Bitcoin Forum

One of the "pros" of Bitcoin or crypto-currency in general is you can be involved (trade, buy and such) in it ANONYMOUSLY. But in the past few months, looks like that's not the case.

Some Exchanges are now requires you to fill-up forms about your identity and even requires you to upload photos of your identification. Other ICOs have KYC (know-your-customer) requirements too.  

Is this a good thing or not? You thoughts?

I believe that the requirement of personal information breaks the basic principles of crypto currencies. If this goes on and people around the world do not resist it, then the crypto currency will not differ from the fiat money in any way and will simply be of no interest to anyone.

Everything depends on - what you have to hide. Anonymity is a great benefit that the Bitcoin is providing but in the end even if the user isn't revealed the trace on the blockchain remains. Fear not if you are clean. Exchanges are securing the contract between you and them with the private documents you are giving them. Even if I am not very fond of giving private information to be able to trade properly I am putting my trust to the reputable sites.
There are many new sites which are being revealed later as a scam ( Watch out for those). Not all exchanges are searching for ID so if you are searching for full anonymity search some reputable site (small percentage!) that can provide you the disguise of your identity.

There are lots of alternatives for anonymity though. Monero, Verge. DeepOnion etc. I do see a place for these coins. The argument against is you can transfer crpto into these coins when you want anonymity but then why not use as a store as well.

Merited for a good question.
This had been one of the problems now.
Before you are unknown to anyone but recently the secrecy have been shattered.
I dont blame exchanges for forcing users to do it, they need to abide by the countries rule.
But the main problem is why not let people know that they would need to fill that information for withdrawal.
Why not before the deposit?
Your coins are already stucked in their end while you cannot withdraw it until you do the steps and it takes another 24-48 hours before it is approved.

I made a thread that has a Medium post that goes in depth regarding anonymity : https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2674762.msg27308071#msg27308071


I think it is the only way governments will allow it, without the KYC bitcoin would likely be illegal in places like the US. Bitcoin still gives users enough privacy for individual payments, and doesn't allow a centralized platform to shut their account down. 

Thats called KYC (Know your customer).
That's not Bitcoin or cryptocurrency fault, it's the exchanges being under the pressure of governments and laws that makes them forced to have a list of users using their exchange as they fear money laundering or/and illegal traffic such weapons and drugs.Keep in mind that exchanges aren't decentralised, they are centralised which cannot provide anonymity

It isn't a good thing, bitcoin supposed to be if not completely, then in some way anonymous and another huge advantage - it was easy and convenient to use. If you need to fill-up the forms it makes the whole process longer and more complex, people will just use other cryptocurrencies or exchange methods. If bitcoin isn't anonymous, the transaction process is pain in the ass and transaction fees aren't so low as they used to be - what special about it will be left?

Well this is what we call regulations. It really breaks one cadence of bitcoin and crypto's to remain anonymous. I think this is not a good move for some trading platforms to really require their users to submit personal identification. But as I have said governments are strictly intimidating exchange to implement it, otherwise they will be shutdown.

Its one way for the government to hunt and track you down in case you are thinking of using it as a blanket for your illegal activities. But I guess if you have nothing to hide then its not gonna be a big concern.

Bitcoin was never anonymous, but rather is pseudonymous. All transactions can be tracked, though what's tracked are identifiers in the form of public addresses. Once a public address is linked to an identity, there is absolutely no privacy.

On the other hand, it has also an advantage. This is for security purpose so that possible fraud and theft will, be traceable  but you are right. It breaks the basic principles of cryptocurrency which is anonymity. Maybe sooner or later they will also implement centralization which is totally irrelevant to crypto.

It's bad. Bitcoin was working fine without these regulations years ago, now they want to introduce some uncomfortable requirements to control Crypto enthusiasts and watch them step by step. It's like Sauron's eye, always watching your movements.

At least let it be pseudo-anonymous like before...

Exchanges generally have to comply with the local laws, that is the reason some of them are asking for KYC documents to remain compliant with the regulatory requirement. Even though it is against the idea of decentralization, but to run the business they are deviating from the ideal operating procedure. That doesn't possess huge risk unless you are trading in large volumes which doesn't go along with your income profiling.

