When a business tells you they “verify identity,” the natural assumption is that all verification is the same. It is not. The gap between a basic document upload and a full biometric-matched, chip-read verification is enormous, and most businesses (and their customers) do not know which one they are getting.
ShareRing operates across three distinct verification levels. Understanding them is important whether you are a business evaluating providers or an individual who wants to know how your data is being handled.
Level 1: User Added
This is the entry point. A customer uploads a document, such as a driver’s licence or passport, into their ShareRing Me Vault. The document is stored, encrypted, on their own device. No centralised copy is made.
At this level, no automated verification checks have been performed. The document is present in the Vault, but ShareRing has not validated that it is genuine or that the person holding it is the person named on it.
User Added is useful for low-risk scenarios where a business simply needs a copy of a document on file. It is not sufficient for regulated use cases like KYC or AML compliance.
Level 2: ShareRing Checked
At this level, ShareRing performs optical character recognition (OCR) on the document to extract the data fields, and runs a facial biometric match between the document photo and a live selfie captured on the customer’s device.
This provides a meaningful level of assurance. The document data has been read and the person presenting it has been matched to it biometrically. For many business use cases, particularly those in industries like real estate, accounting, and legal services, this level meets operational requirements.
However, OCR alone cannot detect sophisticated document forgery. A well-made counterfeit with correct-looking data fields will pass OCR extraction. That is why the highest level exists.
Level 3: ShareRing Verified
This is the gold standard and the level that holds UK DIATF certification.
ShareRing Verified adds NFC (Near Field Communication) chip reading to the verification process. Modern e-Passports and some national ID cards contain an embedded chip that stores a cryptographically signed copy of the holder’s data. When ShareRing reads this chip via NFC, it retrieves data that was placed there by the issuing government and has not been altered since.
The NFC data is then cross-referenced against the OCR extraction and the facial biometric. All three sources must align: the chip data, the printed document data, and the live face. If any of the three do not match, the verification fails.
This layered approach is what makes ShareRing Verified the most rigorous commercial identity verification available. It is the level required for DIATF Medium Confidence (M1C), and it is the level that gives businesses operating under AML and KYC obligations the highest possible confidence in their customer’s identity.
What happens to the data after verification
This is where ShareRing differs from every traditional provider.
Once verification is complete, the verified credential is encrypted and stored in the customer’s ShareRing Me Vault on their personal device. ShareRing purges the raw document data from its systems. The business that requested the verification receives confirmation of the result, not the underlying personal information.
A verification hash is written to ShareLedger, ShareRing’s purpose-built blockchain. This hash serves as an immutable, timestamped proof that the verification occurred and what the outcome was, without revealing any personal data on-chain.
The result is that no centralised database of customer identity documents exists. There is no honeypot to breach. The customer retains full control of their data and can choose what to share, with whom, and when. This is the core of ShareRing’s self-sovereign identity model.
Why the reusable credential matters
The verification is done once. After that, the customer’s verified credential lives in their Vault and can be presented to any business that accepts ShareRing verification via ShareRing Link.
For the customer, this means no repeated uploads, no filling out the same forms for every new provider, and no scattering copies of their passport across dozens of company databases. For businesses, it means instant verification without the cost and friction of running the full process from scratch each time.
This is particularly valuable in industries where a single client interacts with multiple service providers. A customer verified by one law firm can present the same credential to their accountant and their real estate agent without repeating the process.
Choosing the right level for your business
The right verification level depends on your regulatory obligations and risk profile. Businesses subject to AML/KYC requirements should be operating at ShareRing Verified. Those in lower-risk environments may find ShareRing Checked sufficient. The important thing is to know what level you are operating at and to be able to demonstrate it to regulators if asked.
If you are not sure which level your current provider delivers, or if you want to see how ShareRing’s verification tiers fit your compliance requirements, we can show you.
Related reading
- A Closer Look at Our Verification Technology: Understanding the 3 Categories
- What Is DIATF and Why Does It Matter for Your Business
- FundedHere Investor KYC
- Bank of Anguilla: Digital Identity for Financial Services
- Your Client Verified Last Week. Why Are They Doing It Again?
- Compare Us
Rohan Le Page
CEO, ShareRing
sharering.network
