Coinbase: Why It’s Time To Up Crypto’s Digital ID Game

Amidst the growth in number of cyberattacks and security breaches, consumers are growing increasingly concerned over the security of their personal data and privacy. In response, financial services providers and tech giants are looking to develop and implement new identity authentication tools to better protect customer accounts and information.

In the latest Digital Identity Tracker, PYMNTS explores recent identity authentication and verification efforts from around the space.

Around The Digital Identity World

Apple is working to enable ID authentication through its digital wallet for college students.

The company recently signed a deal that allows students at Duke University, the University of Alabama and the University of Oklahoma to store their school IDs on their iPhones. According to reports, students can use Face ID, Touch ID or passcode options to access and authenticate their college IDs, not only to access their university campuses, but to make purchases. Apple said the solution will soon launch at Johns Hopkins University, Santa Clara University, Temple University and some other colleges.

Deloitte, meanwhile, is looking to entice governments with new blockchain-based identity solutions.

The company recently announced that it would partner with identity management platform provider Attest on blockchain-based solutions that address identity related challenges. The new solutions will provide verifiable identities for a wide range of citizens, and are designed to offer more accurate and secure authentication, compared to other forms of identification.

To read more on these headlines, check out the Tracker’s News and Trends section.

How Coinbase Safeguards User Accounts

While Deloitte turns to blockchain, other financial service providers are using two-factor authentication (2FA) to protect accounts and ward off fraudsters. That includes cryptocurrency trading platform Coinbase, which has implemented 2FA for every account on its platform.

In this month’s Digital Identity feature story, B. Byrne, identity project manager at Coinbase, explained how the company keeps cybercrime at bay by ensuring that users can securely manage their cryptocurrencies.

“One thing Coinbase does differently than a lot of other companies is require 2FA for every customer,” he said. “It gives us a really strong base to start from, but it also means we have to do a lot of work to educate our user base and make sure we don’t lock them out of their accounts because they don’t understand 2FA.”

Download this month’s Digital Identity Tracker.

About The Tracker

The Digital Identity Tracker, produced in collaboration with Jumio, is a forum for framing and addressing key issues and trends that face the entities charged with efficiently and securely identifying, and granting permission, to individuals so as to access, purchase, transact or otherwise confirm their identities.