However, I really don't support ICOs asking for KYC documents. Even though ICOs can be a legal entity and they also need to comply with the local regulations, but I don't see it safe just at this moment. A majority ot the ICOs are scam and mostly run by a programmer sitting at their home computer. Not all of them are legal entity. But there is hardly any way to ascertain that fact. So we really don't know what those ICO owners will do with our PII data.

I think all ICO owners should produce their own KYC documents to the public before they can ask the same from us. There's no way we can stop the misuse of our data if an ICO owner decides to do so. So for me, ICOs asking for KYC documents, is definitely not a good trend to see. It possess significant risk of data breach.

   In my country you need to fill up forms with complete identy and even your address,and photos before you can widraw your bitcoin in exchange to local money. So,it breaks the law of anonymity.Bitcoin is decentralized but if you can see during every transaction specially in widrawal process you need to put your identity which is against decentralization.

i think you can still buy bitcoins from a atm machine anonimously

in one perspective it is a contradiction to the mission of crypto world but on the other hand it would be a good thing to stop the btc usage for illegal activities (the reasons that most use against btc)

Sadly this is exactly the opposite of bitcoin creation goal. Now most of the people who have invested in bitcoin are not anonymous, specially when people want to trade cryptocurrencies with fiat.
It is bad because bitcoin has been created to being anonymous. But we cannot ignore illegal activities that can be made using bitcoin.

It probably break some laws the anonymity features has never been achieved fully because of that new regulations. It sure really a good thing for the company since they know who are their costumers are, but probably on the costumers/investors their part really has vulnerabilities because it probably gives them some risk to publicize their true identities. Risk is accounts will be vulnerable to some hackers.

It's of course bad that exchanges want us to verify but there are two sides of the story. They have to comply with the law if they want to run a business and the law says that if you're allowing people to exchange money you need to ask them for their names. Fiat money is owned by the country and they can require identification from people who want to buy or sell their money because, I'll repeat this, it's not your money!

If they want your full name to allow you to exchange virtual tokens then it's an abuse IMO, but if this is only to allow you to buy fiat it's understandable.

BTC is controlled by governers! they said satooshi created BTC! but please think: did only 1 man create BTC? I think BTC is a huge technology, so it could not create only 1 person.  ::)

It will only get worse in the future  Its a good thing to stop all the people trying to avoid paying taxes when they cash out and its also a good thing to stop people using cryptocurrency for crime

I think this will change bitcoins nature,we all know that one of the reason why many people uses bitcoin is  because of its anonimity,securing its owner from letting other people know the persons identity and to keep the user safe.Kinda sad that as time passes more and more regulations are being put to bitcoin,satoshi nakamotos purpose of creating bitcoin is slowly going to nothing.

I notice that too, that is to increase your withdrawal limit and if you are living in the United States they have that rules, in my opinion, there's advantage and disadvantage to this, it contradicts the cryptocurrency principles but in one hand it protects the site from illegal activity and transactions.

Agree, the bitcoin essential value is Decentralized & Anonymity
If these values got erased, bitcoin is no more bitcoin.

It's not anonymous on paper, but is still effectively 'plausibly' anonymous when applied.   Yes, exchanges require KYC information nowadays, but who's to say who is cashing in?   It's certainly not the bosses of criminal organizations.   It's going to be pawns and low level disposable people.   So you won't see too much of people getting caught for cashing in millions or tens of millions... they'll be cashing in 100k per person X thousands of people.   Completely uninteresting to the news or law enforcement.

Combined with the fact that these people will be cashing in different countries than those that they operate in means that it is far less of an issue that bitcoin and cashing in bitcoin is not truly anonymous.  

Of course this is not a good thing.
we are bitcoin user and holder, is want to remain our identity anonymous.
If our identity is exposed, then it will be no difference from other FIAT.

I think anything related to the internet can be traced, not to mention bitcoin. Because as we know when we register VIP for bitcoin
you must provide complete self data so this may not be called anonymous unless you provide someone else's data for you to use in your VIP account.

