Tiger Research: AI agent era requires KYA infrastructure beyond KYC

Asian Web3 research and consulting firm Tiger Research said in a new report that as the era of AI agents begins in earnest, the importance of a Know Your Agent (KYA) framework for verifying their identities is growing. The report, titled '2026 Know Your Agent: Agent Identity Infrastructure,' notes that while AI agents are increasingly executing contracts, payments, and transactions without human intervention, a common standard for verifying their identities and authority is still lacking. In an era of agent-to-agent (A2A) transactions, KYA systems are likely to become a core infrastructure, potentially surpassing the role of existing KYC frameworks, the firm explained. Major companies have already entered the race to establish a KYA standard. Visa is developing a structure to verify agent identity, delegators, and payment methods through its TAP protocol. Trulioo is building a framework based on the SSL certificate authority model, while Sumsub is implementing a KYA system on top of its existing compliance infrastructure.