Building the Infrastructure for Trust

Footprint is solving one of fintech’s hardest problems: proving someone is who they say they are without creating friction for legitimate users.

Founded with a clear mission to make identity verification both secure and seamless, Footprint has built a reputation as the go-to infrastructure for companies that need to onboard users quickly while keeping fraudsters out. But the challenge they face is fundamental to the nature of fraud itself.

The Problem and Footprint’s Solution

Traditional fraud prevention operates on a losing proposition. Companies spend millions trying to identify bad actors, building ever-more-sophisticated detection systems to catch the latest scam. But here’s the problem: there’s no limit to the number of fake identities a fraudster can create.

Footprint flipped the model entirely: prove finite good identities rather than chase infinite bad ones. “You’re playing an impossible game,” said Eli Wachs, Footprint’s Founder and CEO. “Bad actors can generate infinite variations. They’ll use synthetic identities, stolen credentials, doctored documents. You catch one, they spin up ten more. You’re always behind.”

Footprint’s solution flips the traditional model by proving finite good identities through AWS Nitro Enclaves—enabling verified identities accessible indefinitely rather than requiring constant re-verification. “There are only so many real people,” Wachs explained. “If we can verify legitimate identities once — really verify them, with multiple layers of proof — and then vault that data securely, we solve both problems. Good users get a seamless experience across platforms. And fraudsters? They hit a wall they can’t get around.

“We’re making the determination in real time, during form completion,” Wachs said. “By the time someone hits submit, we already know their risk level. Low-risk users sail through. High-risk scenarios trigger additional verification steps.”

Focusing on finite good actors rather than infinite bad ones has made Footprint the identity verification backbone for modern fintech. It’s also shaped how they think about every other aspect of their business, including how they approach employee benefits.

The Freedom to Choose Your Tools

With an average employee age in the late twenties and early thirties, Footprint’s team doesn’t fit the traditional retirement savings mold. Many are actively trading outside conventional channels, experimenting with crypto, and approaching their finances with the same innovative mindset they bring to their work.

So when it came time to evaluate retirement benefits, Footprint asked a simple question: Why not give employees the freedom to use all the tools they want?

“We had been with Human Interest,” Wachs shared, “and we looked at Betterment too. But Basic Capital’s philosophy just clicked. It wasn’t about limiting investment options or pushing a particular strategy. It was about access.”

That access-first mentality aligned perfectly with Footprint’s own approach to building products. Just as Footprint enables users to move seamlessly across platforms with a single verified identity, Basic Capital lets employees access the full range of investment tools without artificial restrictions.

Valuing Flexibility

During their annual benefits review, an exercise Footprint takes seriously to stay aligned with what their team actually needs, they noticed something different about Basic Capital’s approach.

“Most providers focus on fees,” Wachs explained. “But Basic Capital talks about value first. They want to understand what employees are trying to accomplish, then figure out how to support that.”

Here was a benefits provider that proactively asked if they were still delivering value, rather than assuming inertia would keep customers around. For a company obsessed with user experience like Footprint, that level of customer empathy stood out.

“It mirrors how we think about our own users,” Wachs said. “We’re constantly asking: Are we making this easier? Are we solving the right problems? Basic Capital does the same thing.”

Why It Works

For Footprint, the fit comes down to alignment. Both companies believe in giving users power and choice, both obsess over customer experience, and both understand that the right guardrails, strategically placed, create better outcomes.

“We appreciate that Basic Capital gives employees more options,” Wachs said. “They’re building for the way people actually want to invest, not the way legacy providers think they should invest.”

In an industry built on proving identities and building trust, Footprint found a retirement partner that shares those same values. And for a team of innovators who spend their days thinking about the future of financial infrastructure, having a 401(k) that actually feels modern is essential.