Know Your Customer (KYC)
What Does Know Your Customer (KYC) Mean?
Know Your Customer (KYC) means that an organization or governing body requests proof of identity before allowing an individual or company to conduct transactions with them. Itâs a process by which organizations collect and verify the identities of their clients, and can help screen for potential criminal activity.
The process usually requires a user to provide an official, government-sanctioned document to confirm their identity. A few examples include driverâs licenses, passports and I.D. cards. To confirm that the person they're conducting business with is who they claim to be, regulations require financial institutions to collect customer data.
Why Is KYC Necessary?
Know Your Customer (KYC) laws and regulations are necessary to help banks, exchanges and other financial institutions comply with their legal obligations to prevent money laundering, fraud and other criminal activity.
It also creates a verification process so that institutions know who theyâre doing business with, and whether or not those individuals can be trusted with their services.
What Does the Process Involve?
The KYC process involves verifying individualsâ identities by cross-referencing their information against governmental watch lists, such as the U.S. Treasuryâs Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). This can be done through a number of technologies, including photo I.D. checks, fingerprinting and facial recognition.
The process will also ask for information about the individualâs identity, such as their name, date of birth, social security number or national identification card/number. In some cases, this will be a one-time process. In other cases, it may include a biometric check or a continuous review of the customer against watch lists and sanctions programs.
How Does KYC Impact Crypto Investors?
Typically, in order to trade cryptocurrencies on an exchange users have to complete a KYC protocol. In most cases, compliance is required for all investors over a certain level of net worth or income.
Regardless of their location or the country theyâre operating in, these rules impact every cryptocurrency exchange worldwide. If you want to get thoroughly involved in the world of crypto, thereâs a good chance youâll need to submit KYC documentation to several exchanges, as the jurisdiction of each one is different.
KYC on Bybit
On Bybit, KYC is conducted on two levels: Individual and business.
A trader must be KYC-verified before theyâre able to participate in Bybit Earn projects such as Launchpad and Launchpool. KYC verification is also necessary to attain higher BTC withdrawal thresholds of up to 100 BTC per day (the counter resets every day at 00:00 UTC). Without it, traders can only withdraw up to 2 BTC per day.
On Bybit, the KYC process can take up to 48 hours, due to the complexity of information verification.
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