# kyc

Source: https://startwithidentity.com/glossary/kyc/
Last updated: 2026-08-29
License: content by Start with Identity. Cite the source URL.

---

Know Your Customer. Regulatory obligations to identify and verify the identity of customers, primarily in financial services. KYC is a workflow built on top of identity verification technology.

KYC is the regulated wrapper around identity verification: the same document and liveness checks, plus record-keeping, risk scoring, ongoing monitoring, and sanctions screening. The cost and friction it imposes at onboarding are what make reusable credentials attractive, since a verified attribute presented from a wallet can satisfy the check without repeating the proofing at every institution.

See also: [AML](https://startwithidentity.com/glossary/aml/), [identity verification](https://startwithidentity.com/glossary/idv/), [reusable identity and KYC](https://startwithidentity.com/guides/decentralized-identity/reusable-identity-and-kyc-with-verifiable-credentials/), [identity verification vendors](https://startwithidentity.com/vendors/identity-verification/)