Zerohash AUTH Explained: Crypto Transfers Without Wallet Addresses

Zerohash AUTH swaps wallet addresses for linked accounts. See what its 600+ connections really cover and the compliance checks to make before you integrate.

Adrian ReyesSenior Payments & Fintech Editor

October 23, 2026 · Updated October 29, 2026 · 7 min read

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On this page 8 sections

How Zerohash AUTH Swaps Addresses for Linked Accounts
What "600+ Connections" Really Covers
Worked Example: How Much of Your Withdrawal Volume Could AUTH Reach?
Which Platforms Gain the Most From Account-Linked Transfers
Who Stands Behind AUTH: Zerohash's Licenses
Compliance That Zerohash AUTH Doesn't Remove
Questions to Put to Zerohash Before You Integrate
Pull Your Withdrawal Data Before the Sales Call

Key takeaways

Of AUTH's 600+ connections, only four are exchange or brokerage accounts (Kraken is in beta). The rest are wallets.
The 250 million figure is the combined reach of the connected platforms. It is not a count of AUTH users.
How much AUTH helps depends on three things: your error rate, how many of your withdrawal destinations it supports, and how many users choose to link. In our illustrative case, 80 monthly tickets would drop to 56.
AUTH doesn't change who owes Travel Rule or sanctions duties. Get the split between your platform and zerohash in writing.

Zerohash AUTH lets people move crypto between an exchange account and a self-custody wallet by signing in to both. They never paste a wallet address or pick a blockchain. The company behind it, zerohash, sells crypto and stablecoin infrastructure to other businesses and launched AUTH at Money20/20 USA in Las Vegas on Oct. 19, 2026. It fixes the two steps users most often get wrong on deposits and withdrawals. The compliance work behind each transfer stays the same.

Despite the name, AUTH has nothing to do with card authorization. If declined card sales brought you here, start with our guide to fixing false declines and raising authorization rates.

How Zerohash AUTH Swaps Addresses for Linked Accounts

The launch announcement describes four steps:

The user picks a custodial account, such as an exchange, or a self-custody wallet to link.
The user signs in with that account's own credentials and multi-factor authentication.
AUTH handles authentication and settlement, and the assets move onchain.
The transfer completes. zerohash calls this "near-instant."

The Paypers reported that AUTH handles tokenized securities as well as crypto and stablecoins. Each partner platform decides what can move and where, based on its own risk appetite. ChainCatcher reported that platforms can use AUTH on its own or through zerohash's existing SDK. Platforms that already use other zerohash products don't need a separate connection.

Ryan Beaudry runs AUTH as general manager. CoinDesk reported that he was previously Mastercard's executive vice president of global product and operations for open finance. That background matches the product. Open banking made account linking familiar for bank transfers, and AUTH applies the same model to onchain assets.

Linking a wallet doesn't hand over its keys. According to Blockchain Reporter's reading of the release, AUTH replaces the address step and leaves custody where it was. None of the launch materials we reviewed included pricing, so ask zerohash for current terms in writing.

What "600+ Connections" Really Covers

zerohash says AUTH has more than 600 connections across custodial and self-custody accounts, representing about 250 million users in more than 190 countries. The named platforms include Robinhood, Gemini, Coinbase (exchange and wallet), MetaMask and Phantom. Two details change how you should read those numbers.

The first is the mix. CoinDesk reported that four of the connections are exchange or brokerage accounts and the rest are wallets. Crypto Briefing cited zerohash's developer documentation, which lists 639 wallet connections and four exchange or brokerage accounts. Cryptowisser reported that Kraken support was still in beta. For now, wallet coverage is broad and exchange coverage is narrow.

The second is the user count. The 250 million figure is the reach of the connected platforms. The launch materials we reviewed don't say how many people have used AUTH itself.

Worked Example: How Much of Your Withdrawal Volume Could AUTH Reach?

Any address-free transfer tool is only as useful as its coverage of the places your customers send money. Here is an illustrative calculation. Every number below is an assumption, not data from zerohash or any platform.

Assumption (illustrative)	Value
Crypto withdrawals per month	10,000
Share that create a wrong-address or wrong-network ticket	0.8% (80 tickets)
Staff time per ticket	25 minutes
Share of withdrawals going to a destination on AUTH's live list	60%
Share of eligible users who choose the linked flow	50%

With these assumptions, the 80 tickets take 2,000 minutes, or about 33 hours of support time a month. AUTH can only prevent tickets for withdrawals to supported destinations, so it could prevent at most 48 of them (80 × 60%). If half of those users pick the linked flow, the realistic drop is 24 tickets, which saves 600 minutes (10 hours) a month. The other 56 tickets remain.

So the benefit comes from three numbers multiplied together: your error rate, the share of destinations AUTH supports, and the share of users who link. Lost staff time is also the smaller risk. Onchain transfers generally can't be reversed, so a single large withdrawal sent to the wrong network can cost more than a month of tickets. If your customers mostly withdraw to self-custody wallets, AUTH could cover most of their withdrawals. If they mostly send funds to exchanges that aren't on the live list yet, coverage will stay low until the list grows.

