BOSTON, Sept. 15, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Days after U.S. banking regulators formally added verifiable digital credentials to federal customer-identification guidance, Proof today announced the general availability of its Verifiable Digital Credential, a portable identity designed to let consumers verify who they are once and securely reuse that identity across financial institutions and other high-consequence transactions.
Proof’s credential turns identity verification from a point-in-time check into a reusable piece of trust infrastructure. Each verified individual receives a Verifiable Credential anchored to their own X.509 certificate, issued by Proof’s WebTrust-audited certificate authority after Kantara-certified IAL2 identity proofing. The credential is held by the consumer and can be presented to relying institutions without requiring the consumer to repeatedly upload copies of a driver’s license or passport.
The launch follows September 8 guidance from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, issued jointly with staff of the Federal Reserve, FDIC, NCUA and OCC. The agencies updated an existing Customer Identification Program FAQ to expressly state that banks and credit unions may use a digital certificate or verifiable digital credential as one method of verifying a customer’s identity, including credentials issued and maintained by non-government third parties. For those third-party credentials, the institution remains responsible for ensuring the issuer uses an appropriate level of authentication. The guidance does not change existing Bank Secrecy Act requirements or create new supervisory expectations, but it gives financial institutions explicit federal guidance for incorporating modern cryptographic credentials into their customer-identification programs.
“For decades, every institution has effectively rebuilt a person’s identity from scratch: upload an ID, take a selfie, run checks and create another copy of the same sensitive information,” said Pat Kinsel, founder and chief executive officer of Proof. “Verifiable credentials make a different model possible. A person can prove their identity once, hold the resulting credential themselves and present cryptographic evidence of that identity wherever it is accepted. The federal banking agencies have now expressly put that model into the CIP framework, and Proof has built the infrastructure to deploy it at scale.”
Proof operates identity infrastructure for more than 8,000 businesses and has processed more than $1 trillion in high-consequence transactions. The company has spent more than a decade building identity, certificate and authorization infrastructure used across real estate, retirement, wealth, financial services and other regulated transactions.
FROM VERIFYING AN ID TO ISSUING AN IDENTITY
Traditional online identity verification establishes that a person appears to be who they claim to be at a particular moment. The result generally stays inside the institution that performed the check. Proof’s model is different.
After completing NIST IAL2 identity verification, each individual is issued a unique X.509 digital certificate from Proof’s WebTrust-audited certificate authority, bound to the verified identity. The consumer’s Verifiable Digital Credential is delivered to their device and cryptographically bound to a hardware-protected key.
The certificate belongs to the individual, not to a single institution.
That allows the identity to be portable. Rather than repeating the entire proofing process for every new interaction, a consumer can present the credential again for transactions such as wire authorizations, beneficiary changes, account recovery or interactions with another institution that accepts Proof credentials. Proof supports revocation and live credential status, allowing relying parties to independently determine whether a credential remains valid.
Using selective disclosure based on the SD-JWT verifiable credential format, consumers can also prove only the identity attributes required for a particular decision rather than transmitting an entire identity document.
For financial institutions, identity and authorization events can produce cryptographically signed, tamper-evident evidence of the issuer, assurance level, verified person, relevant attributes and action authorized.
“Trust in financial services begins with knowing who is on the other side of a transaction and being able to substantiate that trust,” said Roger W. Ferguson, Jr., former Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and a member of Proof’s Board of Directors. “Portable digital identity has the potential to reduce friction for consumers while giving institutions stronger, independently verifiable evidence. That requires infrastructure built to the standards financial institutions themselves are expected to meet.”
A TRUST LAYER FOR AI AGENTS
Proof is also extending the same architecture to one of the fastest-emerging problems in financial services: establishing who is responsible when an AI agent acts on a person’s behalf.
An institution receiving an instruction from an AI agent needs to answer two separate questions: Who is the human behind the agent, and did that human authorize this specific action?
Proof’s Verifiable Digital Credential establishes the identity of the person. Proof’s authorization infrastructure and x401 protocol are designed to let that identity be carried into agentic transactions, producing cryptographic evidence tying an agent’s action back to a verified person and the authority they granted.
“AI makes portable identity more urgent, not less,” Kinsel said. “If an agent is going to open an account, move money or change a beneficiary for me, the institution needs evidence that I am a real, verified person and that I authorized that specific action. Human identity and agent authorization are ultimately the same trust problem.”
BUILT FOR CROSS-INSTITUTION RELIANCE
A major weakness of today’s identity system is that consumers repeatedly distribute copies of their most sensitive documents.
Proof’s credential replaces repeated document collection with a model in which a relying institution can evaluate cryptographic evidence from an issuer. Each individual’s certificate chains to Proof’s WebTrust-audited certificate authority, while identity proofing is performed through a Kantara-certified IAL2 service. Credential status can be checked and credentials revoked when necessary.
The institution retains control over whether to accept the credential. The consumer gains an identity that can move with them.
AVAILABLE TODAY
Proof’s Verifiable Digital Credential is generally available today through the Proof platform and API.
The service supports OID4VCI and OID4VP, allowing consumers to enroll just in time or, when they already hold a Proof credential, reauthenticate and present their existing identity. Organizations do not need to preregister every user before a credential can be presented.
Individuals can verify their identity and claim a Proof Verifiable Digital Credential at proof.com and use it with participating organizations across the Proof network. Organizations needing secure cryptographic identity can register at proof.com or implement x401 to verify the identity behind the agents interacting with their business.
ABOUT PROOF
Proof operates identity infrastructure for high-consequence transactions: a WebTrust-audited certificate authority, PKI-anchored verifiable credentials and a network of more than 8,000 businesses spanning mortgage, auto, wealth, insurance and enterprise. More than $1 trillion has been secured across the platform. Proof created the online notarization category, created x401 as the open protocol for agentic authorization, and has led the digitization of countless industries. Learn more at proof.com.
MEDIA CONTACT
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