Cryptocurrencies are shaking up financial systems worldwide by leveraging blockchain technology to offer innovative financial products and services. These digital tokens can be exchanged directly between blockchain users or via crypto exchange platforms that allow transactions in both fiat and digital currencies.

Despite their advantages, cryptocurrencies transactions are usually anonymous, cryptographically secured, and processed within seconds. This aspect makes them an attractive tool for criminals seeking to circumvent Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) controls. According to research, illicit cryptocurrency transactions reached approximately $14 billion in 2021, up 79% from $7.8 billion in 2020. Currently, illegal addresses hold an estimated $10 billion in cryptocurrency.

Given the increased scrutiny of cryptocurrency transactions by regulators worldwide, it is crucial for crypto exchanges to comply with their AML/CFT obligations. Specifically, they must address anonymity concerns by understanding why crypto exchanges require KYC processes to identify their customers and understand how they are using their services.

What Is KYC?

The foundation of Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regulations worldwide is the Know Your Customer (KYC) process, which requires financial institutions to identify their customers and understand their business activities.

The traditional KYC process involves conducting due diligence measures, ongoing screening, and monitoring as customers interact with a firm’s services. KYC is crucial in financial contexts because criminals use various methods to bypass AML/CFT controls. By creating a comprehensive and accurate risk profile for each customer, financial service providers can detect any misuse of their services and prevent crimes like money laundering and terrorism financing.

In the case of crypto exchanges, enhancing security through KYC in crypto poses a more complex compliance challenge since crypto firms must put in extra effort to verify the identities of customers using their digital services and understand the transactions they facilitate.

Why do Crypto Exchanges require KYC?

Crypto exchanges should adopt a risk-based approach to KYC (Know Your Customer) compliance, which involves performing risk assessments of individual customers and implementing a proportionate AML/CFT (Anti-Money Laundering/Countering Financing of Terrorism) response based on the level of risk identified. For high-risk customers, crypto exchanges or KYC for DeFi platforms would deploy more intensive compliance measures, while low-risk customers require simpler measures. By using a risk-based compliance approach, crypto exchanges can deploy their AML/CFT resources more efficiently while protecting customers from negative experiences as much as possible.

To implement digital KYC compliance, traditional KYC practices must be adapted to address the specific challenges that crypto exchanges face. This includes the following measures and controls:

• Identity verification: Crypto exchanges must collect and verify identifying information from customers, including names, addresses, birth dates, and relevant corporate information, to build accurate risk profiles.
• Customer monitoring: Exchanges should monitor customers’ transactions on an ongoing basis and pay special attention to any signs of criminal activity, such as unusual transaction patterns or transactions involving high-risk customers or locations.
• Screening: Exchanges must screen their customers to ensure they are not subject to international sanctions or classified as politically exposed persons (PEP), who are at higher risk of being involved in money laundering.
• Adverse media: Customer risk profiles can be informed by adverse news stories, so exchanges should screen for customer involvement in adverse media on an ongoing basis.

By adopting a risk-based approach to KYC compliance and implementing digital KYC practices, crypto exchanges can better protect themselves and their client verification in crypto  from criminal activities and ensure a safer and more secure trading environment.

What are the Crypto Exchange KYC Risks?

The evolving regulatory landscape and new criminal tactics make KYC compliance in the cryptocurrency space a complex challenge. To address this issue, cryptocurrency exchanges should be aware of several vulnerabilities and risks when developing and implementing their KYC process.

• The anonymity of cryptocurrency exchange transactions can enable money launderers to hide their identity. Therefore, exchanges should incorporate digital controls into their customer identification in crypto transactions, including biometric customer information such as face, voice, and fingerprint scans.
• Another challenge is the speed of cryptocurrency fund transfers, which can outpace AML/CFT controls. Exchanges should ensure that their AML/CFT checks and monitoring processes are completed before funds are transferred to user wallets.
• Money launderers may attempt to evade reporting thresholds by structuring their transactions in small amounts across multiple accounts. To prevent this, crypto exchanges should implement controls to prevent the creation of multiple accounts and share information with other financial service providers to detect and prevent structuring strategies.
• Money muling is another tactic used by criminals to exploit cryptocurrency transactions. Exchanges should work to detect money mules by performing suitable due diligence and identifying customers whose profiles do not match their wealth or expected financial behavior.
• Effective KYC is also critical for providing a positive customer experience. KYC allows exchanges to build detailed risk profiles and adjust their AML/CFT controls to better suit individuals. This approach optimizes experiences for lower risk customers, ensuring service speed and efficiency where onerous AML/CFT scrutiny is not required.

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