CertiK is excited to announce a new feature of the CertiK KYC process: KYC Badge Awards. In order to pass CertiK's KYC process, teams must undergo a thorough due diligence examination which determines eligibility for a KYC badge. Once a badge has been awarded, projects will be issued either a KYC Gold Verified, KYC Silver Verified, or KYC Bronze Verified badge. Our due diligence process remains unchanged, but project teams are now issued KYC Gold, KYC Silver, or KYC Bronze based on the level of verifiable information they provide, as well as the length of time since CertiK has known the team. The tiered badges bring more accountability and transparency to project teams and reduce the risk of fraud and abuse.

How It Works

CertiK KYC is a multi-step comprehensive due diligence process that determines the allocation of a KYC Badge. Only projects that successfully pass this process will receive a KYC Badge which can be one of three different badge awards; KYC Gold Verified, KYC Silver Verified, and KYC Bronze Verified. These badges are determined according to the below framework:

The new KYC Badges also display key information on a project team’s geographical risk, the number of core team members that verified their identity with CertiK, and the project inception date. Additionally, the KYC timeline details each step of the due diligence process and its initiation date.

We recognize that the composition of project teams can change and that project risk typically decreases over time. Therefore, our team conducts a comprehensive re-evaluation every 90 days to evaluate project progress and changes. The re-evaluation period also gives Silver or Bronze projects the opportunity to improve upon their Badge. Projects and their communities can track the days remaining until re-evaluation directly on the KYC Badge displayed on the CertiK Security Leaderboard.

Geographical Risk

Geographical Risk refers to a project team’s geographical risk and the risk associated with the location and distribution of a project team. Geographical risk is determined based on an aggregation of official international risk ratings and projects are assigned Tier 1, Tier 2, or Tier 3 according to the following framework:

The location of the project team and its members is confidential and will never be publicly disclosed on the KYC Badge or the CertiK website.

Core Team Members

The core team behind a project has a significant impact on the reliability and security of a project. The KYC team conducts a review with the primary project owner and other key team members in order to determine together which team members are considered key to the project, from a security perspective.

Project Inception Date

Project Inception Date refers to the date the team launched their project.

More Information

The KYC Badge now gives project communities key insights into a project team’s KYC status while still upholding the privacy and confidentiality of a project team’s sensitive information.

For more information on CertiK KYC, our enhanced due diligence process, and our new KYC Badges, check out How We Do KYC.

Project teams who want to apply for the CertiK KYC Badge can contact us here.

You can also read our disclaimer.