Identity Verification

After registration, the first step of onboarding is providing identity information. This is the data used for KYC (Know Your Customer) verification -- a regulatory requirement that confirms the investor is who they say they are.

What the Investor Does

During onboarding, the investor fills out a form with their personal details. The first question is: "Do you have a US Social Security Number (SSN)?" The answer determines which identity fields are shown.

US Investors (SSN holders)

US investors provide:

• First name and last name
• Date of birth (must be 18 or older)
• Social Security Number (SSN) -- 9 digits
• Full address: street, city, state, ZIP code

International Investors

International investors provide:

• First name and last name
• Date of birth (must be 18 or older)
• Government ID number (varies by country -- see below)
• Full address: street, city, region/state (if required by their country), postal code (if required)

The platform supports investors from 40 countries. The specific ID type required varies:

The system automatically determines which fields to show based on the investor's country selection.

What Happens Behind the Scenes

Data is Saved Incrementally

As the investor fills in each field, the data is saved to the server immediately -- not just stored in the browser. If the investor closes the tab or loses their connection, their progress is preserved and they can pick up where they left off.

Address Normalization

When an investor enters their address, the system automatically normalizes state and region names to their standard abbreviations (e.g. "California" becomes "CA", "New South Wales" becomes "NSW"). This ensures consistent data across all records and prevents verification mismatches caused by formatting differences.

PO Box addresses are not accepted. The system validates that the street address is not a PO Box (including common variations like "P.O. Box" and "Post Office Box"). Payment and compliance providers reject PO Box addresses, so the investor must provide a physical street address.

Verification is Non-Blocking

This is a key design decision: the investor does not have to wait for verification to complete. After submitting their identity information, they can immediately continue with the rest of onboarding (choosing a profile, linking a bank account) and even make an investment.

Whether verification also blocks payment dispatch depends on the compliance policy. In the current default (Skip mode), verification never blocks payments -- the system dispatches payments as soon as the SPV is open and the bank account is ready. When blocking is enabled (Bank Pull Only or All modes), the system waits for verification to pass before dispatching payment. See Verification & Readiness for the full blocking mode matrix.

Background KYC Fires on Investment Commit

When the investor creates an investment, the system automatically submits KYC to Plaid in the background. Plaid is the KYC provider (separate from the KYB provider used for entity verification). This is a fire-and-forget process:

• It fires for all investors (individuals and entities), regardless of funding source
• It never blocks the investment or payment flow
• Results arrive asynchronously via Plaid webhook and are written to the investor's verification history
• An investor who completes onboarding but never invests will have their identity in "submitted" status -- KYC is not submitted until they create an investment
• Pre-V2 investors who were carried over as already Approved are skipped automatically

If Plaid flags an issue, the admin team resolves it. See the Background KYC Monitoring playbook for details.

Verification Bypass by Funding Source

Whether verification blocks payment depends on the compliance policy's blocking mode:

• External (IRA/DAF) investments always bypass verification regardless of mode -- the custodian or sponsor handles compliance
• Wire investments bypass verification in Skip and Bank Pull Only modes, but are blocked in All mode
• Bank pull (ACH) investments bypass verification only in Skip mode

In the current default configuration (Skip mode), no funding source is blocked by verification.

Identity Statuses

You may see these statuses on an investor's identity record in the admin panel:

What Admins Can Do

• View identity details in the admin panel under the investor's record
• See verification status and any failure reasons
• Help investors with "Needs Info" status by explaining what additional documents are required
• Understand that "Submitted" is not stuck -- it simply means the investor hasn't made an investment yet

For more details on managing verification issues from the admin side, see Compliance & Verification and Verification Issues.