What is the Travel Rule?
The Travel Rule plays a key role in making cryptocurrencies a legitimate and secure payment choice. In short, it means that businesses that process crypto payments must now collect, verify and share specific transaction information with each other about who is sending and receiving the payment.
Learn more about the Travel Rule here.
How will this impact BVNK and our customers?
Starting 30 December 2024, BVNK is required to share information about the sender and beneficiaries in digital asset transactions, as we do with fiat payments. The implementation of the Travel Rule is another step BVNK is taking to ensure that your transactions are processed in full compliance with global regulations.
Non Travel rule compliant payments will fail after the 30th of December.
What changes do you need to make as a customer using API integration?
What’s changing
You will need to add a few lines of code to your current API integration, to provide additional information for both the originators and beneficiaries of crypto transactions.
Timeline for implementation
We kindly ask you to complete the integration update by 6 December 2024. Failure to do so will result in a halt of your crypto payment services until the changes are implemented.
How will your payouts experience change on the platform?
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Simplified crypto contact management: Add contacts for crypto transactions directly in the ‘Crypto Contacts’ section for smoother payouts.
- Note: The ‘Manage Crypto Addresses’ section will become read-only, so please transfer your crypto addresses to the ‘Crypto Contacts’ section by copying and pasting them.
- Learn more about the Travel Rule and what additional sender & receiver data will be required.
- Learn how to add a new crypto contact.
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Improved payout flow: Experience a more intuitive way to send crypto payouts.
- Note: This feature is replacing the old ‘Payment Link’ feature for outgoing payments. Receiving payments via links remains unchanged.
- Learn how to send crypto payments from the BVNK platform.
How will your pay-in & Channels experience change on the platform?
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Assigning contacts to existing Channels
- To continue receiving pay-ins into your existing Channels, you’ll need to assign a Crypto contact to each channel. We’ve made this process simple and straightforward:
- How to assign a contact to a Channel?
- How to add a new crypto contact.
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Creating new Channels
- From now on, when creating a new Channel, you’ll need to assign a Crypto contact during the setup process.
- How to create a Channel and assign a contact?
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Pay-ins to wallets using Channels
- To enable pay-ins directly into your fiat or crypto wallets with auto-conversions via Channels, you'll need to assign a Crypto contact to each Channel.
- How to directly receive crypto pay-in’s to a wallet from a contact via Channel?
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Pay-ins using Payment links
- Creating Payment links for incoming payments has been updated to comply with the Travel Rule. The process now includes a step for assigning a Crypto Contact.
- How to receive crypto pay-in from a contact via Payment link?
What happens to incoming pay-ins without an assigned contact
- Note: Incoming crypto pay-ins without the assigned crypto contact will be processed as normal until 16.12.24.
- Starting 16.12.24, all incoming crypto pay-ins without an assigned Crypto contact will be placed in a dedicated queue on the portal. To process these payments, you'll need to manually assign a Crypto contact.
- We recommend updating your existing Channels and assigning Crypto contacts before 16.12.24 to avoid the need for manual intervention.
How will your Mass crypto payouts experience change on the platform?
From now on all crypto payments executed via the csv file upload on the platform will require an association with existing crypto contacts. Once payment has been associated with a crypto contact it will continue to process automatically, requiring no additional information moving forward.
How to assign a contact to a payment without Contact details
All incoming payments processed via the BVNK portal without assigned crypto contact will now land in the Missing contacts section on the platform. You can easily assign contacts to these payment to be executed.
- Payments will remain in the "processing" state for up to 24 hours, awaiting the completion of the necessary payment name details.
- If details are not provided within 24 hours, the payment will stay in the "processing" state until the required information is added.
- Once completed, the payment will process but be treated as a late payment, using the exchange rate applicable at the time of completion
Assign a contact to a payment without Contact details
How to verify ownership of a self-hosted wallets?
A self-hosted wallet (also known as a non-custodial wallet) is a cryptocurrency wallet where the user retains full control of their funds. In the context of the Travel Rule, verifying that a wallet is owned by the merchant is critical to ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements.
The wallet verification process is seamlessly managed through the Payment Support app in the BVNK portal. To ensure compliance and avoid delays, please monitor your email and the Payment Support app for updates or requests throughout the verification process.
Why does BVNK require proof of Wallet ownership for self-hosted wallets?
Understanding the changes to merchant IDs (MIDs) in the new send flow
With the introduction of the new send flow, the Merchant ID (MID) feature is no longer relevant. Instead of selecting a MID for deposits or withdrawals, you can now select the wallet they want to use for sending or receiving funds.
- Previously, you could select an MID to associate with a deposit or withdrawal.
- In the new send flow, this step has been replaced with wallet selection.
- The system now automatically uses the first MID associated with the selected wallet.
You should begin using contacts instead of relying on MIDs. Contacts provide a clearer and more streamlined experience when managing deposits and withdrawals.