Stipe is launching Stripe Identity, a self-serve, AR-powered, tool that developers can integrate into their platforms to verify user identities.
The new tool will see Stripe managing encrypted customer data, using computer vision and machine learning to “read” government IDs and match them up with live selfies in less than 15 seconds. The service will also not require users to already be Stripe customers.
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Stripe Identity was launched in beta, last week, to 30 countries worldwide, showing that Stripe can also cover complex API-based needs for businesses, beyond online payments. Some platforms, including Discord, Peerspace, and Shippo, have already been quietly testing the feature.
ID authentication through KYC serves a number of other very relevant online necessities, like preventing account takeovers, verifying users’ ages, complying with “know your customer” regulations, and keeping away bots and trolls.
“Businesses have been asking us for an easy and fast way to verify identities online. Stripe Identity offers them just that,” said Rob Daly, head of Engineering for Stripe Identity. “Now, any internet business — from a five-person startup to a multinational enterprise — can begin securely verifying the identities of their users in a matter of minutes, not weeks or months.”
Interestingly, Stripe Identity is a public extension of the company’s own and already existing service, which was built in-house and has been used internally to verify merchants for the last 10 years.
We don’t yet know what Stripe will charge for the service other than there will be a “per transaction” fee. Keep an eye on Stripe Sessions, Stripe’s developer conference which began last week, for more info.
In the meantime, developers can already request access here.