Will "De-Fi" platforms be subject to KYC/AML laws in the future?

[icalical]

I think it finally will, the Regulators will have the same concern to De-Fi just like any other blockchain usage, which is money laundering, and I am sorry to say but if KYC is not required De-Fi will be the easiest way to launder money for bad people. Even though after that there will be some people who sell ID illegally to deceive this KYC requirement.

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[Z390]

Anything is possible, if Ethereum can go against everything it was so against them yes it's possible, only projects with invincible teams can withstand full decentralisation, the reason why BTC was never a victim is because Satoshi knew that staying invisible is the only way to fight the government.

[cryptoaddictchie]

DeFi projects are not truly decentralized if you count them with strict conditions. If you start a project and you doxed your identity, that project is never a truly decentralized project. ~snip...

I think even the developers are doxxed as long as thr system of a project isnt fully authorized by one entity or governed by different people such as dao then it is decentralized. I dont think defi means the one who created it should be anonymous so government cant know who are they but based on the product they make which proves that they are really no control over decision, tokens and some important aspect of it. When regards that if a project is scam cause they have a fair share of tokens for creating the project, then thats bull shit. I guess Satoshi have some bitcoin shares too also right? (he also created the bitcoin). So there is no difference if some devs have percentage on the total supply, cause if people criticized them then why not also Satoshi, we all knew he has share of bitcoin supply too.

[lvsca]

if KYC is implemented then it should no longer be called DeFi. we are here governed and run by the system, but if there is interference from government regulations then the "decentralization" on the platform will disappear. The upside is that it may not be easy for scammers who usually easily create DeFi but have to go through regulations first.

[DapanasFruit]

I am sure there will be a coming conflict with regulators on how to make sure that DeFi platforms and its users can be undergoing the usual KYC process now being implemented in many centralized crypto-based firms. Now, of course, coming from the government their top concern is the security and safety of the people who are on the investing side with DeFi and indeed this concern could not be brushed off easily as we know that people had already lost billions with the bad players of this industry...even popularizing the term "rug pull" and similar concoctions out to scam victims of their money. Personally, am not against KYC but am also concerned with the safety of my data at the same time.

[eXtremal]

DeFi is finance that is managed by a system without being centralized or controlled by anyone. If KYC is used in the DeFi platform then it is not pure DeFi anymore, it seems to be a central crypto bank. I hope this doesn't happen, indeed there are so many scams that exist if done without KYC, but we have to be smart in choosing a platform and without KYC it's also easier because it's simple.

[Abiky]

Regulations and decentralization don’t go hand in hand. If a platform is being regulated by an entity, then you can’t call it a decentralized platform. Decentralized means it is unregulated.

Can you regulate bitcoin? You cannot. Every transaction goes through no matter who makes it and everybody can create a transaction. That’s how decentralization works.

You can regulate the exchanges because you know their owners. Since nobody owns bitcoin’s blockchain, it is impossible to regulate bitcoin.

Exactly. But we all know developers use "decentralization" as a "buzz word" to help attract people into their projects. Anything that requires ID verification is not truly decentralized. I'm afraid most so-called "De-Fi" platforms will begin to comply with KYC/AML laws out of fear from the government. It's hard (or almost impossible) to find a project that's truly decentralized and censorship-resistant these days. Any anonymous developer that comes up with a new cryptocurrency or "De-Fi" platform, will be quickly flagged as a "scammer" by the general public. It's sad because this takes crypto/Blockchain tech away from its intended purpose (which is being censorship-resistant by eliminating the middleman).

Of course, governments can't enforce regulation within decentralized protocols themselves. But they could try to pressure centralized service providers (exchanges, web hosting companies, etc) in order to limit or reduce people's ability to harness the full potential of the Blockchain. It'll be up to developers to make "De-Fi" platforms as censorship-resistant as possible to render governments' efforts useless. Let's hope decentralization wins for the good of crypto/Blockchain tech. Just my thoughts

[makishart]

If KYC is required for the decentralized finance (DeFi) projects, it may result in decentralisation is no longer decentralized. I even doubt the KYC for DeFi will be possible as only wallet is required to be DeFi user. Anonymity can never be Separated from the DeFi projects.

It can still be identified by the platform even though you just need to sync your wallet to the platform but the developers can make it happen easily. There's nothing impossible when it comes to the building a platform or even restricting the users.
You can even restrict the users if you are the owner from the defi itself. KYC can be implemented easily to the defi as long as there would be an order from the regulators to did it. This will put defi into the so many disadvantage but im sure that defi developers would like to avoid being jailed rather than not to follow any order from the regulators.

[Kemarit]

Regulations and decentralization don’t go hand in hand. If a platform is being regulated by an entity, then you can’t call it a decentralized platform. Decentralized means it is unregulated.

