Bitcoin Forum

Which countries dont ask for KYC for their citizens buying bitcoin on exchanges.

and how come no exchanges have set up operations in those nations and gave a middle finger to the US and EU when asked to collect KYC on their exchanges?

It shouldn't be so hard to anonymously buy bitcoin.

Most of the exchanges have to deal with centralised payment organisations (such as visa, mastercard and banks) if you accept cash and don't kyc (wherever you are) you're at a higher risk of being scammed by a chargeback or by something being counterfeited/faked.

There are peer to peer and decentralised options for loading and unloading funds but they're not as trusted because of the higher risks involved (eg bisq only allowing small cash conversions to attempt to mitigate scams).

Even though they're backed by centralised exchanges, stablecoins might be the best alternative to trying to buy crypto without kyc (after mixing funds bought on a kyc exchange in some way or using a proxy).

also, I'm wondering. if you're paying via credit card, just wait for the transaction to go through. there is also a paper trail so why do they want you to show ID and face? Now days even videos.

Even more than missing out on the price. I miss being in crypto earlier because it was so easy back then to just buy crypto anonymously.

You cannot anonymously buy bitcoin in a centralised exchange, they have their protocols and they must comply to government regulations which include KYC and AML policies. If you live in an area where there are Bitcoin ATM's, then it is a good way to buy bitcoin anonymously with cash, you can also try out other peer to peer options like Paxful, HodlHodl, Bisq were you do not have to provide KYC or identification to exchange your bitcoin.
Are you so sure about that, buying bitcoin has never been completely anonymous, except through peer to peer decentralized options, or if you want to buy from a friend, you send cash in exchange for bitcoin or the other way round, centralized exchanges have done their business in this way, you either comply or not use them.

most exchanges are not restricted to traders in only a particular country, and many countries are tightening their rule on cryptocurrency mainly because of money laundering and the benefit of tax which enforce KYC. One can barely see exchanges with no KYC, although some may allow trade and prevent withdrawal above certain amount, Decentralized exchange is a provision for those not willing to use KYC with its restrictions as well

but which countries are the best for here?

also what true dex's are there? Binance used to have a Dex but apparently that was a lie as they started implementing kyc.

which ones are tor friendly? Kucoin seems to not like me using tor to use their exchange.

Kraken seems to work but i need to select my country of residence. which country has the best/most lax laws?

None, all the centralized exchanges has to comply the regulations of government where they want to operate and that is why more strict regulations in US forced binance to create separate platforms for US citizens alone but wait the centralized exchanges aren't the only way to buy bitcoin there are lot of other ways like no KYC p2p trading platforms let the users to buy bitcoin without any KYC documents.

what would happen if an exchange opened in a super crypto friendly nation decided to ignore the US demanding it have KYC?

which nations have the best crypto laws of lack-thereof

You will hardly get any centralized exchange that doesn't require KYC to buy bitcoin, even if you trying to choose a specific country when you try to register.

Your best bet would be to use Bisq (https://bisq.network/) which is already mentioned. In case it doesn't suit your needs or need another option, take a look at Hodl Hodl or Localcryptos. Or heads over to https://kycnot.me/ to see which exchange/services don't need KYC.

Exchange are all about more business now than trying to uphold the values of Crypto-currency, some centralized exchange right now did not start of like that, they where decentralized and didn’t require KYC, but in other to have more business deals and not having any issue with countries law, so they are now compromising and turning centralized, but still you can find decentralized exchange that are private, secured and upholds anonymity.

You have to know that centralization and decentralization don't mix ever. In other words if there is a company behind an exchange then it can never be decentralized like the case with Binance and the joke they created called their DEX! Any other ones that don't require KYC or don't enforce it are no different, they can decide to change that rule at any moment and mandate it for everyone.

Without having made an exhaustive study of the issue, I would say that these are the countries that have not yet regulated it, nor have they banned it, if there are any left. This excludes obvious cases such as El Salvador, where no income or capital taxes are paid on bitcoin.

https://es.cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-investors-are-reportedly-exempt-from-taxes-in-el-salvador

But the moment they regulate it, governments will want people to identify themselves in order to tax them, and this has happened at least in the countries I know of.

None, if the countries have a government, then it's obviously centralized and will ask KYC. A good distribution or each region have a right to control their own region doesn't mean decentralized.

