Coinbase launched its Verification Platform on Thursday, introducing its know-your-customer policy to the chain.
The exchange said launching identity verification at the on-chain protocol level increases security and transparency and addresses common challenges associated with typical KYC methods.
“Built on the [Ethereum Attestation Service’s] open standard, our verifications are public and composable,” Coinbase Cloud, the company’s blockchain infrastructure division, wrote on X.
Ethereum Attestation Service is a base layer where users can make attestations and add virtual signatures to information.
“EAS enables everyone to draw up certificates, both within and outside the chain, about anything,” according to the service’s website. “You simply register a scheme (or use an existing scheme) on any subject and make certificates referring to that scheme.”
Coinbase Verifications, built on Coinbase’s Layer-2 Base, already has about 9,300 user attestations, according to data from analytics firm Dune. The service is expected to mainly help with Sybil attacks, where hackers use a single node to create many fake identities.
The service is the next step toward “using open source, public good infrastructure to enable the next billion users on-chain,” says Jesse Pollak, creator of Base.
This move marks Coinbase’s entry into the decentralized identity game. Proof of Humanity, a verification protocol that allows users to submit social and video proof of their identity, emerged as a leader in this space when it launched in 2021 on the Ethereum-built application Kleros.
Read more in our opinion section: Made by people, but governed by code?
“In our digital interactions, we cannot know who is on the other side of the screen,” the Kleros team said at the launch. This enables AI manipulation through impersonation and the spread of misinformation by bad actors.
Coinbase’s announcement comes as Coinbase shares begin to rise after an explosive week. The stock fell just under 1% on Friday after gaining as much as 6% during Thursday’s trading session.
Yet Coinbase (COIN) continues to rise nearly 7% over the past five trading days and is more than 175% in the green since the beginning of the year.