Can you regulate bitcoin? You cannot. Every transaction goes through no matter who makes it and everybody can create a transaction. That’s how decentralization works.

You can regulate the exchanges because you know their owners. Since nobody owns bitcoin’s blockchain, it is impossible to regulate bitcoin.

Exactly. But we all know developers use "decentralization" as a "buzz word" to help attract people into their projects. Anything that requires ID verification is not truly decentralized. I'm afraid most so-called "De-Fi" platforms will begin to comply with KYC/AML laws out of fear from the government. It's hard (or almost impossible) to find a project that's truly decentralized and censorship-resistant these days. Any anonymous developer that comes up with a new cryptocurrency or "De-Fi" platform, will be quickly flagged as a "scammer" by the general public. It's sad because this takes crypto/Blockchain tech away from its intended purpose (which is being censorship-resistant by eliminating the middleman).

Yes, regulators are going after Defi if they still continue to be "decentralized", So I also agree that they will be require and mandated by KYC/AML in the future and they can't do anything about it but to follow, otherwise the projects might be sued by SEC.

Of course, governments can't enforce regulation within decentralized protocols themselves. But they could try to pressure centralized service providers (exchanges, web hosting companies, etc) in order to limit or reduce people's ability to harness the full potential of the Blockchain. It'll be up to developers to make "De-Fi" platforms as censorship-resistant as possible to render governments' efforts useless. Let's hope decentralization wins for the good of crypto/Blockchain tech. Just my thoughts

They have to think another way it they want to stay one step from these regulators. Just like what they did to Monero, they force exchanges to de-list it because it is a privacy and censor resistant coin.  But as we can see, Monero still exists up to this day and any other privacy focused coin and continue to evolved to be on top of the game against the regulators.

[merekamo]

In my opinion, "De-Fi" platforms are unlikely to be truly decentralized if they're hosted on centralized servers, and they will thus become subject to the same regulations as their more traditional counterparts.

As a result, there may be no difference between them and traditional financial institutions—the only difference would be their publicizing of this fact, and their choice of location.

The biggest issue here is that it's basically impossible for the government to regulate DeFi platforms without also regulating the underlying assets (cryptocurrencies).

[zasad@]

Dunno exactly, but there should be workarounds around that as you might be able to access these platforms with different frontends. After all, they can only censor frontend and not the smart contract itself.

This is very easy to implement with the help of whitelists for projects and KYC operators. If the project will work in the USA, then it will have to comply with all the norms of the legislation of this country.
But since the KYC procedure will take place remotely, it is possible to use drops.

[isaac_clarke22]

~

Yeah, same thoughts. We can call it now "CeFi". I had never bought any DeFi coins before when they were mainstream back then, but the scammers were just endless that time and I believe this board was already flooded by people being scammed. With authority or not, encounters with a scammer are endless anyway and let's all consider those phishers.

We don't need centralized platform for scammers to go away. It just happens all the time and there ain't nothing we can do about it regardless.

[samcrypto]

Dunno exactly, but there should be workarounds around that as you might be able to access these platforms with different frontends. After all, they can only censor frontend and not the smart contract itself.

This is very easy to implement with the help of whitelists for projects and KYC operators. If the project will work in the USA, then it will have to comply with all the norms of the legislation of this country.
But since the KYC procedure will take place remotely, it is possible to use drops.

They have to follow regulations and the reason why many sites is not available in USA is that, there's a strict regulations and DEFI can't afford to take such risk or else they might face problem. DEFI should still be free from any regulations or KYC because that is its purpose but of course due to uncertainty in this market we can't totally say that this will be a KYC free forever, so better to be ready for the worst.

[Abiky]

In my opinion, "De-Fi" platforms are unlikely to be truly decentralized if they're hosted on centralized servers, and they will thus become subject to the same regulations as their more traditional counterparts.

As a result, there may be no difference between them and traditional financial institutions—the only difference would be their publicizing of this fact, and their choice of location.

The biggest issue here is that it's basically impossible for the government to regulate DeFi platforms without also regulating the underlying assets (cryptocurrencies).

You're right about that. Most "De-Fi" platforms are not as decentralized as they claim to be simply because they're hosted on centralized servers. That brings the single point of failure crypto/Blockchain tech was meant to avoid in the first place. Developers only use the term "decentralization" in order to attract the masses into their projects. But when censorship-resistance is put up to the test, that's when most projects fail.

I'm afraid the number of truly decentralized platforms will be very small because most developers will please regulators in order to stay in the game. It's all about money these days, so I wouldn't be surprised if so-called "De-Fi" platforms start asking users for personally-identifiable information. What matters is that decentralization wins in order to render governments' efforts worthless. As long as there's some level of resistance, crypto/Blockchain tech won't be going anywhere soon. Just my thoughts

[South Park]

DeFi is finance that is managed by a system without being centralized or controlled by anyone. If KYC is used in the DeFi platform then it is not pure DeFi anymore, it seems to be a central crypto bank. I hope this doesn't happen, indeed there are so many scams that exist if done without KYC, but we have to be smart in choosing a platform and without KYC it's also easier because it's simple.