You have two choice: you want your business got shutdown or still continue but you need to follow the law? As a businessman you will choose the second choice since there's no reason why you should shutdown your business, are you want loss or profit? lol

Yes, that's why you need to understand and use Bisq, hodl hodl or localcryptos.

I do not think there is any country in the world accepting the existence of Exchanges without KYC.  I am pretty confident they all require some sort of AML or KYC policy for suspicious cases.  The times where Centralized Exchanges existed without KYC are pretty much gone.

What is still real however is the existence of Centralized Exchanges known not to selectively scam (a k a require valid proof of identity all of a sudden) their clients and do KYC in very rare cases or, the ones I love the most, Decentralized Exchanges.  With the latter you just have control over your coins and know there is no policy that would steal your money or lock you out of it.

If a country decided to never accept KYC, it has to be a small one and they would likely be automatically threatened and punished by larger powers for doing so.  They would automatically label the country 'pro crime'.  KYC is now more about politics and surveillance and less about anti crime movement.  This is why it became so hard to purchase Bitcoin in a more private way.  Binance used to be a no KYC Exchange until last year when they decided it should be imposed for each and every client of theirs.

Anyway.  If you want a comprehensive list of which Exchanges, either Decentralized or Centralized, are better for privacy, then you should take a look at kycnot.me (https://www.kycnot.me).

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Regards,
PrivacyG

Bisq. No KYC, no accounts, no centralized website. Download the open source software, run it over Tor (which it does automatically), connect directly to other traders peer to peer, set up a trade using your fiat method of choice. Takes a little bit of getting used it, but it is easily the best way to buy and sell bitcoin at the moment without having centralized third parties spying on you and exercising complete control over your money.

Then they would very quickly be banned from operating within the US or serving US citizens.

Govermnents don't protect your privacy at least with their laws. You know what happened with Ukraina vs Russoa war and reactions from.many nations including Swiss. Swiss is a nation with neutral approach and strategy from army to finance. They changed it by seize and freeze money from Russian orligarchs.

Fortunately with Bitcoin non custodial wallet, Coin Join transaction, Tor connection, you can have better privacy and anonymity by yourself. You don't have to rely on services provide by governments and their laws which can be changed anytime.

In the country of elsalvador that legalizes bitcoin, is there any special law regarding bitcoin transactions in that country?
Curious about the fate of the country of elsalvador when the bitcoin price drops like it is today, did the country of elsalvador suffer a big loss?

Of course they also feel the impact of the current decline in bitcoin prices.
But they may have other money so they can cover their shortfall when the market is not as volatile as it is now.
If you say about losses, of course they feel the loss, especially since the price of bitcoin has fallen very far this time.

If you are requesting anonymity, then the only option is to buy BTC for cash and leave no trace when it comes to KYC or connection to your bank accounts. That way you can buy BTC at some crypto ATM, although there will certainly be a limit for unverified users, or at physical crypto exchanges that also do not require KYC up to a certain amount.

Such exchange offices exist in at least one EU country (for now), and the amounts you can buy/sell are from 1000 EUR up to 2000 EUR per transaction. However, this is a specific case and you cannot do it online. Try using DEX or find someone in your local community who wants to sell BTC for cash, and stop fooling yourself that Bitcoin should be something anonymous because it never really was.

AFAIK, it is Malta who was the friendliest of them all and gave that go signal for those exchanges that they're tax-free. But it is for the benefit of the exchange and they still have to follow policies such as asking KYC for their customers.

As given which is the best for actual dex, go with Bisq.

Just expect that even the friendliest countries will still ask the exchanges to follow their rules and the exchanges will implement KYC for all of their customers as needed and required by law.

That’s why use P2P Exchanges to buy Bitcoins, in order to remain complete anonymous.
I guess almost all the exchanges in all countries asks for KYC in order to buy Bitcoins.
Maybe there are few countries, but to be honest I don’t know about them.
Moreover the reason for which the government is not legalising Bitcoins in many countries is that due to the decentralised nature of Bitcoins.
So when Bitcoins will be governed by the government, then only they will make it legalised and will impose tax and laws on it.
But I guess this won’t happen ever, and people will secretly do the task with Bitcoins as they are doing right now.

Does Bisq have a good selection of alt coin trading?

