Documentation and API access are provided to partners during onboarding. If you’re interested in using the Customers product, get in touch and our team will follow up to discuss fit.
How it works
You manage the customer relationship, collect their information, surface any steps they need to complete, and check what they’re authorized to do before initiating an operation. Coinbase runs the underlying KYC / compliance program, verifying identities, running sanctions screening, making compliance determinations, and monitoring your customers on an ongoing basis.Initial and ongoing compliance
When a customer first onboards, Coinbase runs a full compliance review (identity verification, sanctions screening, and due diligence) before any capability is activated. Compliance doesn’t stop at onboarding. Coinbase continuously monitors your customers over time, rescreening against updated watchlists, reviewing activity for unusual patterns, and collecting compliance events as they occur.Capabilities
A customer’s actions are built around a set of capabilities: specific actions your customers can take, from holding a balance to sending a transfer to placing a trade. Each capability has a set of requirements associated with it. When you submit a customer’s information, Coinbase evaluates it against those requirements and returns which capabilities are active, which are pending, and what’s still needed to unlock others.Use Customers when you need to enable custody, transfers, or trading on behalf of an end-user.
Core objects
The API is built around three objects you’ll interact with throughout a customer’s lifecycle:| Object | Description |
|---|---|
| Customer | Your end-user, with their submitted identity information and compliance state |
| Capability | A specific action (e.g., custodyFiat, transferCrypto) and whether it is unrequested, pending, active, or inactive for a customer |
| Requirement | A field or action a customer must complete to unlock a capability (e.g., submit identity information, accept Terms of Service) |