The endpoint of using bitcoin as of this writing will be leaving digital imprints especially when we use exchanges. When we use privacy coins like DeepOnion we are not usually leaving any imprints for it is based on tor protocol that let's  you use different nodes before exiting the line, this way it can't be easily trace back to you. There will be a deeper way to send transactions here, and that is through deepsend it will be release in the future. With these kinds of coins we are getting back the freedom that bitcoin had in the past. And res-assured that the devs and mods are utilizing the current technologies to further improve the anonymity of a coin.

first of all bitcoin is not anonymous and it has never been anonymous.
secondly you can always be involved with bitcoin anonymously, better said with a high level of privacy.
and finally when you get fiat involved, your privacy and anonymity goes out the window. but that has nothing to do with bitcoin!


good or bad, it has been like this for as long as KYC/AML laws existed which is probably 50 years or more. and these laws are because of fiat as i said above. it has nothing to do with bitcoin.

This is the power and influence of the governments making its way into the world of cryptocurrency. The only way to stop this incursions is to get rid of the governments we have which is kinda impossible (am not advocating a rebellion here let's make that clear). The point am making is that the governments can be too powerful for these exchanges to resist and legally the advantages is not on us. This is a big reality that cryptocurrency and its many supporter have to deal with. I am predicting that soon almost all governments that allowed cryptocurrency would be requiring KYC requirements. Its either we compromise or we might as well forget cryptocurrency because struggling against the governments can be futile much more that people are not that untied and that we are more concern on our selfish vested interests -- and that is to make as much money as we can from cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin transactions, AFAIK, are still (pseudo) anonymous; your identity will only be known once you decided to do things that are tied with fiat e.g. BTC/USD trading. Is that good? In a way, yes. For exchanges to continue to operate and serve its peers who rely on their service, they need to know the names of who they are dealing with, not only because it is a mandate from the government, but also to prevent money laundering that could happen well within their site. On the other hand, the exchanges keep a record of the names of the people who they've done business with, and if a hack occurs (exchanges are hot targets for that), the data might leak and may cause problems to those people whose names are recorded in the database of the exchanges.

If you send/receive btc/crypto exclusively, you don't have to give your identity up, but once you decided to use an exchange, that's the time when you have to comply and have your ID verified.

Good question. Well even exchanges wants to give that anonymity to all traders, they cant do that for us because they dont want to have problems with regulation on countries where they are operating. so they have to know the identities of their customers to avoid money laundering and also to avoid criminals or terrorists to use their platforms.

Bitcoin is generally considered an anonymous payment network. But in fact, Bitcoin is probably the most transparent payment network in the world. At the same time, bitcoin can provide acceptable privacy if used properly. Always remember to develop good habits to protect your privacy is your own responsibility. And the biggest feature of bitcoin is not anonymity but the transfer of equal wealth with the fastest speed of transmission to the elimination of all kinds of ideologies in the world. You can figure out a person's identity by looking at the blockchain

I think KYC is a good think for crypto world.

One of the features of bitcoin is its anonymity. This can be of both a positive and a negative trait of bitcoin. Some loves its anonimity and its speedy transaction while some are skeptic about it because anonimity of bitcoin can be used for illegal transactions.

Yes bitcoin is anonymous but some ICO prefer to know their customers yo avoid smammers from attacking. As far as security is concerned, kyc is not the most effecient way to avoid scams but atleast they could know who they are transacting to.

This is certainly not a good idea because it shows that bitcoin transactions are traceable and that governments can know who purchased or sold bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies on those platforms. In this case, our privacy has been infringed upon, out of the meaning of bitcoin itself.

Of course being anonymous on the net would be the best option. But times are changing and exchanges just have to enter it. Because many countries are already against trade. I agree to give my personal data, but this should be properly thought out by the exchanges themselves. For the registration stage, I already knew what data is needed for a successful withdrawal of money

If you want to prevent lawless elements from using bitcoin to commit crimes, the anonymous nature of bitcoin has to change. Bitcoin now needs to be recognized for its legitimacy. If bitcoin is used for money laundering, crime, etc., Bitcoin will can not be recognized and accepted by more countries.