And okay, I can see how they could enforce banning the from operating in the US. But.. how could they force them not to serve US citizens? I dont get that part. Like Krakken apparently doesn't serve US citizens but why does it matter if they do or dont if they're not even operating in the US?

No. The majority of the volume is Bitcoin and Monero. There are a handful of other alts on there, but I've never used them and the volume is low. If you are looking to trade Bitcoin for alts though, then this is easily done through a number of instant non-KYC swap services. I don't care for alts though, so I'm not the person to recommend a good one.

The US has plenty of influence in other countries too. If an exchange ends up on some kind of US blacklist or banned in the US for flaunting their rules, even if they don't operate in the US, then you can guarantee their life will be significantly harder across most other Western nations. For most exchanges, it isn't worth the trade off.

To the government, exchanges are the cryptocurrency version of banks. While banks are the offline version. What they expect from banks is what they expect from exchanges. How they control and manipulate the data in the Custody of banks is what they wish to do with exchanges. They government is always unwilling go give express liberty to the exchanges, it could not also be because of their gainful desire. It could be to regulate the illicit movement of money within and outside the country. Let's not forget that the government desire is to control and nothing but to control.

Oh well that's awesome to hear. I need alt trading with XMR in particular lol. I'm really trying to figure out the cheapest way to trade BTC to XMR and vice versa. Atomic swap takes a bit out percentage. Last time I used it, 100 bucks of bitcoin took out 10 or more dollars worth of crypto so I was left with about maybe 80 something to 90 dollars of xmr. There is another private trading app called the incognito wallet but it's only for very small amounts, anything larger than a couple hundred dollars is going to kill you in trading fees which are very misleading. but for less than a few hundred dollars its only a few bucks per trade. But that adds up if you're sending in btc to get xmr, to send somewhere just to convert it back it's nearly the same amount taken using the atomic swaps. And most non KYC exchanges dont support XMR trading.

But yeah thanks, I'm gonna download it and hopefully the fees will be in the less than a dollar range per swap/trade. All I really want is to easily buy anonymous bitcoin. Damned I really miss not seeing the value in buying it back when I first heard of it. I was like an NPC back then mentally speaking.

Wonder if anyone could open up a purely anonymous crypto exchange like ran on the tor network or something? Idk.

The big problem is trusting an anonymous site, and they'd need to exchange it by themselves, which won't work on other exchangers that require KYC.
Small amounts work well on instant exchangers, but I wouldn't trust them with bigger amounts. You can of course split it into smaller chunks.
Bitcoin <> Monero is much easier than to or from fiat. BestChange has many options, but also check CoinPlaza for good rates on small amounts. Update: they lowered the maximum without KYC to €50 per month.

Buying Bitcoin should not be that hard and it's not necessary to buy Bitcoin on an exchange. We have third parties on this forum which we can buy bitcoin from at good rate without having to go through the stress from exchanges that will allow us to drop our identity. There are different exchanges that do not request KYC which we can use to buy our choice of Bitcoin although the limit to buy can be reduced.

most local exchanges are governed by their respective Central Bank. so expect that they will ask kyc from their clients. if you find one which is not requiring kyc, then doubt their legitimacy. if you want to buy btc anonymously, there are already known p2p platforms as mentioned by other users above. but if you really go into your local crypto exchange, then i doubt if you will find one which doesn't require your credentials.
even if the country is a crypto-friendly one, they will more then likely require their crypto businesses to be legally registered and so with this kyc requirement from its customers

No country allows you to have privacy free buying of bitcoin. Because, with most of the P2P buying we make the transaction with a card or through any of the payment medium which is connected to the bank account. It is the users self ability to make privacy free purchase of bitcoin. In my view it is possible to buy bitcoin through our forum in exchange for other altcoins, exchange for gift cards and so on. This can be found on our currency exchange section and there are people who are making use of it with the help of an escrow.

Third parties on the forum? What do you mean? Buying BTC from person to person?
I think we don't need third parties to buy BTC. If you don't want to drop your KYC, you can choose DEX (decentralized exchange). There is no need for KYC on DEX, you can buy BTC directly from your own wallets. KYC is only applied for CEX (centralized exchange), it is the requirement given by the governments, so every CEX must obey the regulation. So, don't be confused about buying BTC on exchanges, there is two types of exchanges, DEX and CEX. Choose which one you like, dude.

