Regula survey finds AI activity in crypto KYC

Regula has found that 44% of surveyed crypto firms confirmed AI-assisted or automated activity among users undergoing identity checks.

Regula, an identity verification provider, has published its Crypto KYC Snapshot Report, based on findings from its 2026 global study ‘Identity Verification in the Age of AI Agents’. The report shows that 44% of surveyed crypto firms reported confirmed AI-assisted or automated activity among users undergoing identity verification, compared with 31% in other surveyed sectors, a gap of 13 percentage points. Such activity may include an AI assistant or agent acting on a customer’s behalf, a script interacting with a verification flow, or other automated behaviour identified through investigation or post-incident review. Regula notes that confirming the involvement of AI or automation does not in itself establish that fraud occurred or that an attack succeeded.

Document fraud and decision traceability

Asked about identity threats, crypto respondents cited counterfeit, altered, or stolen identity documents more often than deepfake or AI-generated impersonation, at 44% compared with 37%. Concern about document fraud among crypto firms was also 10 percentage points higher than the 34% recorded in other sectors. The consequences of errors appear more pronounced in crypto as well: 48% of crypto respondents associate incorrect identity verification results with financial loss, compared with 38% in other sectors. According to Regula, the findings point to the continued relevance of document authentication alongside controls for biometric impersonation and manipulation.