Why trust matters more than speed in KYC

As we head into the final weeks of 2024, I’ve been reflecting on the most notable findings in our 2024 Trust Index, which is Telesign’s ongoing research study on the impact of fraud and trust in the digital environment.   One finding that I’d regret going unnoticed: Once seen as a nuisance in the past, 8 in 10 people now welcome added levels of security to protect their digital identities and data. Consumers today are prioritizing trust over speed.   This—along with other data we are tracking on changing consumer sentiment—reinforces our belief that the promise of the digital economy can be unlocked by building in protections at the right moments in a customer’s journey, even when it requires a certain amount of appropriate friction to keep consumer identities and data safe.    When discussing a frictionless customer experience, we don’t mean removing all friction but rather optimizing it wherever possible. It’s about finding the appropriate times and places for additional steps based on the risk profile. Done correctly, it can reinforce a company’s brand promise and build greater credibility, deepen relationships, and foster more trust.   Consumers are increasingly prioritizing brands that exhibit high security and trustworthiness, and they reward them with their engagement and loyalty. Companies with strong and transparent trust frameworks and practices to keep their customers safe have an opportunity to gain a competitive edge and deliver the promise of continuous trust in the digital world. 

Speed looks impressive on a dashboard. Trust looks invisible until it is the only thing left standing. In my time watching systems rise and fall across blockchain, governance, and enterprise, one pattern keeps repeating: yesterday's flashy launch becomes tomorrow's cautionary tale if people cannot rely on the system without second guessing. ⚠️🔁 Here is why trust is the real benchmark: ✅ Reliability wins. People forgive slow features. They do not forgive surprises that break their workflow or money. 🔍 Predictability compounds. Predictable behavior from your product and your team turns first-time users into habitual users. 🛡️ Safety builds adoption. Clear governance, transparent incentives, and recoverable failure modes let partners and enterprises say yes. 🤝 Reputation outlasts velocity. Reputation is earned by consistency, not by hype. A quick builder checklist you can use today: • Track trust metrics, not just usage metrics. Examples: time to first value, repeat actions, governance participation, dispute rates. • Design for observable failure modes so partners can audit and accept risk. • Make promises you can keep and communicate those promises plainly. Plain language builds credibility. • Invest in education and onboarding. Trust is taught more than it is coded. Fast can win rounds. Trust wins decades. If you want something that lasts, build for the latter. 🔥 Share one sentence about a time trust saved or broke a project you care about. I will highlight the most useful examples. 👇

You ever notice how your platform doesn’t do anything flashy—but it just works? That “just works” is what built your reliability. Your trust. Your business. Behind that reliability is work most people don’t see—or want to do: • Patching the “low” CVE • Rotating stale tokens • Locking down the dev admin panel that went to prod • Removing secrets from repos • Cleaning up shared accounts • Revisiting “temporary” fixes no one tracked Not exciting. Not glamorous. But it’s what keeps the lights on. Security isn’t about brilliance. It’s about showing up—every day—with discipline. If you’re chasing tech like infinity stones to flex on your resume—fine. Just don’t look down on the people doing the quiet work that makes your flash possible. And on the business side, here’s the tradeoff no one likes to admit: • Prioritizing speed over fundamentals might gain you a 0.5% latency win today • But it borrows against trust, compliance, and that’s what costs you your institutional or big-brand customer tomorrow. When something breaks—a regulator knocks, a breach goes public, or trust erodes—the question is always: “Why didn’t we catch this?” The answer is often: “We did. It just didn’t get prioritized.” Security isn’t for everyone. But the moment you think you’re above the basics—you’ve already become a liability.