Though Bitcoin is legal or banned, citizens can still use or purchase Bitcoin through decentralized exchange platforms.  Bitcoin has a decentralized nature and no one will stop using it, KYC was prominent on the centralized exchange, they follow each country's jurisdictions and if you don't use them, you'll never implement that KYC stuff.

Those countries that announced Bitcoin become legal tender will be a good place for Bitcoin but in privacy, factors are still undecided for them to adopt.

I would say Switzerland is one of the most privacy friendly countries out there.

You can buy Bitcoin in Switzerland at any train station, and also at many shops around the country.

Usually the maximum you can buy at a time is CHF 500.

Here's more information about it: https://www.sbb.ch/en/station-services/at-the-station/services-from-the-ticket-machine/bitcoin.html

When it comes to local exchanges, I don't know which one will not oblige you to pass your KYC because one of the requirements in order for you to withdraw or convert it to fiat is your identity they need to know your source of income may be due to some of the cases where they used bitcoins as propaganda for their evil scheme which their evolved version of Ponzi scheme which many of my fellow countrymen has fallen into. Back then they cannot trace the stolen money due to lack of information but now they seem to like doing their best to protect everyone but the downside is always there the identity verifications.

There are couple of countries where crypto exchanges can leverage their privacy friendly laws, like Monaco, Panama, Curacao etc. You will see that majority of the crypto gambling companies are registered in Curacao for such friendly laws.

But I am not sure if any known crypto exchanges have started operating from these countries or not. If you want to buy bitcoin without revealing your identity, decentralized exchanges are here. You can use various swap providers or even some wallets come with such facilities where you don't need to provide kyc to buy bitcoins. A lot of options are already available.

Among all the countries I know none of them will allow their citizens to exchange or trade bitcoin without passing the KYC, in the words, doing the KYC and passing the required steps to provide your personal information is always necessary for the governments whenever you want to deal with their fiat currency. Because they in any country, they do have the right to know who is buying bitcoin and each person owns how much money, they claim the reason is to prevent crimes and money laundering.

The thing is, every time some centralized service touch Fiat currencies, it has to adhere to KYC/AML regulations. You can trade person to person on this forum via trusted Escrow services or you can find Bitcoin buyers & sellers locally, if you attend your local Bitcoin meetups. (Build a relationship with the people and start doing small trades)

The governments have been closing the loopholes on most P2P platforms ...and even Localbitcoins.com https://localbitcoins.com/guides/verification-guide have account verification now.  ::)  

https://docs.bisq.network/getting-started.html    Enjoy!

From times when ICOs were popular, I remember that a lot of projects were registered in Estonia or claimed they have an office there. I am not 100% sure that Estonia is the best, but as a part of EU, crypto projects can be proud and claim that they are European crypto project, even though whole team is spread all around the world. Another reason might be the cost of company registration in Estonia. If it is cheap to register there, the laws could be also friendly enough.

Estonia started to change its policy towards crypto business back there sometime in 2019, and this continues today in a direction that has become far more restrictive and demanding for any company that wants to do business in that country. The current geopolitical situation is not helping that country since it borders Russia, and all this uncertainty is not good for business.

El-Savador and Central African Republic, this are the countries i can say of because they have adopted bitcoin as a legal tender, as for other countries that does not ban cryptocurrency payments and transactions, we cannot be sure if they require data privacy from centralized exchanges or not.


this might be easier said than done because centralized exchanges can be identified eith thier location and registration details and they are not anonymous unlike decentralized exchanges,


yes but when only dealing with decentralize exchanges or you run your full node on the blockchain for maximum privacy and security to be achieved.

It's not about the countries, it's about the exchanges, they don't want to get in troubles, especially nowadays that more and more people buy bitcoins and cryptos. I think Bitfinex anyway doesn't require the KYC if you only deposit and withdraw cryptos, of course if you have to do something involving fiat then you need to go through the KYC process.

^ Right and if the exchange platform is centralized which means following the law of the country, they should have KYC. We know that our government has been fighting illegal activities such as fraud and money laundering or even supporting terrorism using BTC. So they always asked this KYC to know and possibly regulate people's money or those task invader. We have a decentralized exchange where we can buy and sell BTC without complying with KYC but put in mind the possible risk.

I do not think that there are countries which are lenient when it comes to transacting with cryptocurrencies and BTCs. On Asia itself, most of the exchanges require the submission of KYC documents for you to access their local exchange where you can exchange conveniently your BTCs/cryptocurrencies to cash.

