The long march to an approved federal budget began in earnest on March 28th of this year when President Biden unveiled the administration’s proposed 2023 government fiscal year budget. While the media often reports on the budget submission as if it’s already the law of the land, those of us who follow the budget and appropriations process in Washington know all too well that this ceremonial unveiling represents only the beginning of a long, often vexing process. It’s been said that the true outcome of compromise is disappointment on all sides; sadly, when it comes to federal budgeting and the ..read more

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” -Albert Einstein The issue of identity management is big and complex, and while some are making incredible strides to solve identity issues, the fraud that stems from ineffective identity management plagues businesses and government agencies everywhere ..read more

Implementing a comprehensive and effective KYC/CIP program for your business is critical to staying compliant with regulators. Too often the focus is strictly on “checking the box” to achieve compliance and avoid penalties, but that approach isn’t enough. While compliance is mandatory, and the fines for non-compliance can be high, the steepest penalty of all is one that often goes unnoticed - lost revenue from good customers being turned away because you don’t have the right KYC strategy and tools.  ..read more

The biggest event in crypto, Bitcoin 2022, kicked off yesterday in Miami, Florida. The event brings together investors, practitioners, influencers, and other major participants in the crypto ecosystem, and is intended to unite all who are involved in the industry for four days of learning, networking, and collaboration. The core group, known as HODLers (an acronym for the majority of Bitcoin owners who maintain it as a long-term investment, and therefore are “Holding On for Dear Life”) has had a lot to say about where this industry is going and how it’s going to handle things like growth, reg ..read more

Wayne Gretzky hasn’t played an NHL game since 1999, but his value went up 22% today ..read more

Socure helps us onboard new customers quickly and scale faster than we could with other tools. The Socure solutions provide a unified, comprehensive view of a digital identity, not just on document authenticity and selfie matching, but for actual identity and risk-based decisions. We identified no other solutions that compared in terms of accuracy or insights.” - John Mearls, Head of Risk & Operations, Lili ..read more

Socure recently achieved a milestone when the Kantara Initiative certified our identity verification and fraud risk platform for meeting National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST) Identity Assurance Level 2 (IAL2) requirements for federal agencies implementing high assurance digital identity services. That’s a big deal because it means that Socure’s platform has been independently validated as being compliant with federal government requirements. It’s a feather in our cap, indeed, but more importantly, it will significantly enhance how the federal government operationalizes identi ..read more

I occasionally pass a particular house that was built by a guy who owned some rather dubious businesses and had some seriously weird family issues. Lots of money, and lots of problems. It's a large, gaudy house right off the highway outside town, very conspicuous, with a sprawling entrance, circular driveway, and a sign announcing that this was the “[Smith] Estate.” He literally put the word “estate” in front of his place. Believe it or not, they haven’t been able to sell it since he passed ..read more

The recent statistics and stories on fraud and ineffective identity verification solutions in the government are sobering—in 2021, the U.S. Secret Service estimated pandemic relief fund losses at a staggering $100B1, many veterans have been locked out of Veterans Administration (VA) benefits because they can’t validate their identities2, the IRS is shifting course and revamping its identity verification processes after an expensive and ineffective effort using facial recognition3, and Oregon, California, and other states claim they were mislead about the use of facial recognition as a tool fo ..read more

Why did crypto currencies soar when President Biden issued an executive order demanding a “whole-of-government” effort to regulate the crypto industry? Why indeed? It can be understood as a collective sigh of relief that the U.S. government has made clear that digital assets are part of its future roadmap. The order outlines recommendations for consumer protection and financial stability for cryptocurrencies in the U.S., as well as consideration for a U.S. central bank digital currency (CBDC). It directs a number of agencies to compile recommendations and reports on these various components ..read more