Austrac registers Everest’s platform…..
As part of our continued work with the Asian Development Bank to build the Central Bank of Samoa’s regulatory compliance platform, Everest is pleased to announce our registration with DIA and Austrac, the financial regulators of New Zealand and Australia respectively. Most recently, Everest was also registered as a money transfer operator with Austrac, “an Australian Government agency that uses financial intelligence and regulation to disrupt money laundering, terrorism financing and other serious crime.”
The significance of this level of regulatory approval is HUGE for Everest, and for the industry. Let me explain…..the major components of the Everest platform are the following:
· Identity
· Account/wallet
· Stable token
· Transaction Ledger
We’ve architected the Everest platform to have “user-owned” identity with attestations (e.g. AML & CFT watchlist status), which makes up the foundation of the account/wallet. That is, the identity and account are inextricably linked. Since Everest allows users to store their own biometrics, we are able to bring the 5 billion users without smartphones into the formal financial systems and provide them with access to the multitude of products and services found within regulated economies. From an anti-money laundering and regulatory perspective, these are the critical innovations that alleviate the constraints towards financial inclusion, allowing Everest to adhere to FATF recommendations, track transactions for those without formal or foundational identities, AND to also resolve government and institutional body concerns about money laundering from systems that push the AML adherence to the wallet providers.
Furthermore, the account/wallet is able to ingest accounts/wallets from others (e.g. Unimoni, Western Union, erc20, Bank of America), thereby enabling the platform to be open to partners’ accounts/wallets, and determine which partner, agent or company brought which user on to the platform. From an ecosystem point of view, this is very helpful in incentivizing partners and in inciting simple, rapid and scaled adoption.
The stable token(s) are effectively digital fiat, representing USD, AUD, NZD, WST, etc. with the added features of being conditional and carrying the transaction record. By architecting such a solution, Everest not only makes KYC/AML easily auditable, accountable and transparent beyond a SIM-based or ephemeral erc20 wallet, but it does not threaten central banks’ ability to manage their economies.
Lastly, the transaction ledger provides each participant, from sender to money transfer agent, to another agent in a different country, to a recipient, etc., with a transparent transaction record. The Everest platform is able to detect suspicious transactions, and regulators such as Austrac and the Central Bank of Samoa, are able to view transactions in near real time within their purview. Accordingly, the Everest solution is able to auto-generate & file regulatory compliant reports for money transfer operators, all with cryptographically secure data.
In sum, the provision of efficient, responsive technological solutions have been pivotal to Everest in achieving this level of regulatory approval. This validates how differentiated the Everest platform is in solving AML, data privacy, governance and stable token concerns from government bodies.
