Ross Freiman-Mendel, Head of Product Growth at Persona, said that redundant verification remains one of the biggest challenges in digital identity systems. He made the comments during an appearance on the Future of Identity Podcast, published on Trinsic’s website.
His remarks come as organizations and users increasingly seek faster and more secure ways to verify identity online. Inefficiencies in traditional verification processes have driven demand for reusable, networked systems designed to reduce repeated onboarding steps across platforms while improving security.
“Persona’s reusable identity network delivers 2x higher conversion rates and significantly faster completion times compared to one-off verification. Over 90 percent of Persona customers are now activated on the network. Redundant verification has become one of the biggest unsolved problems in identity. Network-based identity improves fraud detection while simultaneously reducing user friction,” Freiman-Mendel said.
He also described a broader industry shift away from siloed Know Your Customer (KYC) processes toward network-based and reusable identity systems, noting that Persona operates in more than 200 countries and territories.
That shift is reflected in new product development across the sector.Â
Persona launched Relay in April, a system designed to separate identity verification from user activity at the architectural level. According to the company’s product page, Relay can confirm attributes such as age or humanness without sharing personal data with requesting platforms or revealing which site or action triggered the verification. Persona states it does not sell personal data or use it for AI training or model development.
Regulatory guidance is also evolving alongside these technologies. The Federal Trade Commission issued a Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) policy statement in February, indicating it would exercise enforcement discretion for operators using age verification tools, provided data is not retained longer than necessary or used for unrelated purposes.
Platform policies further reflect these changes in approach. X’s published policy states it uses Persona for identity verification and deletes images after 30 days. Reddit CEO Steve Huffman has also said the platform plans to use third-party tools to confirm users are real people without collecting real-world identities.
Persona is a digital identity verification company that helps organizations confirm users are real and who they claim to be online. It uses tools like ID checks and biometric verification to support onboarding, compliance, and fraud prevention. The company operates globally and is headquartered in San Francisco.
