Uniswap Growth Head: Working with partners like Paypal to develop KYC products, aiming for minimum KYC standards
Uniswap aims to provide a KYC solution that can meet the needs of most institutions.This article is an original piece by Chain Catcher.
Uniswap's growth lead Ashleigh Schap recently stated at the EthCC conference that to facilitate the integration of payment applications like Paypal, eTrade, and Robinhood with Uniswap, Uniswap is collaborating with these companies to develop KYC products.
Ashleigh Schap mentioned that users of consumer finance applications like Paypal want to access more DeFi applications, and the KYC issue is the primary challenge in collaborating with fintech companies like Paypal, eTrade, and Robinhood. Based on her experience in trying to advance cooperation with these companies, the biggest problem currently is that "no one really knows what KYC actually means."
She noted that some institutions, such as hedge funds focused on crypto investment, implement KYC merely by having users check a box to ensure they are not terrorists, while institutions like Bank of America implement KYC that includes passports, biometrics, and even family information. The issue is that Uniswap has not yet found a way to standardize KYC, and every institution that wants to interact with Uniswap has different levels of requirements.
Uniswap is currently in an in-depth research phase, engaging with every consumer fintech company or institutional user that may be interested in using Uniswap's KYC products due to facing similar issues, to find out what the "minimum barrier" is for them to use Uniswap's features, as well as the minimum KYC requirements for collaboration with Uniswap, in order to provide a solution that meets the needs of most institutions.
Uniswap's specific strategies include:
Collaborating with middleware providers, specifically including Fireblocks, Talos, and Paxos;
Exploring KYC solutions, with Ashleigh Schap particularly emphasizing that this does not mean Uniswap will become a "gateway" for KYC, but rather provide solutions for those who want to become Uniswap users but need to meet KYC requirements.
However, Ashleigh Schap's comments have also raised questions from some in the crypto industry. For example, Chris Blec, founder of DeFi Watch, published a statement asking, "Is Uniswap building superpowers for TradFi applications and banks that have been scrutinizing and deceiving users for decades?"
