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Bitcoin and KYC, What’s the Big Deal?
Someone Out There is Watching You
Regulations worldwide are pushing anyone using banks, exchanges, or financial services to reveal personal information.
Know Your Customer (KYC), Anti Money Laundering (AML) and related policies make it compulsory to identify everyone transmitting money and keep all this information in a central database.
Of course, as usual, this is for your own good, to protect you from criminals, to stop illegal activities, and to make the world a better place. Except, it’s not.
Whenever you open a bank account, or a broker service or try to buy a pizza online, someone out there wants to know your mother’s maiden name, your dog’s birthday, and the school you attended when you were 7. You give away sensitive information without knowing who can see it, how’s kept or what are the future repercussions when something goes wrong.
It’s for protection, they say. It’s confidential, they claim. We make sure it stays private, they promise. You don’t have anything to hide so no need to worry. Except, you should worry… a lot.
Not only are they acquiring your private data unnecessarily but also the whole thing is a charade. I wonder how efficient they are at stopping crime through these invasive methods. In any case, you, the…
