Improving identity verification on Coinbase

Coinbase has experienced significant growth over the last few months. As a result, many customers have had a poor experience with identity verification, payments and customer support. This is frustrating for customers — and for our team. Today we wanted to provide an update on our recent improvements to identity verification on Coinbase.

Faster, more reliable ID verification through machine learning

We are now using machine learning for ID verifications. In most cases, verification will now take seconds — not hours. We have also integrated an additional ID verification vendor to help with increased loads during periods of peak demand. We’re excited to share that we are now successfully verifying nearly 90% of all customers who submit an ID.

A better customer experience

However, a 90% success rate still means 10% of ID verifications still fail, resulting in customers needing to contact the Coinbase support team. The top reason customers are unable to verify an ID is a cropped, blurry or low-quality photo. To reduce this, we now provide clear instructions on how to take a more legible photo of an ID.

Additionally, if a customer’s ID verification fails, we will send an email explaining a) why the ID couldn’t be verified and b) specific suggestions for how to resolve.

These features are currently available on our website and similar improvements for our mobile apps will be rolling out in the next few weeks.

Finally, we are continuing to invest resources in improving identity verification on Coinbase. As part of this effort, recently we created a dedicated engineering team focused on building out our internal identity services. P.S. — we’re hiring.