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Persona - Automatic KYC

The persona plugin lets your users verify their identity in Persona's hosted flow, with ID, selfie and document checks. It is an opt-in alternative to HollaEx's built-in Automatic KYC: it replaces that flow, and you use and pay for your own Persona account.

What you need​

  • The Enterprise plan on HollaEx Cloud.
  • Your own Persona account, with an API key and an inquiry template.
  • No other KYC plugin. Only one KYC plugin can be installed at a time, so remove automatic-kyc (or any other KYC plugin) first.

Set it up​

  1. Get your Persona details. In the Persona Dashboard, create an API key under Settings → API Keys. Create or choose an inquiry template under Inquiries → Templates and copy its ID (it starts with itmpl_).

  2. Install the plugin. Go to Operator Controls → Exchange → Plugins, find persona under Available to install and click Install.

  3. Configure it. Open the plugin with Configure, fill in the settings and save.

    SettingWhat it does
    api_keyYour Persona API key. Secret, from Persona. Required.
    template_idYour Persona inquiry template ID, for example itmpl_…. Required.
    urlPersona's API address. Leave the default, https://withpersona.com/api/v1.

  4. Add the webhook in Persona. In Persona, go to Settings → Webhooks and add a webhook pointing to your exchange's API address followed by /plugins/persona/webhook. Use this address, with your exchange's API domain in place of <your-api-domain>:

    https://<your-api-domain>/plugins/persona/webhook

    Subscribe it to the inquiry.* events, at least approved, declined, failed and expired. Your API domain depends on how your exchange is set up, for example api.yourexchange.com or yourexchange.com/api. See Base URLs to check yours, or open a ticket.

  5. Test it. Sign in to your exchange as a test user, open Verification and complete a Persona check.

What your users see​

On the Verification page, users click a button to start the identity check. They complete it on Persona's hosted page and are then sent back to your exchange's Verification page, which shows that their documents are being processed. Users get an email when they are approved or rejected.

How it works​

  • Persona tells your exchange about each result through the webhook. Before changing a user's status, the plugin asks Persona's API for the inquiry's current status and uses that.
  • An approved inquiry verifies the user. A declined, failed or expired one rejects them. Anything else, including inquiries that need review in Persona, leaves the user pending.
  • Once a user is verified, later webhooks don't change their status.
  • Verified users are not moved to a higher tier by this plugin. Use tiers, or a tier upgrade plugin, to decide what verified users can do.
  • Admins can verify or revoke a user's KYC from Operator Controls.

Troubleshooting​

  • Users can't start the check. The plugin needs both api_key and template_id. Check that they are filled in and correct.
  • Users finish Persona but stay pending. Check the webhook URL and that it is subscribed to the inquiry events. Inquiries that Persona marks for review stay pending until they are approved or declined in Persona, or until you verify or reject the user in Operator Controls.

Need help? Open a ticket from your HollaEx dashboard.