I wanted to try paying for Mullvad VPN using a private method (Monero). I created a wallet and went to an exchange (Kraken) to buy some XMR, but they want me to enter all my personal details upon registration. How does this make sense? Is there an exchange where I don’t have to provide personally identifying information?
They are bound by anti money laundering laws (AML) and are required to Know Your Customers (KYC).
https://support.kraken.com/hc/en-us/articles/know-your-customer-kyc-questionnaireYes it does compromise privacy because now when the exchange is asked who owns this wallet they have to hand your details to law enforcement.
Exchanges without KYC are getting rarer.
In America, you “have to” due to government regulation(IRS wants their cut of the tendies).
I mean, what do you expect?
Use P2P instead
Pardon my lack of knowledge, what is P2P? Is it mining monero?
Instead of having a central server, consumers interact with each other directly. That’s P2P Vs centralization.
I’m just learning about all this. Looks like P2P is what I want. Thanks
here’s an i2p magnet link to the irs chain analysis talk from last year:
magnet:?xt=urn:btih:d371d4e4cb9a3760ef79e94fde0b8edf22062e49&tr=http://tracker2.postman.i2p/announce.php&dn=chainalysis-monero-presentation-to-irs-august-2023.av1.webm
gives some insight into how they do it with their analysis tool. i’ll let you draw your own conclusions based on your own risk profile, but if you’re a target and they have enough confidence with the tool, they could grow a profile and subpoena the target exchange for kyc.