> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.atum.xyz/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# What is Atum ID?

> Identity on a payment, not a login — and not permission to move funds.

## Overview

**Atum ID** is how a payment can carry a signed fact about a participant. It is not a username, not a login, and not an account number Atum assigns you.

Every payment already has addresses (who sends, who receives). Atum ID is the extra statement the network can check without looking you up.

<Info>
  Identity is **available**, not required. You can submit and settle without attaching credentials. If you attach them, Atum verifies them.
</Info>

## Enforcement stages

A failed check is handled differently depending on your environment's enforcement stage. Enforcement tightens as you move toward production:

* **Audit** — a failed check is logged. The request proceeds.
* **Permissive** — a failed check is logged and flagged as a failure. The request still proceeds.
* **Strict** — a failed check rejects the request.

Today, most partners integrating are on audit or permissive — you will not see a request rejected for a failed check until your environment moves to strict. See [If a check fails](/get-started/identity/verifiable-presentation#if-a-check-fails).

## Identity: cards, wallets, and Atum

|                    | What identity usually is                                                                                        |
| ------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Cards and APIs** | A session or API key. The other side remembers you.                                                             |
| **Wallets**        | The key. Whoever can sign *is* that person. There is no separate fact about who the key is.                     |
| **Atum**           | A fact about a participant on **this** payment. Signing still moves funds. The credential says who that key is. |

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Credentials" icon="id-card" href="/get-started/identity/credentials">
    What 'credential' means if you come from cards or wallets
  </Card>

  <Card title="Verifiable presentations" icon="file-signature" href="/get-started/identity/verifiable-presentation">
    How credentials are bound to a specific payment or quote.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Identity is not authorization

Signing a check is what lets the bank pay the recipient. That is **authorization**.

The name on the check — or ID when someone cashes it — is **identity**: who showed up.

Atum keeps those apart. Atum ID does not grant permission to move funds. A signed payment request is separate from Atum ID. Atum ID does not do the signing; it rides with the payment.

The recipient agreeing to take the payment (counterparty consent), when enabled, is a third step. See [Authorization and counterparties](/get-started/concepts/authorization-and-counterparties). Who may fulfill the payment is [Policy enforcement](/get-started/concepts/policy-enforcement). Who is answerable when software spends is [Know Your Agent](/get-started/identity/know-your-agent).

## Shared responsibility

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Atum issues" icon="certificate" href="/get-started/identity/credentials">
    **Known to Atum** — Atum recognizes this participant as a payment provider, settlement provider, or Atum-operated service.
  </Card>

  <Card title="You bring" icon="building" href="/get-started/identity/credentials#third-party-credentials">
    Third-party credentials. You attach them; Atum verifies them. Atum does not onboard your customers.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

A credential is always about **one** participant. Knowing the payment provider is not knowing the wallet that funded the payment. See [Originator vs source account](/get-started/identity/verifiable-presentation#originator-vs-source-account).

## What Atum ID is not

| Not Atum ID                       | Why                                                              |
| --------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------- |
| A login or API key                | It does not sign you into the Payment Gateway                    |
| An account number Atum assigns    | It puts credentials on identifiers you already have              |
| Your customer onboarding          | Atum does not run that process or issue those credentials        |
| Permission to move funds          | The wallet that pays still authorizes the spend separately       |
| Proof that software is your agent | That is [Know Your Agent](/get-started/identity/know-your-agent) |

## What to read next

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Know Your Agent" icon="robot" href="/get-started/identity/know-your-agent">
    Who is answerable when software spends
  </Card>

  <Card title="Who owns what" icon="table" href="/get-started/support/who-owns-what">
    Your onboarding vs Atum's checks at the gateway
  </Card>

  <Card title="Atum payment lifecycle" icon="route" href="/get-started/overview/how-an-atum-payment-works">
    Where identity sits in the five stages
  </Card>
</CardGroup>