There's a Huge Opportunity for Everyone in Crypto, It's Called KYC/AML

KYC/AML is an easy target for critics like Yago, who also argue that these practices effectively amount to global surveillance, and therefore stand in direct contradiction to two of the most important aspects of cryptocurrency - privacy and disintermediation.

Not only can KYC/AML infringe on a user's right to privacy, we are told, but it can see sweeping "Big Brother" surveillance practices instituted.

Should we do away with regulation then? Down with KYC/AML? Not so fast.

It's important to note that although KYC/AML processes and regulations can hinder privacy, that doesn't mean that they must.

At present, the KYC/AML infrastructure mirrors guidelines implemented by centralized financial enterprises around the world.

Just as traditional financial institutions require due diligence on prospective customers, cryptocurrency companies also rely on KYC/AML to collect personally identifiable information on individuals before allowing them to create new crypto wallets, do peer-to-peer lending, remit money across borders, or buy or sell crypto on an exchange.

Through strong cryptography and through introducing decentralization into the current system and process, it's possible to create protocol-level crypto rails to dramatically improve the handling of KYC/AML from the privacy and security perspective - all while reducing the cost of verification and clearing the barriers to mass adoption of cryptocurrencies and blockchain.

Once the costs are dramatically reduced, the upside of having strong and efficient KYC/AML regulations in place means more businesses will innovate and prosper.

Finally, if the costs of KYC/AML compliance keep that global economic participation at bay, once that barrier is gone, imagine the freedom for innovators it would create.

This is why my team and other notable organizations are working to showcase the importance of KYC/AML and other important initiatives in the global cryptocurrency community - to prove, through tangible use cases, that it's not preventing crypto innovation, it's pioneering it.