Which Platforms Gain the Most From Account-Linked Transfers

Exchanges and brokerages handle deposits and withdrawals all day, and volume tends to jump when markets move. Fewer address and network errors should mean fewer lost-funds complaints. The partner controls also let a brokerage limit transfers to the assets and destinations it is comfortable supporting.

Wallet providers benefit on the receiving end. In the launch release, Rainbow's CEO described the old routine: check the address two or three times, then send a test transaction before the real one.

Remittance and payout platforms need each recipient to get funds on a network their wallet or cash-out partner supports. A simpler transfer step only helps if the rest of the corridor is licensed and compliant. Our coverage of Thunes and Coinbase's cross-border payout partnership shows where stablecoin payouts are heading.

Marketplaces that pay sellers in crypto could cut misdirected payouts by paying to an authenticated account. That doesn't replace verifying vendors with seller KYC before payouts. If you hold or move seller funds, check whether money transmitter licensing and agent-of-payee rules apply to you.

Trading-education sellers whose customers ask to pay in crypto should know that selling a course is different from holding customer assets. Holding or transferring customer funds can bring licensing duties a course seller normally doesn't have, so talk to counsel first.

Who Stands Behind AUTH: Zerohash's Licenses

zerohash doesn't run a consumer exchange. It sells infrastructure to regulated businesses such as brokerages and fintechs. Its launch release says the company operates regulated entities in 51 U.S. jurisdictions. In Europe, zerohash got its MiCAR license from the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets in October 2025. On May 18, 2026, it announced an EMI license from De Nederlandsche Bank, the Dutch central bank. The Block reported that this made zerohash the first MiCAR-licensed firm to also hold full EMI status. CoinDesk noted that AUTH launched while zerohash is applying for a U.S. federal trust charter.

Licenses show that regulators supervise the provider. They don't show which party carries each obligation in your integration. For the due diligence side, see our look at what Coinbase Ireland's fine teaches about vetting a crypto payment partner.

Compliance That Zerohash AUTH Doesn't Remove

The launch materials focus on ease of use and partner control. They don't say how compliance duties are split between zerohash and its partners, so get that split in writing before you launch.

Travel Rule. Under the FATF standard, virtual asset service providers must collect sender and recipient information and send it along with qualifying transfers. FATF's seventh targeted update, published July 16, 2026, found that 83% of responding jurisdictions had passed Travel Rule legislation, up from 73% in 2025. Almost half of those jurisdictions had not yet taken any supervisory or enforcement action under the rule. Expect enforcement to be the next focus. FATF standards aren't U.S. law. U.S. obligations come from FinCEN rules, so confirm the current requirements with counsel.

Sanctions screening. U.S. businesses can't deal with sanctioned persons or addresses. Ask whether every transfer is screened and who decides to block one.

Proof of ownership. Signing in to a wallet or exchange account says more about who controls it than a pasted address does. Confirm what evidence AUTH records and whether it meets your regulator's expectations for transfers to self-hosted wallets.

Credential handling. Ask what tokens or data your platform or zerohash keeps after a user links an account. Also ask how a user or your team can revoke that access.

This section is general information, not legal or compliance advice. Crypto licensing and sanctions obligations, including the Travel Rule, vary by jurisdiction and business model. Confirm yours with a qualified professional.

Questions to Put to Zerohash Before You Integrate

Which exchanges, wallets, assets and networks are live today, and which are in beta or still on the roadmap?
Who is the regulated party for each leg of a transfer, in each state and country where my users live?
Can I set limits by asset, destination, amount and user tier?
Who handles Travel Rule messaging, sanctions screening, transaction monitoring and suspicious activity reporting?
What happens when a transfer stalls or lands somewhere unexpected, and how does escalation work?
Since "near-instant" depends on the blockchain, what settlement times can we safely promise customers?
What are the setup and per-transfer fees, and are network fees passed through at cost?
If I switch providers, can I export linked-account records and transaction history?

You can use the same list for any crypto transfer API you're comparing.

Pull Your Withdrawal Data Before the Sales Call

Before you talk to zerohash, export 90 days of withdrawals and group them by destination platform and network. Compare that against the live connection list, then run the worked example above with your own error rate. That will show whether AUTH is worth building this quarter or worth another look once more exchanges go live.

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The number to watch is the exchange list. Four exchange and brokerage accounts, plus Kraken in beta, is a start. AUTH will matter to many more platforms as that list grows.

Sources

About the author

Adrian Reyes

Adrian Reyes is Senior Payments & Fintech Editor for Beyond the Swipe, covering credit card processing, merchant accounts, payment technology and processing fees.

This article is for general educational purposes and is not legal, tax or financial advice. Card network rules and state laws change; confirm current requirements for your business.