and payment providers can combine KYC, KYB, Crypto Monitoring, the Travel Rule, and Unhosted Wallet Verification, using reusable identity to reduce repeated customer checks. Bybit has applied document, liveness, and address verification by risk level since 2021. Its published customer case reports verification time of approximately one minute, a 78% pass rate for Level 1 verification, and detection of up to 99% of forgery attempts. HIFI, a stablecoin-based financial infrastructure provider, integrated individual and business verification, transaction monitoring, fraud prevention, the Travel Rule, and Case Management in 2025. Median onboarding time fell to approximately 52 seconds, the approval rate reached at least 82%, and the company saved hundreds of hours previously spent on manual work.

Trading

Brokers and investment platforms can verify customer identity, address, investment experience, risk tolerance, and payment methods. AML Transaction Monitoring, dynamic Risk Scoring, and Case Management help track suspicious transactions and account risks. Online broker Libertex implemented document, address, contact, and liveness verification alongside AML screening. Median onboarding time fell to 2.5 minutes, with an average verification pass rate of 84% and a conversion rate of 74%. Global CFD platform Taurex introduced individual and business verification and ongoing AML monitoring in 2024, reducing onboarding time from approximately five minutes to 15 seconds. Its verification pass rate rose from 60% to at least 80%, while fraud and false positives fell by up to 90%.

Tokenized Assets and RWA

Tokenized asset issuers and investment platforms can verify investor identity and accredited investor status and connect sanctions and AML screening results to token holding and transfer rules. Real estate alternative asset manager Caliber introduced tokenized ownership certificates for its PURE Pickleball & Padel investment offering in August 2026. Investors can choose between a traditional paper certificate and a token held in a digital wallet, while the underlying investment interests and rights remain governed by the offering documents.

Sumsub conducts KYC, sanctions, and AML checks before token issuance. Verified accredited investor attributes are reflected in onchain credentials through Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Identity (CCID), which the Automated Compliance Engine (ACE) uses for token transfer controls. The verified identity profile can also be reused in participation procedures for subsequent offerings. This case illustrates how trust infrastructure connects identity verification results to onchain eligibility assessments and asset transfer rules.

 

4. Conclusion: Trust Infrastructure as an Enabler of Institutional Digital Asset Adoption

As digital assets become increasingly integrated into institutional financial infrastructure, compliance can no longer be treated as a standalone onboarding function. Businesses need connected capabilities across identity verification, business verification, transaction monitoring, fraud prevention, Travel Rule compliance, and ongoing risk management. Sumsub brings these capabilities together through a shared Operational Layer, helping businesses manage customer and transaction risk information through consistent procedures.

Sumsub’s practical value lies in connecting verification results to operational workflows. Businesses can configure verification and response procedures with Workflow Builder, integrate blockchain analytics services and Travel Rule networks, and use investigation materials for reporting and audit records. AI assists with risk signal analysis and repetitive information handling and configuration, helping reviewers focus on complex investigations and decisions. Reusable identity and onchain credentials can connect verification results to access and transfer conditions for other services and tokenized assets.

Adoption and its effectiveness should be assessed against jurisdictional requirements, asset and product structure, supported chains and wallets, data processing arrangements, and integration needs. False positives and manual-review costs also require consideration. Sumsub’s value therefore depends on how effectively it helps each business operate the necessary checks and responses consistently and adjust risk management procedures as its operations expand.

Sumsub is scheduled to participate in the CIS Seoul Partner Summit, a closed-door forum for executives developing RWA businesses and infrastructure providers. Participants will have an opportunity to discuss practical applications of identity verification and risk management with Sumsub.