---
title: "Verifying party: definition | KYA glossary"
url: https://knowyouragent.ch/en/knowledge/glossary/verifying-party
lang: en
updated: 2026-10-12
license: © Innopulse Consulting GmbH
---

# Verifying party

The verifying party is the party that verifies agent evidence and decides which issuers and [timestamp](https://knowyouragent.ch/en/knowledge/glossary/rfc-3161-timestamp) authorities it trusts.

If a company operates its own agents, it is [principal](https://knowyouragent.ch/en/knowledge/glossary/principal) and verifying party at once. If a counterparty verifies a third-party agent, it decides itself which keys and anchors it accepts. In the verification model, trust is always a decision of the verifying party, never a claim of the evidence.

## Example

A bank accepts payment orders from agents. As the verifying party, it decides which issuers it trusts, provides their keys and checks every order before executing it.

## How it differs

The issuer creates evidence; the verifying party checks it. A [verifier](https://knowyouragent.ch/en/knowledge/glossary/verifier) is the point in the flow where checking happens. KYA is a public verifier, not an issuer.

## In practice

- Record your trust decisions in writing: which issuers, which status lists, which timestamp anchors. This makes verification repeatable and traceable internally.
- Set a minimum level for each use case, such as KYA-A3 for payments, and consistently decline evidence below it.
- Store the certificate for every accepted action. In a dispute, it shows on which basis you decided.

## Role in KYA

The verifying party provides keys, status lists and timestamp anchors under “Trust of the verifying party”. In the report, KYA states whether a key comes from the verifying party or is merely self-asserted.

Related check: [Issuer](https://knowyouragent.ch/en/method/checks) (`issuer_resolution`). Is the key bound to the issuer – through a DID or because the verifying party trusts it?

[Verify now: open a matching example](https://knowyouragent.ch/en/verify?beispiel=did-web)

## Frequently asked questions

### What is a verifying party?

The party that checks evidence and decides whether to accept the action, such as a merchant, a bank or an authority.

### What does a verifying party need to decide?

Which issuers it trusts, which status lists it queries, which timestamp anchors it accepts and which level it requires at minimum.

### Can KYA be the verifying party?

KYA is a tool for verifying parties. The decision which issuers to trust stays with each party.

### Does a verifying party have to manage keys itself?

It has to decide which keys it trusts and obtain them from a trusted source. It needs no signing keys of its own for verification.

### What does a verifying party do with an indeterminate result?

It decides according to its rules: decline, request missing evidence or escalate the action to a person. The certificate states what is missing.

### Do I need my own software as a verifying party?

No. Verification in the browser is enough for individual cases. For many verifications, the same engine can be integrated as a package without dependencies into your own systems or pipelines, with identical results.

## Sources

- [KYA verification profile](https://knowyouragent.ch/en/standard/verification-profile)

## Related terms

- [Verifier](https://knowyouragent.ch/en/knowledge/glossary/verifier)
- [Trust anchor](https://knowyouragent.ch/en/knowledge/glossary/trust-anchor)

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Quelle: https://knowyouragent.ch/en/knowledge/glossary/verifying-party · KYA – Know Your Agent