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by AnthonyMouse 1780 days ago
> If the answer is there should be no AML, KYC (edit: know-your-customer rules) and/or reporting by cryptocurrency companies, we have no common ground on this argument.

I still don't understand this. KYC has devolved into something unreasonable and it needs to be removed from the existing system, not extended.

When KYC was originally implemented, your bank was where you deposited your paycheck, paid your mortgage and withdrew some cash every few weeks for your expenses. If your bank knew who you were, they knew where you lived and where you worked. The first is a matter of public record and the second isn't exactly a big secret. Maybe you also had a car loan.

Today it has been extended to everything you buy on the internet or with a credit card, and people now buy everything on the internet and with credit cards. It ties your government identity to the books you read, the medical care you receive, genetic tests, what you eat, the establishments you patronize, your location history if you go anywhere and buy gas or anything else, who else was there at the same time, it's your whole life.

We need the ability to buy a copy of Das Kapital or a drink at a gay bar without being put on a List.

1 comments

Cryptocurrency doesn't help you buy a drink or a book. It does, however, help the rich avoid taxes and launder money.
> Cryptocurrency doesn't help you buy a drink or a book.

It is possible to buy a drink or a book with cryptocurrency. A law that requires the book or drink seller to KYC the buyer would make this difficult without putting the buyer at risk.

Of course, most sellers of drinks and books don't accept cryptocurrency. Which is why KYC needs to be removed from applying to credit cards rather than being extended to cryptocurrency.

> It does, however, help the rich avoid taxes and launder money.

Which is the thing laws can have no effect on, because they can't actually change how cryptocurrency works. The laws an exchange in the US is subject to don't apply to one in Venezuela or Russia. If you can exchange a million dollars worth of Bitcoin for dollars or gold bars anywhere in the world then it will be worth it for anyone dealing in large sums to go there when they want to cash out. That's already happened. It's the consequence of its existence and you can't put the genie back in the bottle.

All the laws do is invade the privacy of law-abiding people and put vulnerable populations at risk. Criminals don't follow laws.