Key Points / KYC
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KYC stands for know your customer
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KYC is usually coupled with AML screening (anti-money-laundering).
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KYC is the requirement on a crypto trading platform to get a scan of your ID card (at least)
Thanks to decentralized trading, in 2020 there are ways to buy or trade crypto with no KYC.
We go more at length [in the blog]((/buy-crypto-no-kyc/) about what are the red flags you don’t want to see in a crypto trading platform without KYC.
To make the long story short, trading crypto without KYC is less risky if your exchange has a proven track of records and doesn’t limit your crypto withdrawals.
Crypto Wallet with No KYC
This section exists here just to clarify one thing: If a cryptocurrency wallet requires you to KYC, it’s most likely a scam.
The only good reason for KYC is the exchange between fiat and crypto. That is why Coinbase exchange will want you to KYC buy Coinbase wallet has no good reason to.
Airdrops requiring KYC are in most cases borderline scam. At best, it’s simply not worth it to give away your identity to collect couple dollar’s worth of useless token.
A cryptocurrency wallet is just a device to generate private keys for you. Anyone who has access to a wallet’s key has access to the wallet’s coin. Do not KYC to get a cryptocurrency wallet.
Free and anonymous cryptocurrency wallets include:
- Electrum
- Jaxx, Exodus
- Ledger Wallet, if you pay in crypto and are carefull about the delivery place
Staking and KYC
Staking wallets as well as generally crypto exchanges that support staking do not require KYC.
Dedicated staking providers, masternode hosting providers and staking pools likewise do not require KYC.
Staking is one part of the crypto economy that is unregulated for now, just like trading used to be. Until the global legal systems catch up with that, the same reasoning as with wallets apply here: If someone requires KYC to let you stake, and it is not a top-tier well known business like Kraken Exchange, then it is a scam.
Recommended Crypto Trading Platforms without KYC
- (Custodial) Bitfinex: spot, margin, lending, futures, airdrops
- (Custodial) ByBit: futures, airdrops has limits, is shady
- (Custodial) WhiteBit: futures, airdrops has limits
- (Non-Custodial) LocalCryptos: onramp
- (Non-Custodial) Uniswap: spot
- (Non-Custodial) LeverJ: futures
An indepth look at KYC is here.
More on KYC
