interVASP Messaging Standard 101 (IVMS 101)
What Is IVMS 101?
IVMS 101 serves as the globally accepted communication standard for exchanging essential originator and beneficiary details among virtual asset service providers (VASPs), universally adopted by major Travel Rule solution providers.
Why Do VASPs Need IVMS 101?
Per the FATF Travel Rule, customer data must be exchanged before or alongside crypto transactions. This data needs to be transmitted uniformly between VASPs to avoid data misinterpretation.
IVMS 101 is not a protocol but a data transmission type implemented into a protocol. It facilitates the transmission of Travel Rule data, irrespective of the Travel Rule (technical) solution.
How Does IVMS 101 Work?
Not all Travel Rule solutions format data in the same way. For example, VASP A uses a solution that records user names in the format <name:surname>, whereas VASP B’s solution records user names as <surname:name>.
When VASP B receives the name John Scott from VASP A, it will assume that Scott is the name and John is the surname. As this data is inaccurate, the transaction will not take place.
IVMS 101 remedies this by “taking” the Travel Rule data and structuring it in a standardised and intelligible way for all VASPs.
See: The IVMS 101 Technical Specifications
IVMS 101 Is Not Enough: It Is a Piece of the Travel Rule Puzzle
IVMS 101 is but a piece of the Travel Rule compliance puzzle - the use of IVMS 101 alone does not equate to Travel Rule compliance. The IVMS 101 data model forms part of VASP identifiers for efficient VASP onboarding; further tools - VASP discovery mechanisms and LEIs, for example - are required for a holistic Travel Rule solution.
Read: TRP Workshop: Implementing the Open Travel Rule Standard
Adopting IVMS 101 across all Travel Rule protocols significantly enhances interoperability. 21 Analytics aims to establish the Travel Rule Protocol (TRP) as the acknowledged standard for the Travel Rule. This initiative is designed to facilitate a more straightforward implementation of TRP and promote quicker and broader adoption within the industry.
See: The Travel Rule Protocol (TRP) Open Specifications
Free IVMS 101 Resources and Tools
InterVASP Messaging Standard IVMS 101 Validator
The IVMS 101 validator enables developers to verify the compatibility of entered data with the IVMS 101 data model standard.
IVMS 101 Library
If all Travel Rule protocols use the IVMS standard, interoperability is significantly increased; therefore, we have made our IVMS 101 library freely available to facilitate a more accessible implementation of TRP and encourage faster and broader adoption of the protocol.
Read: 21 Analytics Open-sources Its interVASP IVMS 101 Implementation
Read: What is TRP?