I dont see nothing bad in giving my personal data, if after this he dont accept on me any restictions for cashot my moneys

I think that anonymity is not needed for us, simple users, traders and holders. With anonymity criminal organizations can receive payments for drugs for example.

As you mentioned anonymity is one of the main "pros" of the bitcoin, so it will certainly influence the concept of this coin. But there are countries where identification is not required, so I think trading will move there.

There were cases already when criminals after using Bitcoin for transactions were tracked and arrested. So, the anonymity is quite a disputable issue, I think. 

Yes you are right that regular crypto society does not need the anonymity, but I am sure holders of the main part of bitcoins are rich people, with influence and they need anonymity, for different purposes, some of them are legal and some are not. And we should admit that anonymity is the main advantage of bitcoin.

Anonymity is the ongoing process now,this could be due to government pressure on the exchange. Although i see no wrong in this but Even with the the KYC you will still have limit of withdrawal and form time  to time this process is been reviewed   for unlimited  withdrawal.

more likely new programme from ICO and exchange is gonna bring a bad impact to their customer. rather than make a something like KYC, it should be change to be KTT (Know Their Team) so participants atleast also hold the dev's personal data.

so each other will keep to be trusted

In our country, I think exchanges are supposed to do it (verify identification) for the transaction to happen. The government will only allow the transaction to happen once they verified our identity. It's one of their rules and regulation in our country for us to convert our crypto currencies. One of their ways to ensure that it is not being used in any illegal transactions.

I'm sorry - but that is complete rubbish.

How would you like your landlord to know you have had a pay rise and then raise your rent ?

How would you like your business competitor to know how much you are making off your knew product and to know whether that strategy is worth copying ?

And - as for Drugs - This Ridiculous War on Drugs is the single biggest waste of time, money and energy in the history of forever. God - I wish people would grow up and realise that all the negative press / violence is a direct result of not legalising and taxing it. A moron could work it out.. So I'm not sure what that says about the current crop of utterly useless governments.

Financial privacy is a requirement of any forward thinking society (where money is still in use).

Anyway - it won't matter soon, as they'll crack it, and we'll all be CoinShuffling our CT'ed coins in a single aggregate signature block.. and no one will know what the hell is going on.. ;D

I don't understand why so many people think that Bitcoin is completely anonymous. It is fairly easy to track transactions because everything can be seen using a blockexplorer. There are plenty of ways to buy Bitcoin without exposing your real identity. The easiest way is to buy Bitcoin from a person you know or you met on Localbitcoins for example. I can't wait to see Confidential Transactions then we won't have to worry about verification. They won't know what we use our Bitcoin for.

Well, I think that all of the illegal transactions using Bitcoin is so possible. Bitcoin is anonymous. That’s right. But there are some Bitcoin wallets that requires you to place and input your name and your identity including ID Card, etc. Having illegal transaction is never be prevnted because of Bitcoin’s anonymity and being decentralized.

Blockchain technology is indeed a big invention and complicated as well, so it is not possible for single person to develop it. The idea and main draft could be of one person, and afterwards he would have hired some experts for working on his project. Governors are not involved in this otherwise it would have been clearly centralized since its creation whereas bitcoin is equally available for usage for all people of the world.

Bitcoin is not anonymous. It was never anonymous but is considered as pseudonymous. Most exchanges now require you to verify your account and give out your verification due to regulations taking place. It is really sad that we have to be doing this on a decentralized currency. There are sites that allow you to exchange without verification but with certain limit. Binance has a limit of total 2 BTC withdrawal per day for non verified users, though their trading page is laggy as fuck.

For me it’s good with KYC. Let say if hacker stolen your btc, they still could not sell it to fiat.

One of the great promises of this technology is anonymity: the transactions are recorded and made public, but they are linked only with an electronic address. So whatever you buy with your bitcoins, the purchase cannot be traced specifically to you.