KYB Requirements Are Killing Broker Onboarding — Here's the Light-Touch Alternative
Updated: Sep 7
Ask any unregulated forex broker or online casino operator what killed their last payment integration, and the answer is rarely the technology. It's Know Your Business (KYB) onboarding. A process meant to take days routinely stretches into months, demanding bank statements, business plans, processing history and licenses that many high-risk merchants simply don't have — and can't get. By the time a traditional acquirer finishes its review, the merchant has often been rejected, or has moved on to a competitor that could go live faster. i-Pay takes a different approach: a light-touch KYB built for merchants who operate legitimately but don't fit a bank's risk model, reviewed manually and typically closed out within 24 hours.
What Is KYB in Payment Processing?
KYB is the due diligence a payment provider performs on a business before it can accept payments — verifying who owns the company, how it operates, and whether it's a fraud or compliance risk. For a regulated bank or acquirer, KYB is also how they protect their own banking license, which is why it tends to be exhaustive. For a facilitator like i-Pay — which never touches merchant funds and settles instantly in crypto — the risk profile is fundamentally lower, and the KYB process reflects that.
Why Traditional KYB Breaks Down for Brokers and Casinos
Document overload: Acquirers typically ask for audited financials, business plans, processing statements from prior providers, and proof of a payment history the merchant may not have yet.
License requirements: Many acquirers won't onboard a merchant without a gaming or financial services license — which rules out most unregulated forex brokers and offshore casinos outright.
Multi-week timelines: A 4–12 week underwriting cycle is common, during which the merchant processes nothing.
High rejection rates: After weeks of back-and-forth, high-risk merchants are frequently declined anyway, and the process starts over with a new provider.
Rolling reserves and chargeback exposure: Acquirers that do approve high-risk merchants often hold back a percentage of funds for months to cover potential chargebacks — capital the merchant can't touch.
Every week spent in underwriting is a week of lost first-time deposits and stalled growth — see also why brokers lose deposits to KYC friction.
KYB Compared: Traditional PSP vs i-Pay
Timeline: traditional PSP — 4–12 weeks; i-Pay — Manual review within 24 hours
License required: traditional PSP — Often mandatory; i-Pay — Not required
Documents requested: traditional PSP — Bank statements, business plan, processing history, financials; i-Pay — Website, incorporation documents, directors/shareholders/UBO details
End-user ID check: traditional PSP — Extensive merchant-side checks; i-Pay — ID check limited to the UBO
Rejection rate: traditional PSP — High for unregulated brokers/casinos; i-Pay — Assessed on a straightforward, documented basis
Funds exposure: traditional PSP — Rolling reserves, held funds; i-Pay — Funds never held — T+0 settlement direct to the merchant's own wallet
Data handling: traditional PSP — Shared across underwriting and risk teams; i-Pay — Reviewed internally; nothing shared with third parties
Why i-Pay Can Afford a Lighter KYB
The comparison above isn't a compliance shortcut — it's a structural difference in how the two models handle risk. A traditional acquirer holds a banking license and settles into its own merchant account, so it is exposed if a merchant turns out to be fraudulent, over-leveraged, or generates chargebacks it has to cover. That exposure is exactly why acquirers demand years of financials and processing history before they'll take it on.
i-Pay isn't the acquiring bank and never sits in that position. The end-user pays through a regulated onramp partner, funds convert to crypto, and settlement lands directly in the merchant's own wallet — i-Pay never custodies merchant funds at any point. There are no chargebacks to absorb because crypto settlement is final, and there are no rolling reserves because there's nothing being held back. With that exposure removed, the remaining question KYB needs to answer is simple: is this a real, identifiable business? Website, incorporation documents, UBO details and an ID check answer that without the multi-week interrogation a bank needs to protect its own balance sheet.
How It Works
Submit your website, incorporation documents and details of directors, shareholders and the UBO.
The UBO completes a straightforward ID check.
i-Pay's team reviews the submission manually — typically within 24 hours, with nothing shared to third parties.
Once approved, provide a company email, a Polygon wallet address and a callback URL, and go live. See the full process in from inquiry to live in 24 hours.
Who This Is For
Unregulated forex and CFD brokers, prop firms, and online casinos that operate legitimately but don't hold — or need — a financial or gaming license, and that have been rejected or stalled by traditional acquirer underwriting.
FAQ
Does i-Pay require a license to onboard? No. i-Pay's KYB does not require a gaming or financial services license.
What documents does the merchant need to provide? A website, incorporation documents, and details of directors, shareholders and the UBO, plus an ID check of the UBO.
How long does KYB review take? Submissions are reviewed manually, typically within 24 hours.
Is merchant information shared with other companies? No. KYB information is reviewed internally and not shared with third parties.
Does the end user still need to verify their identity? Yes — end-user verification is tiered and handled by i-Pay's regulated onramp partner at checkout, scaling with deposit size. This is separate from merchant KYB. See also why crypto onramp payments have zero chargebacks.
Glossary
KYB (Know Your Business): The verification process a payment provider runs on a merchant company before onboarding it.
UBO (Ultimate Beneficial Owner): The individual(s) who ultimately own or control a business.
Facilitator: A party that routes payments between an onramp provider and a merchant without acting as the acquiring PSP or holding funds.
Rolling reserve: Funds an acquirer withholds from a merchant's settlements to cover potential future chargebacks.
T+0 settlement: Settlement that lands the same day a transaction is processed, rather than days later.
Tired of watching KYB stall your onboarding for weeks while merchants take their volume elsewhere? Check available countries and see how fast a light-touch review can get you live. Ready to stop losing deposits to underwriting delays? Contact i-Pay today.
