‘Know Your Customer’ (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) measures are being widely introduced by centralized crypto exchanges under regulatory pressure. Many in the governments around the world believe this is the only way that crypto can be legalized and its criminal use prevented.
Binance exchange has recently announced that it is going to tighten its KYC policies to comply with global regulations.
However, regular crypto investors seem to be unhappy about it.
‘We shouldn’t be tolerating KYC/AML policies’
This is the title of a Reddit post published several hours ago. The author is a redditor going by the name ‘u/LeoBeltran’ who suggests that regulatory measures that target personal user data must not be coped with, since KYC is a direct privacy violation.
“‘If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear.’ OK, I get it. You’re a good guy. You never did anything wrong and you believe that everyone trying to protect his privacy must be doing something illegal.”
“But let me tell you: if I wanted to ask for permission and to be verified each time I make a transaction, I’d be pushing credit cards and traditional financial services.”
“Bitcoin and other coins are meant to provide personal financial freedom”, writes the redditor, “to transact what I want when I want.”
He believes that governments are trying to get crypto under control, therefore implementing KYC and AML.
‘KYC should be rejected’
u/LeoBeltran suggests that the crypto community must reject KYC and AML as measures targeted at stealing one’s freedom with finance.
“We should be completely rejecting these policies, not endorsing it or justifying their existence. Want me to prove my identity to open an account on this exchange? No, thanks. Want me to tell you where I live in order to buy this token? No, thank you.”
KYC enables hackers to steal your personal data, put it out for sale on the dark web and then also get hold of your crypto.
“Want me to give you the possibility of stealing my funds if you happen to not like me for some reason? Go flick yourselves.”
Dan Burgin
Vladislav Sopov
U.Today Editorial Team