KYC Policy

1 Why we verify

Exchanging digital assets for money is an activity that criminals try to abuse. Verification lets us comply with applicable Maldivian anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorist-financing law and international standards, keep stolen funds and scam proceeds out of the Service, stop account takeovers and identity theft, and make sure the person we pay is the person who sold to us.

It also protects you: a verified account is much harder for someone else to use, and a verified payout goes only to a bank account in your name.

2 Who must verify

• Everyone who buys digital assets or gift cards with an account must be verified first.
• Everyone who sells with an account may be asked to verify before a payout, and will be asked where a transaction is large, unusual, or flagged by our checks.
• Instant sell without an account (instant.tether.mv and novausdt.com) needs a confirmed Maldivian mobile number and a bank account in your name. We may require full verification before paying out a transaction that is large, unusual or flagged.
• Partners and suppliers who sell gift card codes to us through the partner portal verify separately there.
• We may ask anyone, at any time, to verify or re-verify where the law, a bank, or our risk assessment requires it.

3 What we ask for

After review we may send you additional questions inside the Service, for example about a particular payment or the origin of a larger amount. Answer them in the Service, not by message, so they attach to your record.

Each identity document can be registered on one account only. If your document number is already registered, contact support rather than opening another account.

4 Document standards

• The document must be valid and unexpired; we also need to know its expiry date so we can ask you to update it in time.
• Photos are taken live through the camera in the Service. Screenshots, scans, photocopies and gallery uploads are not accepted.
• All four corners visible, text and photo sharp, no glare, shadows, fingers or filters. Colour only.
• The name, date of birth and number on the document must match what you entered. Mismatches are the most common reason for a rejection.
• The selfie must show your whole face, uncovered and well lit, with no sunglasses, mask or hat, and must be of the same person as the document.

5 How review works

1. You submit the steps above. Your status becomes pending and you can see it on your KYC page.
2. A member of our compliance team reviews the submission. To help them, we may run automated checks: comparing your selfie with the document photo, extracting the text from the document to check it against what you typed, and checking our fraud-prevention watchlists. A person makes the decision; no one is rejected by a machine alone.
3. Most reviews finish within 24 to 48 hours. At busy times or where we need more information it can take up to 72 hours. You are notified in the Service and by SMS or WhatsApp when the status changes.
4. If something is unclear we may set your status to information requested and ask follow-up questions. Answering promptly keeps the review moving.

6 Outcomes and resubmission

We are not obliged to give detailed reasons where doing so would reveal how our checks work or where the law prevents it. We may refuse verification, or withdraw an approval, where we consider the risk unacceptable.

7 Ongoing monitoring

Verification is not a one-off. We monitor transactions for patterns that do not fit what we know about you, and we may:

• ask for the source of funds or purpose of a specific transaction, or for supporting documents such as a bank statement;
• ask you to re-verify when your document expires, your name or bank account changes, your activity changes materially, or a bank or regulator requires it;
• hold a transaction, decline it, or restrict your account while we check, and report activity where the law requires it, which we may not be allowed to tell you about;
• refuse to deal with blockchain addresses, bank accounts, documents or numbers on our fraud-prevention watchlists.

8 Trading for others

If you are approached by someone asking you to receive money or digital assets "on their behalf", it is very likely a scam or money laundering. Decline, and tell us.

9 How your data is protected

• Verification data is used only for the purposes in this policy and in our Privacy Policy.
• Document and selfie images can be opened only by our compliance reviewers, inside the review tools, over an encrypted connection; administrative access is restricted to a private network and logged.
• Automated checks are run through reputable cloud providers that receive only the images being compared and do not keep them for their own purposes.
• Verification records are kept for at least five years after your account closes, as the law requires, and are then deleted or anonymised.

10 Your responsibilities

• Give true, complete and current information, and tell us when it changes.
• Use only your own documents and your own bank account.
• Keep your login, one-time codes and SIM secure; everything confirmed with a code sent to your number is treated as done by you.
• Do not open a second account. If you lose access to your account, contact support instead.
• Respond to information requests. Transactions may stay on hold until you do.

11 Contact and next steps

Stuck on a step, or waiting longer than 72 hours? Contact us with the mobile number on your account and we will check the status for you.

Phone +960 9494941 · Telegram t.me/tethermv. Tether.mv is an independent cryptocurrency exchange service in the Maldives, not affiliated with Tether Limited or any token issuer.