Spring Labs and TransUnion Bring Credit Data to Public Blockchain Networks for the First Time

For the first time ever, off-chain credit data from TransUnion (NYSE: TRU), a global information and insights company, will be made available on public blockchain networks via Spring Labs’ ky0x Digital Passport. The move enables better-informed, privacy-preserving DeFi and Web3 applications (internet applications based on public blockchains), unlocking a new world of permissioned and reputation-based products and features.

By making credit data - widely accepted as the standard to assess credit risk in traditional finance - available on-chain, Spring Labs is kick-starting its revolutionary ky0x Digital Passport identity system. Ky0x Digital Passport allows users to provide information about themselves in order to access permissioned smart contract applications while preserving the privacy of their off-chain identity. With access to ky0x’s Digital Passport’s data, DeFi and Web3 applications can build increasingly competitive financial products that only ky0x’s open and continuously growing system can enable.

“We want to foster greater trust (and adoption) in DeFi products and services, so we created the tool suite that makes available off-chain reputation (e.g. KYC/AML, credit) data on public blockchain that preserves the user’s privacy and anonymity. With TransUnion’s identity and credit data, we’re providing the first building block to bringing reputation on-chain, in turn helping create a more efficient DeFi lending environment that can offer better loans, more available liquidity, and ultimately accelerate adoption in the space.” - John Sun, CEO of Spring Labs

In addition to credit data, the ky0x Digital Passport enables any Web3 application or smart contract to access off-chain identity and compliance information. Spring’s research and development of privacy-preserving technologies have led to a system that allows its users to have control of their data while preserving their privacy and anonymity. Users opt in and provide permission to have their credit data attached to their wallet(s), and never need to reveal their identity and Personally Identifiable Information when affirming their reputation and credit history to DeFi applications and services.

“We believe in the growth potential of DeFi.  Providing credit and identity data on-chain is a huge step towards improving the financial products available in the space. Working with Spring’s ky0x, we now have a solution for users to control and share their data on blockchain in a privacy-preserving way, enabling them to safely interact with a broader set of financial products.” - Steve Chaouki, President of U.S. Markets and Consumer Interactive at TransUnion

With VantageScore credit scores on-chain, users can improve the rates that they’re being offered by DeFi lenders, and DeFi lenders can reduce their own risk, all while increasing their available liquidity. Because of its state-of-the-art model architecture, market-leading predictive performance, and its inclusive ability to provide a score for nearly the entire adult U.S. population, VantageScore is widely used by the most innovative financial technology providers and it is a trusted risk management tool for more than 2500 financial institutions in the United States

Since Dec 2020, DeFi’s Total Value Locked (total assets in DeFi) has grown 10x to represent $200bn+, despite DeFi’s exclusion of many institutional and retail investors due to the lack of compliance standards and infrastructure. With the introduction of compliance toolkits like ky0x, DeFi is poised to accelerate its growth and could break $800bn in total assets before the end of 2022 (Source: Business Insider).

 Enabling access to an industry-standard, trusted credit risk score like VantageScore on-chain and in a consumer permissioned, anonymous way opens the door to greater growth and financial inclusion in the DeFi space. Paired with ky0x’s AML and KYC capabilities, DeFi lenders can transact with confidence at lower rates, potentially paving the way for lending without the over-collateralization that is standard today.” – Liz Pagel, SVP Consumer Lending Business Leader at TransUnion.

 For more information, please visit https://ky0x.com/

 About Spring Labs / ky0x

Spring Labs creates and oversees anonymous, decentralized data networks that vastly increase the amount, quality, and security of information available to market participants. Spring Labs leverages sophisticated cryptographic tools and blockchain technology to provide data and metadata integrity guarantees, tamper-evident workflows, and privacy-preserving tokenization that allow for the corroboration of information without the exchange of underlying data. These interlocking technologies help mitigate fraud, improve verification capabilities, and securely provide access to previously unavailable data off- and on-chain.

 Based in Marina Del Rey, California, Spring Labs was founded in 2017 by Adam Jiwan, John Sun, and Anna Fridman. Spring Labs is a Series B company with approximately 50 employees and has raised over $63m from investors including TransUnion, GreatPoint Ventures, August Capital, Galaxy Digital, Multicoin Capital, and others. Learn more at www.springlabs.com.

 About TransUnion (NYSE: TRU)

TransUnion is a global information and insights company that makes trust possible in the modern economy. We do this by providing an actionable picture of each person so they can be reliably represented in the marketplace. As a result, businesses and consumers can transact with confidence and achieve great things. We call this Information for Good®.

 A leading presence in more than 30 countries across five continents, TransUnion provides solutions that help create economic opportunity, great experiences and personal empowerment for hundreds of millions of people.

 http://www.transunion.com/business