Ansible Labs
Ansible Labs Technical Briefing
Published March 7, 2023
Supported by IowaEDA and Brale
Overview
Ansible Labs co-founder Dan demos Beam, the team's crypto-to-cash off-ramp, at V-Sum Nineteen. The briefing covers wallet-connect onboarding, blockchain risk screening (TRM Labs / Chainalysis / Elliptic) on both the enrolled wallet and the source-of-funds address, Persona KYC, and a unique 1:1 smart-contract Beam address tied to a user + bank-account pair. A live production $15 off-ramp lands in a Bank of America account via RTP in minutes, with ACH, RTP, and push-to-card (Visa Direct / Mastercard Send) on the payout roadmap.
0:00 Off-ramp as the missing piece
Dan, ex-Visa, introduces Ansible Labs' thesis that crypto needs a much smoother off-ramp back to USD. The current flow — self-custody wallet → Coinbase → manual wire — is a blocker on wider adoption of DeFi, NFTs, and DAOs.
0:53 Beam overview and live milestones
Beam is Ansible's web app for user enrollment and transfer capabilities. Bank-partner approval was secured two weeks before the briefing, and the demo switches between dev and production environments throughout.
1:46 Wallet-connect login and email verification
Connect-wallet login (reusable on return visits), access-code gating in dev, acceptance of T&Cs for both Beam and its custodian + liquidity provider, and a one-time email verification.
3:04 Wallet screening and KYC with Persona
Initial address screening using a blockchain risk analytics provider (TRM Labs / Chainalysis / Elliptic) — severe scores block onboarding, high scores trigger manual review. Persona then runs traditional KYC on name, DOB, SSN, and address.
5:16 Payout credential: ACH, RTP, and push-to-card
ACH and RTP payouts live today. Visa Direct / Mastercard Send push-to-card workflow and Plaid account linking are on the roadmap — debit card payout gives near-instant deposit to the linked checking account.
6:35 Unique smart-contract off-ramp address
Each user + bank-account pair maps 1:1 to a unique smart-contract address on the custodian's platform. Sending ETH or USDC there from MetaMask (or any wallet) triggers automated liquidation and fiat payout.
7:27 Source-of-funds screening
In addition to screening the enrolled wallet, Beam screens the sending address against the blockchain-risk provider to ensure funds never originate from sanctioned counterparties such as Tornado Cash.
8:18 Live production off-ramp
Switching to production: fetching a live Beam address, sending $15 from MetaMask with ~$4.70 gas, and waiting for block confirmation before the custodian liquidates the crypto and triggers the fiat payout.
10:02 RTP settlement to Bank of America
How Beam settles from custodian bank to payments bank, then delivers to the user's RTP-capable Bank of America account in near-real time — typically three to five minutes end-to-end.
Topics: Crypto Infrastructure, DeFi, Payments
