BOSTON, July 09, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Proof, the identity authorization network, and Enigma, the leading business identity data platform, today announced a strategic partnership to launch Business Certificates: a verified credential layer that binds a current business identity to individuals and systems authorized to act on that business’s behalf.
The announcement comes as business identity fraud reaches crisis levels. FinCEN’s analysis of Bank Secrecy Act filings found that false records ranked as the second-largest fraud category, representing part of $212 billion in suspicious activity. Fraudsters are no longer just redirecting payments; they are impersonating entire businesses by spoofing email domains, fabricating executives, and generating content under stolen brand identities.
At the heart of the problem is a structural flaw in how business identity has worked for decades: a KYB verification record has been a timestamp. It answers the question the day it is run, yet institutions trust it long after the underlying facts have changed. Who owns the business now? Is the person initiating a wire transfer still authorized to do so? Has the business’s status changed since the account was opened? This gap costs businesses and financial institutions billions of dollars each year in fraud losses.
Introducing Business Certificates: KYB That Answers in the Present
Business Certificates are verified credentials issued by Proof that bind a current, continuously maintained business identity to the people and systems permitted to act on that business’s behalf.
Enigma’s infrastructure resolves more than 100 million U.S. legal entities, 75 million key people, 33 million brands, and 31 million locations by continuously matching and refreshing data across billions of government filings, state registries, federal records, sanctions watchlists, and beneficial ownership submissions. When a business’s status changes (new ownership, suspended license, or sanctions exposure), the credential reflects it, eliminating the timestamp problem that has defined KYB for decades.
“Trust starts with better business identity. The more digital and AI-driven the economy becomes, the more important it is to ground decisions in a reliable understanding of which businesses are real, how they are connected, and who can act for them. By combining Enigma’s business identity and KYB capabilities with Proof’s authorization infrastructure, we can give the market a much stronger foundation for those decisions.”
— Hicham Oudghiri, CEO, Enigma
Business Certificates are not just presented. They are used to sign. Bound to a wire, a vendor contract, an ACH change request, a press release, or an AI agent instruction, the signature carries verified identity into whatever the business puts into the world. Every act becomes traceable back to a real, verified business and a real, authorized person or system.
Closing the Fraud Gaps That KYB Alone Cannot
Business identity fraud takes many forms. Business Certificates address each of them:
- Payment fraud and wire fraud: A Business Certificate bound to a wire instruction confirms the business is in good standing, and the receiving account legitimately belongs to the named vendor at the time of the transaction.
- Vendor and supplier fraud: ACH changes and account update requests can be signed with a Business Certificate, preventing fraudsters from redirecting payments by impersonating a vendor.
- Business impersonation: Signed press releases, account statements, and vendor contracts carry cryptographic proof that they originated from the verified business. Business Certificates reduce the gap that allows fraudsters to publish content under stolen letterheads.
Protecting the Companies’ Brand, at the Content Layer
Deepfakes and synthetic content have moved from novelty to a liability for brands. Legal, communications, and investor relations teams need to prove, cryptographically, that content in a company’s name came from the company.
Business Certificate can be used for a press release, executive statement, product image, invoice or quarterly disclosure. The certificate travels with the file so any recipient can verify it originated from the verified business, was signed by an authorized person, and has not been altered.
Unlike static content-signing certificates on the market today, the identity behind them is continuously refreshed and bound to a specific authorized individual, so the credential reflects changes in near real time.
Built for the Era of Agentic Commerce—and the Arrival of x401
The partnership is designed to address not just today’s fraud threat, but tomorrow’s: the rapid rise of AI agents acting autonomously on behalf of businesses in commercial and financial workflows.
KYB and Know Your Agent (KYA) frameworks solve distinct trust problems that must work together. KYA verifies that an agent is authorized and acting within scope. KYB verifies the business entities the agent interacts with or represents. Failing either layer creates distinct and compounding fraud risk. An authorized agent transacting with an unverified business, or an unauthorized agent transacting on behalf of a legitimate one, each represent serious exposures that neither framework alone can prevent. This partnership directly addresses both layers.
Proof recently launched x401, an open, issuer-neutral protocol that lets any website verify the identity and authorization behind AI agents. Business Certificates, powered by Enigma’s continuously maintained KYB data, provide the business identity layer that x401 can carry into any agentic transaction. Together, they give organizations a complete trust stack: verified agent authorization, verified business identity, and a cryptographically signed record of every action.
“AI is making actions and content effortless to generate. Trust will come from knowing who stands behind them. Business Certificates give every institution a way to confirm not just that a business passed a check months ago, but that the right people are authorized to act for it right now—whether that’s a person initiating a wire or an AI agent executing a contract.”
— Pat Kinsel, CEO, Proof
Availability
Business Certificates are available now. Organizations interested in issuing, receiving, or integrating Business Certificates can contact Proof at proof.com/verified-businesses.
About Proof
Proof is the identity authorization company that verifies people and organizations, issues high-assurance cryptographic credentials, and creates tamper-evident evidence of what they authorize. Proof has secured more than $640 billion in transactions for 10,000 organizations, including 16 of the Fortune 100. Learn more at proof.com.
About Enigma
Enigma is the leading business identity data platform, resolving more than 100 million U.S. legal entities, 75 million key people, 33 million brands, and 31 million locations. Enigma’s platform powers KYB, payment risk, transaction screening, and onboarding for leading financial institutions, payments companies, and fintechs, including Ramp and half of the top 10 U.S. banks. Learn more at enigma.com.
Media contact:
lauren.hintz@proof.com
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