Credentials Explained

An agent presents a KYA credential to a site to show who it acts for. The credential identifies the person or business the agent represents and says what Baselayer verified about them. Baselayer signs it as an SD-JWT, so the site can trust where it came from and spot any change.

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What a credential tells a site

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What information a site receives

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Customer ID

Every credential includes an ID for this customer at this site. The site can use it to recognize a returning customer, for example to bring back a saved cart. Another site gets a different ID for the same customer.

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Identity details

A credential is about a person or a business. When an agent acts for a business, the acting person’s details travel in their own credential alongside the business credential. A credential can carry these details.

View all person fields

Detail	Technical name
First name	given_name
Middle name	middle_name
Last name	family_name
Full name	name
Email address	email
Phone number	phone_number
Street address	address.street_address
City	address.locality
State or region	address.region
ZIP or postal code	address.postal_code
Country	address.country
Whether the address was validated by USPS	address.usps_validated
Date of birth	birthdate
Birth year	birth_year
Last four digits of the SSN	ssn_last_4
Country of residence	residency.country
State or region of residence	residency.region
Matching hash of the name	hashes.name
Matching hash of the email	hashes.email
Matching hash of the phone number	hashes.phone_number
Matching hash of the address	hashes.address
Matching hash of the SSN	hashes.ssn

View all business fields

Detail	Technical name
Legal name	name
Trade names (DBAs)	dbas
EIN (federal tax ID)	ein
Business structure, such as llc	structure
State of incorporation	state_of_incorporation
Country of incorporation	country_of_incorporation
Date of incorporation	date_of_incorporation
Street address	address.street_address
City	address.locality
State or region	address.region
ZIP or postal code	address.postal_code
Country	address.country
Address type: registered, mailing, physical or residential	address.address_type
Email address	email
Website	website
Website domain, such as acme.co.uk	domain
Registration status: active, inactive or dissolved	registration_status
Matching hash of the legal name	hashes.name
Matching hash of the EIN	hashes.ein
Matching hash of the email	hashes.email
Matching hash of the address	hashes.address

A business credential also confirms that the person behind the agent is verified to act for that business. See Who Can Act for a Business. The site gets only the details it asked for, and only the ones Baselayer has. It lists what it needs in its KYA profile, a file it publishes on its own domain. Baselayer never adds more, and a site that checks against its profile refuses a credential that carries extra. If Baselayer doesn’t have a requested detail, the credential leaves it out. To ask for fields, see Asking for Fields.

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What Baselayer verified

The credential lists the checks that passed when Baselayer verified the person or business.

View all person checks

Check	Technical name
Phone confirmed with a texted code	phone_possession
Email confirmed with a code	email_possession
Date of birth matched the identity	dob_identity_match
Identity number matched the identity	ssn_identity_match
Watchlists clear	watchlist_clear

View all business checks

Check	Technical name
Matched a record in its home state registry	registry_record_found
IRS matched the business name and tax ID	tax_id_match
State registration is active	registration_active
The acting person is an officer on the registration	actor_is_officer
Watchlists clear	watchlist_clear

A site can set rules on specific checks, such as requiring a clear watchlist result before checkout. For how checks are carried inside the credential, see the verification block.

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Built-in safeguards

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Where to go next

See what you can do with KYA credentials:

• Let Shopping Agents Check Out: let verified agents shop, sign in and check out at your store.
• Give an Agent a Verified Identity: let sites recognize the people behind your agents.
• Know Who’s Behind Agent Traffic at the Edge: check who an agent represents before its request reaches your origin.
• Agents Acting for a Business: show which business an agent represents and who is acting for it.