I Was a Blockchain Developer for Years. Then I Tried to Add KYC to a Web3 App.

Hamza Yasin — Mon, 11 May 2026 15:09:39 +0000

I did not set out to build a KYC platform.
I set out to build a simple dApp that required identity verification. That was it. One feature. Should have taken a week.
It took much longer than that, and it broke me in ways I did not expect.

Some background
I have been working in blockchain and full-stack development for years. Smart contracts, wallet infrastructure, dApp architecture, the whole stack. I knew what I was doing technically. Or at least I thought I did.

Then a client needed KYC built into their Web3 platform. Verify users, link their identities to wallet addresses, screen against AML lists. Standard compliance stuff that any fintech or crypto platform needs.

I started researching vendors.
That is where things fell apart.

The KYC vendor problem nobody talks about
Every established KYC provider I looked at had one of three problems. Sometimes all three.

Problem one: pricing built for enterprises, not builders.
Most charge between $1 and $2 per verification with monthly minimums that assumed you were already processing thousands of users. If you were an early-stage project or a solo developer integrating compliance for the first time, the numbers simply did not work.
Problem two: integration that took weeks.
Sales calls. NDAs. Onboarding calls. Sandbox access requests. I just wanted an API key and documentation. Instead I got a six-week enterprise sales process.
Problem three: zero understanding of Web3.
Document verification, liveness checks, AML screening - these providers had all of that. But on-chain identity? Linking a verified real-world identity to a wallet address so a smart contract could check KYC status without exposing personal data? Nothing. They had never thought about it.

I ended up stitching together three different vendors for one integration. It was fragile, expensive, and a maintenance nightmare from day one.

The thing I kept thinking
After that project shipped, I could not stop thinking about how broken the experience was.

Not broken for the big crypto exchanges with compliance teams and enterprise budgets. Broken specifically for builders. For developers trying to do the right thing and stay compliant without spending $50k a year on vendor contracts before they had any users.

I had seen this same frustration come up in conversations with other developers across multiple projects. Everyone was working around the same problem in different ways. Nobody had solved it cleanly.
So I started building VerifiLite.

What I actually built
VerifiLite is an AI-powered identity verification platform built specifically for fintechs, Web3 projects, and developers who need compliance without the enterprise overhead.
The core features are everything a regulated product needs in one place:

Document verification across 190+ countries
Face verification and passive liveness detection
Deepfake and fraud detection
AML and OFAC screening with continuous monitoring
On-chain identity verification - bind wallet addresses to real-world identities, gate smart contract access by KYC status, without exposing sensitive personal data
Non-custodial crypto wallet infrastructure for platforms that need to accept USDT without holding private keys

But the thing I am most proud of is not the feature list. It is the pricing model.

The base tier is completely free. Unlimited KYC verifications. No credit card. No sales call. Just an API key and documentation you can actually read.

Because I remembered being that developer who needed to move fast and could not justify $2 per verification when I had zero paying users yet.

What building it taught me
A few honest things I learned that nobody really prepared me for.
The technical build is the easy part. I say this as someone who spent months on the technical build. The infrastructure, the AI models, the SDK, the dashboard, all of it - that was hard work, but it was work I knew how to do. Distribution, trust, getting the right people to even discover the product - that is the actual challenge.

Niche down harder than feels comfortable. I built this for Web3 and fintech specifically. That scared me at first because it felt like I was leaving a lot of people out. It turned out to be the right call. When you solve a specific problem for a specific person, they feel it immediately.

Shipping something real changes how you think. I have shipped client work for years as a freelancer and agency owner. Shipping something that is mine, with its own brand and its own users, is a completely different mental experience. The stakes feel different. The feedback lands differently. Everything matters more.

Where it is now
VerifiLite is live. Developers are integrating it. Fintech and Web3 teams are using it to onboard users.
If you are building anything that requires identity verification - a crypto platform, a fintech app, a dApp with compliance requirements - I built this for you.

You can start for free at verifilite.com. No credit card. No sales call. API docs are at docs.verifilite.com.

If you have questions about the integration or want to talk through your compliance setup, drop a comment or reach out directly. Happy to help.

I am also running a dev agency called *Quantum Bases * where we build AI-powered systems and Web3 infrastructure for startups and growing companies. If that is relevant to you, find me at quantumbases.com.

DEV Community: Hamza Yasin

I Was a Blockchain Developer for Years. Then I Tried to Add KYC to a Web3 App.