[selectodude]

>I don't know what KYC is but I'm not US based. Sounds like some fee that's peculiar to US banking environment (which I have heard is extraordinarily bureaucratic).

KYC stands for Know Your Customer, basically anti-money laundering regulations. Banks need to have a decent grasp on whether or not the money they're working with was "earned" legitimately.

>Is this a feature? Don't we as a society want a way to control e.g. drug lords and tax evaders moving their money around?

See above :)

Disclaimer: I think cryptocurrencies are a spillover from a couple decades of inflationary monetary policy from the fed causing people to seek yield in more and more esoteric forms. I also think they're stupid.