The truth is that a great deal of those platforms which promote themselves as decentralized are not really decentralized at all, and we see this paradox everywhere in this market, for example if you take a look at the top 10 coins in this market which is supposed to be decentralized, what do you see? A bunch of centralized coins, probably the only one which is decentralized is dogecoin, but as we know dogecoin has its own fair share of issues as well.

[bitkanu]

In my opinion, "De-Fi" platforms are unlikely to be truly decentralized if they're hosted on centralized servers, and they will thus become subject to the same regulations as their more traditional counterparts.

No guarantee whether that was decentralized. In my opinion if KYC is a way for the decentralized platform to be centralized caused by it was forcing its users to complete KYC verification. I guess that when someone participated in the launch pad from defi and then they required to complete KYC verification and such defi was actually cefi. Defi was not irrelevant for such thing. I know that the developers didn't wanna to do this but regulators are always forcing them all to make it happen.

[Abiky]

The truth is that a great deal of those platforms which promote themselves as decentralized are not really decentralized at all, and we see this paradox everywhere in this market, for example if you take a look at the top 10 coins in this market which is supposed to be decentralized, what do you see? A bunch of centralized coins, probably the only one which is decentralized is dogecoin, but as we know dogecoin has its own fair share of issues as well.

That's certainly true, mate. A lot of coins are not as decentralized as they claim to be. The same can be said about "decentralized" lending/borrowing platforms and some "decentralized" exchanges. Considering that most projects are centralized, it's easy enough for governments to enforce the rule of law. You can see how easy it was to take down Tornado.Cash's frontend interface and GitHub repository. If developers would've hosted the interface and source code on a decentralized alternative (no centralized servers), things would've been different.

I'm afraid most "De-Fi" platforms will comply with KYC/AML rules in order to prevent losing their business. It's all about money these days, so we should expect the unexpected. At least, decentralization isn't going anywhere. The number of projects that are truly decentralized is small, but that doesn't matter as long as people have an "escape route" from governments and third-parties. As long as decentralization wins, we should have nothing to worry about. Just my thoughts

[South Park]

The truth is that a great deal of those platforms which promote themselves as decentralized are not really decentralized at all, and we see this paradox everywhere in this market, for example if you take a look at the top 10 coins in this market which is supposed to be decentralized, what do you see? A bunch of centralized coins, probably the only one which is decentralized is dogecoin, but as we know dogecoin has its own fair share of issues as well.

That's certainly true, mate. A lot of coins are not as decentralized as they claim to be. The same can be said about "decentralized" lending/borrowing platforms and some "decentralized" exchanges. Considering that most projects are centralized, it's easy enough for governments to enforce the rule of law. You can see how easy it was to take down Tornado.Cash's frontend interface and GitHub repository. If developers would've hosted the interface and source code on a decentralized alternative (no centralized servers), things would've been different.

I'm afraid most "De-Fi" platforms will comply with KYC/AML rules in order to prevent losing their business. It's all about money these days, so we should expect the unexpected. At least, decentralization isn't going anywhere. The number of projects that are truly decentralized is small, but that doesn't matter as long as people have an "escape route" from governments and third-parties. As long as decentralization wins, we should have nothing to worry about. Just my thoughts

True, at the end decentralization will win, it is just those developers go for the easy route as implementing a centralized solution is for the most part is always easier than to implement a decentralized solution, an example of this is the double spending problem of digital currencies, a centralized solution is very easy to implement as you only need a third centralized party which verifies the history of each token, but on a decentralized system we needed the genius of Satoshi to tackle and implement a solution to the Byzantine generals problem and reach consensus.

[DapanasFruit]

I am sure that soon DeFi platform users can be required by the government to do some form of a KYC. Now, unless of course if the DeFi project is not accepting anyone from the USA so they can be exempted. There are now many valid reasons why the government is going to be imposing KYC...and the top reason is the scams all happening around this industry and mismanagement of those who are already successful just like what happened with Terra. We are already an industry that is abusing the fact that there still less regulations so far...to the detriment of the innocent victims.

[GreatArkansas]

I am sure that soon DeFi platform users can be required by the government to do some form of a KYC. Now, unless of course if the DeFi project is not accepting anyone from the USA so they can be exempted.
(,.....)

If this will happen in the future, then they must not call it DeFi (Decentralized Finance) anymore, then it must become CeFi (Centralized Finance).
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) doesn't work like this, DeFi services or platforms are created in the first place because of some issue with centralized platforms and regulations, but now they are starting to take over DeFi which is really annoying.