Under the Hood
Technical deep dives into the AI models, architecture decisions, and engineering trade-offs that power FaceVault.
Self-Hosted KYC for Your Crypto Exchange. One Plugin Install.
The FaceVault HollaEx plugin replaces cloud KYC providers like Sumsub with self-hosted identity verification. No per-check cloud fees, biometric data stays on your infrastructure, flat pricing from $0.35/check.
What Is eKYC? The Complete Guide to Electronic Identity Verification
Everything you need to know about electronic Know Your Customer: how it works, who needs it, regulatory requirements, and how to implement it. The definitive guide for fintechs, crypto exchanges, and online platforms.
Self-Hosted KYC vs Cloud KYC: Privacy, Cost, and Control
The complete comparison: self-hosted identity verification vs cloud KYC APIs. Data sovereignty, GDPR compliance, cost analysis, and when each approach makes sense.
We Accept Bitcoin. Here's Why That's a Statement.
FaceVault now accepts BTC and USDT TRC-20 with no payment processor and no middlemen. A deep dive into Proof of Work, why PoW beats PoS, the energy debate, 21 million, and how we built self-custodial crypto payments for identity infrastructure.
NFC Passport Chips: The Identity Signal Nobody Fakes
Modern passports contain a cryptographic chip signed by the issuing government. We built a companion app that reads it — BAC authentication, DG1 extraction, SOD hash validation, and cross-referencing against OCR data. Here's why NFC is the strongest signal in identity verification.
Why We Don't Use Cloud AI APIs
AWS Rekognition, Google Vision, Azure Face API — we don't use any of them. Every neural network runs on our own hardware via ONNX Runtime. No third-party processors. No data leaving our infrastructure. Here's why that's not a compromise, it's an advantage.
We Made Our AI 3x Faster by Making It Dumber
INT8 quantization reduced our four ONNX models from 448MB to 125MB and doubled inference speed. One script, zero cost, no accuracy loss. Here's exactly how we did it — plus 6 more free optimizations that tripled our server capacity.
From 3 Signals to 10: How We Rebuilt Document Fraud Detection
Edge detection, color profiling, text sharpness forensics, barcode cross-reference, MRZ check digits — seven new signals that close the gaps in our document fraud pipeline. Same fusion pattern as our anti-spoofing engine.
We Can See Your Heartbeat Through Your Camera
How FaceVault uses remote photoplethysmography (rPPG) to detect blood flow through a standard webcam — extracting your pulse from 90 frames in 3 seconds to prove you're alive, not a deepfake.
Your Face Is Encrypted Before It Hits Disk
AES-256-GCM encryption at rest for every photo, embedding, and cache file. Updated: master key now managed by HashiCorp Vault Transit — never in env vars, never exported.
The Node.js SDK Is Here. Zero Dependencies, Full TypeScript.
FaceVault now has a Node.js SDK. Zero runtime dependencies, native fetch, full TypeScript types, and the same API surface as the Python SDK. Just npm install facevault and go.
We Open-Sourced Our Python SDK. Here's How We Built It.
The FaceVault Python SDK started as 6 files inside a Telegram bot. How it grew into a standalone, typed, async-first package on PyPI — and why we open-sourced it.
Why We Made 2FA Mandatory (And Why You Should Use Aegis)
FaceVault now requires two-factor authentication on every developer account. A personal take on why optional 2FA is a lie, how to not lose your TOTP codes, and why Aegis Authenticator is the best thing that happened to my phone.
We Added a Tor Hidden Service. Here's Why That Matters.
FaceVault is now accessible as a .onion hidden service. A personal reflection on onion routing, privacy as infrastructure, and why a KYC company should be the last one to compromise on anonymity.
Deepfake Defense: An IDS/IPS for Identity Verification
How FaceVault detects deepfakes, screen replays, printed photos, and manipulated documents using a five-signal fusion pipeline modelled on network intrusion detection systems.
Why We Rebuilt Our OCR Pipeline From Scratch
Tesseract wasn't cutting it. How a failing pipeline, a conversation with a trusted buddy, and a fresh perspective led to a multi-engine OCR system that reads passports, NRICs, and even green-on-green Irish PPSN cards.
From Zero to First Verification in 10 Minutes
Create an account, generate an API key, and verify your first identity document. Includes curl, Python, and Node.js examples.
Building Privacy-First KYC: Why We Delete Your Face
Data retention, token hashing, httpOnly cookies, and the philosophy of verify-then-forget. Written at 2am after a security hardening marathon.
How FaceVault Verifies a Face in Under 30 Seconds
ArcFace, MediaPipe, Haar Cascades, and the engineering behind our verification pipeline.