As the crypto world tries to go legit, various exchanges and other feeders from the bottom to the top of the crypto food chain are implementing Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) technologies.
If you think of yourself as a criminal, then you probably realize the glory days of crypto may be past. But what if you don’t? Will you run afoul of KYC or AML?
First of all, it’s unlikely anybody cares about small transactions. After all, you can bring up to $10,000 in cash or cash equivalents across international borders or deposit such amounts into bank accounts, no questions asked (I’m referring to US regulations here, but many other countries have similar laws).
But if you’re Scarface or Walter White and have millions in cash to deposit, no on-the-level bank in the world will take your dough. And if you think selling off your stake via hundreds of small transactions is the answer? Sorry, that’s illegal as well (in the US, anyway), even though people advise just such an approach.
Such is the problem holders (or hodlers) of large amounts of crypto are facing. Whether you earned your stash via an ICO or via early bets on crypto or any other means, you now have beaucoup bucks tied up in Bitcoin or your crypto of choice.
The only way to sell off your stash is via illegal means – in other words, by becoming a money launderer yourself.
Good luck even opening a bank account, let alone converting your crypto to fiat. You’ll need to prove how you got those coins, who you got them from, and how they got them, ad infinitum.
Only said crypto is pseudonymous – or if you hold Monero, perhaps truly anonymous. Passing KYC and AML checks is now virtually impossible. In the words of President Trump, you’re f*cked.
What’s the value of a stash of hundreds or thousands of Bitcoins if you can never convert them to fiat? Bupkis, that’s what.