From 48 Hours to 3 Minutes: Troygold Democratizes Gold Ownership with Smile ID

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Troygold at a glance

Use Case

Fraud Prevention, Enhanced Due Diligence

Industry

Financial Services

Countries of Operation

South Africa

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Impact

48 hrs to 3 mins
Onboarding time reduced
100%
KYC/AML compliance

Troygold is Building Trust and Democratising Gold Ownership with Smile ID

About Troygold

Historically, all banks were based on the gold standard until the 1970s, when fiat currency took over, leading to inflation. TroyGold aims to bring back the gold standard. The gold standard is a much more stable form of currency where its customers' money is not subject to inflation based on government decisions.

TroyGold is a South African fintech company that is revolutionizing how people invest in gold. They offer a user-friendly platform that allows anyone to buy gold, starting from as little as ten Rands. This fractional ownership model makes gold ownership accessible to everyone, regardless of their financial background. TroyGold's core mission is to empower individuals to hedge against inflation and build wealth through a stable asset class like gold.

Since its inception, TroyGold has expanded its services to include business accounts and has formed partnerships with major financial institutions. This evolution required robust and reliable verification processes (with multiple verification solutions) to maintain trust and compliance as the company scaled its operations.

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Challenges With Verification

TroyGold, like many fintech startups, faces the challenge of building trust in a market where traditional gold investments have been seen as exclusive to the wealthy. The absence of a physical product can also raise suspicions among potential users, making it crucial to establish trust with users through transparent and reliable verification processes.

TroyGold's initial verification solution presented two major challenges:

  1. Verification Speed and Reliability: With thousands of daily user verifications required, a fast and accurate process was paramount. The manual verification system in place was slow and prone to errors, resulting in high user abandonment rates.

  2. Regulatory Compliance and Rapid Scaling: To meet strict AML regulations, TroyGold needed a robust and efficient verification system. The company also had to scale quickly while maintaining compliance, necessitating a solution that could seamlessly handle both demands.

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Partnering with Smile ID

Smile ID's recognized expertise in the African market, providing reliable KYC and Business verification (KYB) solutions tailored to local needs made us an ideal partner for TroyGold. The impact of working with us for verifying their users has been:

  1. Rapid Verification: Our ability to deliver swift verification within minutes was essential for maintaining user trust and operational efficiency, aligning with TroyGold's goals. By partnering with Smile ID, TroyGold has:

    • Streamlined onboarding from 48 hours to under 3 minutes
    • Significantly improved user experience
    • Reduced signup abandonment rate

  2. Comprehensive Verification: As TroyGold expanded from onboarding users to businesses and checking for politically exposed persons (PEPs), our robust product suite supports the company's evolving needs. With Smile ID, TroyGold can now:

    • Accurately verifies government-issued IDs
    • Ensure the legitimacy of businesses onboarded
    • Conduct comprehensive Anti-Money Laundering checks and thus able to adhere strictly to regulatory requirements and mitigate fraud risks.

  3. Efficient Integration: Smile ID's API seamlessly integrated into TroyGold's product, enabling a smooth transition and uninterrupted service.

  4. Ongoing Support: Our commitment to continuous support and updates ensures TroyGold can rely on us for ongoing improvement and compliance with evolving regulations.

    • Responsive support team, always ready to resolve issues and answer questions
    • Ensures smooth operations
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TroyGold: Empowering South Africans with Secure Gold Investments

Rapid Onboarding & Exceptional Support: Smile ID's Impact on TroyGold

TroyGold Transforms Onboarding with Smile ID's KYC Solutions

“Smile ID has been an amazing product for us. It ensures proper KYC, collects legitimate information, and significantly reduces the time for verification. With Smile ID, we can onboard users quickly and accurately. This partnership has been crucial for us, particularly because Smile ID understands the African market well and can handle our documents correctly”

Jarryd Burger Leader Developer