What is KYB?

KYC is the same check on a person. KYB is the check on the entity plus KYC on the people behind it, which is why it takes longer and asks for more paper.

The rule underneath it in the United States is FinCEN's Customer Due Diligence rule, which requires covered institutions to identify and verify any individual who owns 25 percent or more of a legal entity, and an individual who controls it. Other jurisdictions ask the same two questions, ownership and control, with their own thresholds and their own registers.

What you will be asked for, in practice: the registry extract and registered address, a chart of ownership down to natural persons, identity documents for owners above the threshold and for directors, a description of the activity, expected volumes, and a source of funds. A crypto exchange or an off-ramp asks for the same set, sometimes with proof that a wallet is yours.

Why it takes weeks: every layer of ownership is another set of documents, and a holding company in another country restarts the clock with that country's paperwork. The practical answer is a dated folder with the extract, the cap table and the IDs, because the next provider asks for the same things.

How this shows up in Orla

Orla is not a bank: it takes no deposits, and its bank and exchange connections are read-only. It holds client money in two places only, both funded by you on purpose: the prepaid balance behind virtual cards and an AI agent's wallet. A card holder passes the card issuer's own identity check before a card goes active, and the card list shows that stage as KYC submitted and then verifying.

The checks inside Orla point the other way, at the people you pay. On a contact's card, Counterparty check screens the company or the person by name against sanctions, politically exposed persons, criminal lists and adverse media, and for a company with a registration or VAT number confirms it in its registry: VIES for an EU VAT number, GLEIF for an LEI, Companies House for a UK company, the state registers for a US one. One press spends one check from the same balance as address screenings.

Sources, read on 26 September 2026

• FinCEN, Customer Due Diligence (CDD) Final Rule: “identify and verify the identity of any individual who owns 25 percent or more of a legal entity, and an individual who controls the legal entity”