The Travel Rule Information Sharing Architecture (TRISA) – an open-source, decentralized solution to information sharing between VASPs – and CoolBitX, provider of the Sygna Bridge Travel Rule solution, have announced full interoperability between their respective Travel Rule solutions.
Why This Matters
As cryptocurrency adoption becomes mainstream and institutional investment grows, global Travel Rule compliance solutions for cross-border transactions are gaining traction. VASPs seek solutions that comply with regulators and simultaneously preserve privacy and security. TRISA has built a solution to serve the needs of the many networks, exchanges, and users in the digital asset ecosystem. TRISA is committed to developing the interoperability needed for universal Travel Rule compliance. For any solution to work globally, it must include cross-platform user interoperability. This is why TRISA and Sygna Bridge are excited to announce full integration, meaning Sygna Bridge customers can send Travel Rule compliance messages to TRISA members and vice versa.
The Travel Rule
In June 2019, The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the international anti-money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog, modified its Recommendation 16 to include Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) — financial institutions that manage virtual assets including cryptocurrencies. Known as the “Travel Rule”, VASPs are required to share specific sender and receiver information for cross-border cryptocurrency transactions over a set threshold. According to FATF, 58 jurisdictions, including the U.S., Japan, Singapore, and Switzerland have now implemented the revised FATF Standards. FATF released updated guidelines in October 2021.
The TRISA Solution
TRISA uses a trusted Certified Authority (CA) model to actively verify the identity of VASPs, adopted from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and used to secure most e-commerce and governmental communications. Certificate authorities offer a root of trust to anchor identities to a chain of trusted entities. The architecture catalogs verified VASPs’ public key addresses, which can be used to open a secure line of communication between VASPs to transmit user Personally Identifiable Information (PII).
The CA model safeguards against a single point of failure, provides protection from attacks, and is scalable to accommodate the growing crypto landscape. The design of TRISA augments blockchains rather than modifying existing protocols, which allows for interoperability between VASPs without overhauling each blockchain’s core functions. To comply with the Travel Rule, the ability to bridge the gap between independent identifiers both of VASPs and users is essential.
The Sygna Solution
Sygna is an AML compliance platform by CoolBitX that helps VASPs meet the demands of global financial regulators like FATF simply and effectively, while maintaining the highest information security standards to protect user data privacy.
Sygna’s Travel Rule protocol Bridge delivers an API-based messaging service for VASPs to share FATF R.16-required originator and beneficiary transmittal information, with support for over 3,000 virtual assets.
In April 2021, Sygna Bridge became the first Travel Rule compliance protocol to receive the coveted ISO/IEC 27001 certification, a globally recognized standard for Information Security Management System (ISMS). In October 2021, Bridge client Independent Reserve was granted licensing approval in Singapore by MAS.
Sygna will soon introduce Sygna Hub, a total API-based compliance solution that offers Travel Rule protocol interoperability and integrated 3rd party blockchain analytics and sanction screening features from the industry’s leading AML compliance service providers. Moreover, Sygna Gate, an optional browser-based solution, will also be released and doesn’t require any technical integration.
To join the Travel Rule Information Sharing Alliance, visit TRISA.io
