TRISA VASP Directory and TRISA Certificate Authority to overcome the sunrise problem by bootstrapping trusted communication with Mutual VASP Authentication.
MENLO PARK, Calif., Aug. 20, 2020 — Travel Rule Information Sharing Alliance (TRISA.io) releases V8 of its whitepaper introducing the global TRISA VASP Directory and the TRISA Certificate Authority to enable Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) to bootstrap trusted information sharing and comply with pending Travel Rule laws. The critical infrastructure presented by TRISA helps VASPs overcome the sunrise problem, empowering counterparties to establish trusted communication across jurisdictions that enforce Travel Rule regimes on different timelines.
TRISA also formalized governance, announcing the board of directors who have agreed to form a nonprofit. TRISA board members include John Jefferies as Chairman, CEO of CipherTrace Dave Jevans, Senior Software Research Engineer at Ripple Aanchal Malhotra, Chief Compliance Officer at Paxful Lana Schwartzman, Thomas Hardjono of MIT Connection Science & Engineering, and Chair of Blockchain and Digital Assets Practice at Bradley Carol van Cleef who is also founder and CEO of Luminous Group, a blockchain and cryptocurrency consulting firm.
John Jefferies, Chairman of TRISA, said, “In light of the recent OCC ruling allowing US banks to provide custody services for cryptocurrency assets, those that hold cryptocurrency will need to abide by the Travel Rule. Banks currently lack the infrastructure to comply with the Travel Rule when it comes to cryptocurrency transfers and must learn to share Travel Rule information with exchanges, funds, and non-custodial wallets.”
Lana Schwartzman, Chief Compliance Officer at Paxful, shared, “I’m thrilled and honored to join this board. TRISA has been on the forefront of Travel Rule implementation since version 1 of the white paper. They were able to show forward progress to FATF for VASPs seeking to comply with the Travel Rule globally by focusing not only on security, but interoperability as well which is essential to the success of the rule.”
Thomas Hardjono of MIT Connection Science & Engineering expressed, “The TRISA information sharing alliance provides the foundation for the nascent VASP and virtual assets industry to develop the next-generation trust infrastructure for future global finance, providing not only information assurance and reliability, but also compliance to the global AML/FT regulations.”
A Global Solution
Among outcomes from June’s Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Plenary meeting was the need for a global solution that allows VASPs to meet the FATF’s Travel Rule guidelines across regulatory jurisdictions. The Travel Rule requires VASPs to share certain sender and receiver information for cryptocurrency transactions such as names and account numbers of both parties and either the originator’s physical address, national ID number, customer ID number, or date and place of birth.
TRISA has implemented InterVASP Message Standard 101 (IVMS) to standardize Travel Rule message data fields. Several Travel Rule approaches have emerged, and many have converged on IMVS as a foundational layer, but limited scope and non-standard messages hinder globally-compatible information sharing. Version 8 of the TRISA white paper describes how interoperability among different protocols, message flows, and data types will be enabled with a Translation Interface. This interpreter function is critical to automating and scaling cross-border solutions for VASPs seeking to comply with global Travel Rule standards.
TRISA’s solution features the TRISA VASP Directory, which includes location data and contact information on 800 VASPs. The directory will assist VASPs in determining if meeting a given request to share sensitive information, per Travel Rule requirements, is safe and compliant. The expanded directory will include answers compiled from the TRISA Questionnaire developed in collaboration with Global Digital Finance and the Digital Chamber of Commerce. The purpose of this questionnaire is to provide a common set of questions VASPs can ask other VASPs with whom they are planning to begin exchanging Travel Rule information.
“CipherTrace donated the initial directory data set to help TRISA Alliance members make informed compliance decisions before sending or receiving large sums of virtual assets,” explained Dave Jevans, Co-Chairman of TRISA and CEO of CipherTrace. “The directory will be augmented with entity details, regulator and licensing information, Travel Rule vectors, and privacy information.”
The TRISA Certificate Authority will issue X.509 certificates to TRISA members, which will be used for mutual VASP authentication of TRISA members, ensuring confidential sharing of information between entities. The certificate authority will also issue Extended Validated (EV) KYC certificates after verifying business details. The root certificate from the TRISA Certificate Authority is embedded in the TRISA source code and will ensure that only instances with valid certificates can interact with other valid instances.
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About TRISA
Travel Rule Information Sharing Alliance (TRISA) is an open-source framework to support VASPs in sharing sender and receiver information to comply with Travel Rule requirements without compromising privacy. By applying a proven Certificate Authority (CA) model, TRISA reliably identifies and verifies VASPs to enable interoperability and ensure Personally Identifiable Information (PII) stays private and not sent to the wrong entity. The peer-to-peer design eliminates a single point of failure and provides resilience against attacks and scales to accommodate extreme volumes. VASPs and financial institutions can immediately begin using TRISA to comply with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) requirements as well as Travel Rule guidelines.