Toopher, miiCard Combine Authentication, Geolocation

Toopher and miiCard have partnered to provide faster authentication by tying location to user identity.

Toopher uses a phone’s location as part of authentication. MiiCard, which counts Bitcoin trading company Tradehill among its clients, uses photo identity among its authentication measures. The two companies will combine their technology to authenticate the legitimate use of a proven identity online, which can secure payments and other financial transactions conducted in social or mobile channels.

"This partnership enables the online equivalent of a consistent, in-person photo ID check—instantly confirming both the identity of a user and its assertion," said Toopher CEO Josh Alexander in a release. "With this capability, businesses can save money, reduce fraud, and offer entirely new services online."

For example, users of both miiCard and Toopher can use the joint solution to verify their identity and login securely to social networks in order to prove the validity of their social accounts. In more secure settings such as in a banking or payments relationship, a user could leverage the joint identity proofing and location aware authentication technology to access or share highly sensitive data that would normally be unavailable online—which could aid security for mobile shopping or remote payments.

"There is a deep and pervasive trust problem within the Internet that inhibits much of what we do online in social networks, for the sharing of sensitive data, or in high value transactions," said miiCard CEO James Varga in a release.