Integrating with Ramp: 4 things you need to get started

So you're ready to take the next step down the Web3 road and offer your users a bridge between crypto and fiat. After extensive research and your fair share of asking around in the cryptosphere, you’ve decided to integrate Ramp into your platform. Hooray!

We’ve helped hundreds of companies of all sizes and sectors to connect with the global financial infrastructure. We’re excited to have you join us on our mission of making crypto easy and accessible for everyone.

Integrating and running Ramp is free of charge for partners, but there are a few things your business needs so that you’re ready to partner with us.

Meeting these requirements ensures that we have all the information we need to start working together and that you’re prepared to scale your business to the next level.

By the end of this article, you’ll have learned the four things you need to get started with your Ramp partnership - and what you should do if you don’t yet meet the requirements.

1. Your business is a legal entity

Your business must be registered or incorporated with the authorities of your country (i.e., be a legal entity) and legally allowed to operate in all the jurisdictions where you provide your services.

Operating inside today’s global financial system requires that participants can be identified, held accountable, and remain compliant with a host of regulations, such as anti-money laundering (AML) and sanctions regulations.

For a business, this accountability begins with the registration/incorporation process, which formally recognizes an organization's existence.

Each country has its own types of legal entities. If you're already registered/incorporated, you’ll have to provide us with proof of registration/incorporation. Examples of such documents include, but are not limited to:

• Company registration certificate;
• Certificate of incorporation;
• Certificate of good standing.

Please note that a certified translation will be required for documentation in any language other than English.

If your organization is not yet registered or incorporated in any jurisdiction, you should start by consulting with the appropriate registration office and looking for proper legal advice in your country.

Registering your business is a crucial step to connecting with the global financial system. Not only that: it will also open up avenues for you to apply for funding and financing, and scale up your project.

And please get back to us as soon as you do it - we can’t wait to work with you!

If you’re a DAO/DAC

We understand that BUIDLing Web3 sometimes happens outside of the traditional boxes and legal definitions. We’re keen to help give DAOs and DACs the financial connectivity they need to thrive.

However, operating at the cutting edge of innovation carries some uncertainty. Therefore we have to assess each DAO/DAC application on a case-by-case basis.

So, if you’re a DAO or DAC, we encourage you to get in touch and share some more information with our team to find out if we can work together.

2. Your business has clear terms of service on your website or app

We need to make an informed decision regarding your product and commitment to your audience in order to assess our potential partnership - and that goes through your existing digital presence.

To do that, you must have a professional, public website or application, under a commercially-owned domain (no free domains), with explicit, easy-to-find terms and conditions/terms of use.

If you already have a website but haven’t published the terms of use of your product, then you’ll have to submit them along with your due diligence application. You’ll also need to post them to your website/app before going live with the integration.

As a bonus, having clearly visible and easy-to-reach customer support is a huge trust factor not just for us, but for your users too!

Applying for a partnership before your product is live

Developing a new product can be messy (we know it all too well!). Sometimes the plan (or parts of the plan) don’t go as expected, deadlines get stretched, and your product doesn’t launch on the set date.

Or maybe it just makes sense to launch your product with a working Ramp integration. We get it. That’s why we encourage you to apply for a partnership even before your product is live.

Our mission is to help bring about Web3 by helping as many projects as possible connect with the incumbent global financial system. And we strive to be as inclusive and accessible as possible when it comes to our partners.

If you think you’re ready to integrate with us even ahead of your launch, then get in touch; let’s talk. So long as you meet the other conditions outlined in this guide, you can integrate with Ramp immediately.

Even if you choose to wait until you go live to apply, you can still take our integration for a spin and test it straight away. We encourage you to play around as much as you want in our sandbox environment - it’s totally free!

We’ll be here to give you our full support when you’re ready to go live.

3. You’re neither based in or serving jurisdictions we consider restricted

Like most companies connected to the financial sector, we assess the risk of working with potential partners based on multiple factors.

One of the key factors we assess is your jurisdiction. Your country of incorporation, domicile,  and the countries where you offer services will inform our due diligence and help determine if we can work with your company.

By restricted jurisdictions, we mean:

• Countries or regions currently under international sanctions;
• Countries or regions whose current regulations don’t allow us to operate within their territories;
• At our sole discretion, countries or regions that present a high level of financial crime-related risk.

As each country’s risk levels are prone to change over time, we encourage you to reach out to us if you're not sure if your jurisdiction falls into this category.

Even if these restrictions apply to your case today, this doesn’t mean we can’t work with you in the future.

4. You don’t operate in a restricted industry or sector

In order to stay compliant with financial regulations and maintain the highest standards of service to all our partners, we need to take preventive measures when managing our operational risk.

Not all industries and sectors are created equal, and some are intrinsically more risky than others; this is just how things work.

Unfortunately, we cannot currently work with businesses coming from the following list of restricted industries or sectors:

• Gambling, betting, lotteries, sweepstakes, or games of chance;
• Adult entertainment businesses;
• Online advertisers for adult entertainment services;
• Prostitution or escort services;
• Sale of counterfeit or "gray market" goods or services;
• Production, sale, or distribution of controlled substances
• Production, sale, or distribution of marijuana;
• Production, sale, or distribution of guns, accessories, ammunition, and other weapons;
• Get-rich-quick schemes, multi-level marketing, drop-shipping, or other activities that may be considered unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices (UDAAP); and/or
• Any activities that are illegal or that Ramp, in its sole discretion, identifies as high-risk; or violates our Terms of Service.

If you believe your business may fall close to one of these categories (but not quite), get in touch so we can assess your situation.

Requirements if you operate in a regulated sector

If your business performs regulated financial activities, don’t worry; we can still enter into a partnership with you.

In this case, we’ll ask that you share documentation supporting your AML and sanctions compliance program, including (but not limited to) KYC.

For these purposes, regulated financial entities include, but are not limited to:

• Custodial wallets;
• Crypto exchanges;
• Crypto businesses acting as transmitters of value;
• Banks and other financial services providers.

If your business falls into one of these categories, reach out to us for more information.

Next steps to integrating with Ramp

So there you have it. In this article, you’ve learned the four things you need when applying for a partnership with us.

You’ve also learned that, even if you don’t meet some of the requirements now, you can always apply as soon as you do.

We’re looking forward to helping your business onboard the next million users into Web3 in an easy, streamlined interface.

And if you do, we invite you to reach out to our team and apply today.