In the Philippines, while our central bank has been silent with laws and implementations regarding the transacting with such, our main local exchange requires one to submit tons of KYC documents (e.g. ITRs, etc.). Though this may be the case, I do think that surrendering in this function is much more convenient and safer than to find someone for a p2p transaction.

Almost all markets require KYC to make purchases on their platform because later it will relate to Withdraw terms for fiat, maybe you can buy from other people through fiat transactions but transactions like this have big risks and you can use wallets like trust wallets to store BTC because the wallet without doing KYC to make transactions in it.

You can expect anonymous transactions if you trade with crypto><crypto pairs. I think it can also be done without TOR network with some preparation.
The problem is if you want to buy crypto with your fiat (using a personal bank account), even the TOR network with a VPN layer cannot provide privacy that way.

As for now cryptocurrency friendly countries are El Salvador, Malta, Switzerland, Germany for different reasons. El Salvador have legalized the usage of bitcoin and have made it legal tender within the country. Malta is one of the earliest to have crypto laws that support establishing firms within the island country. Switzerland is much positive on cryptocurrency and have involved in different development program relative to cryptocurrency. People find it surprised to see Germany. But it is the country that taxed cryptocurrency before other countries. It also have a no tax policy which is for users who doesn't make profit above €600.

Most of these exchanges will always ask for KYC from you in order to keep an eye on you and have no privacy at all.There are variations to level of documents they ask depending on the withdrawal limits like for small transaction they don't ask for some Centralised exchanges and for above that you have to go through these KYC norms so you see they all are in same basket.

KYC are really needed on decentralized exchanges to keep away criminals to launder money on their platform. If you really want to be completely anonymous in buying bitcoin, there is something what they call OTC or over-the-counter trading or exchange. You find someone that will sell you bitcoin, meet on a certain place which often happens in a casino then do the trade there. Whales often do those kind of stuff to prevent huge movement from the market.

I think it's not about countries but it's about the exchanges. All centralized exchange requires a kyc but some of them are not mandatory but users can continue using them anonymously on lower limits. If you want full privacy then use decentralized exchanges as they are the real ones that don't ask for a kyc whether you are dealing with small or big amounts.

A decentralized exchange have no central authority so there's no need to set up a headquarters on some specific countries. It is not hard to buy btc anonymously as long as your country allowed it. There are countries where btc is accepted as a legal tender, they must be the best country only if they push decentralization.

i dont think that country ask of cryptocurrency KYC before comment of cryptocurrency transaction, from my experience and what i notice in the cryptocurrency for countries that does no allowed or permit cryptocurrency transaction to be verified. Is that you won't buy cryptocurrency with your country credit card neither debit card, KYC is meant or good and being done to exchange who trade a cryptocurrency of different names, and with the hope of having cryptocurrency KYC verification in the exchange. The trust will be clear to be patterned with. Because they can locate you with your informations

Whales will also not carelessly make OTC trades, because OTC trading also requires guaranteed security from the OTC broker or dealer organizer. OTC trading is a trade for a large number of transactions so it is also risky to not find a guaranteed broker. for the cost is lower and without using KYC.
Trading OTC without any intermediaries is also risky for our own safety, because transactions here involve a lot of money.

For sure, it is not my country  ;D ;D
Moreover, the exchange should be also under the regulation of one of our governmental institutions, so bad  ;D ;D

That's why I wonder which country allows it. Moreover, many exchanges will require KYC for certain requirements, especially for withdrawing. We may be able to deposit or trade without KYC, but when going to withdraw, KYS is a must or we cannot even withdraw our own assets there. 

I think the countries with the best Bitcoin-friendly laws and the matter of privacy can lead to different answers. El Salvador is the most Bitcoin-friendly country, but people largely use Chivo wallet (which is custodial, so it's a point against privacy) for actual usage of Bitcoin as payment. They do have taxes, but there's a loophole (https://www.share-talk.com/the-el-salvador-loophole-allows-bitcoin-traders-to-avoid-paying-taxes/#gs.36ctg2) from what I've read that allows not paying them. I'm not sure it's legit, though.
But as for privacy, countries that don't regulate Bitcoin are likely to allow for more privacy (because there are not KYC legislative requirements).