CipherTrace: 56% of Bitcoin exchanges do not verify customers

More than half of the 800 cryptocurrency exchanges across 80 countries do not comply with KYC/AML measures. This was reported by analytics firm CipherTrace.

Now available! Our 2020 Geographic Risk Report: VASP KYC by Jurisdiction is the virtual asset industry’s first comprehensive global KYC risk assessment. https://t.co/fD1RJr5zNu #KYC #AML #CTF #DeFi #bicoin #cryptocurrency

— CipherTrace (@ciphertrace) October 1, 2020

According to CipherTrace statistics, 60% of the top-10 exchanges with inadequate KYC are located in Europe, 20% in Latin American and Caribbean countries, and the remaining 20% in the Asia-Pacific region.

Europe leads despite the adoption of the Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD5), according to analysts.

A game of cat and mouse with regulators, or what the FATF’s new guidelines mean for the bitcoin industry

In Africa, 70% of trading platforms do not comply with KYC norms, with most of them based in the Seychelles, potentially making that country attractive for money laundering.

Among decentralized exchanges, more than 90% have inadequate KYC measures, and for 81% they are virtually absent.

Across countries, the worst is in the United States, Singapore and the United Kingdom, where a larger number of platforms are concentrated.

Analysts note that KYC measures are only one factor in assessing the overall risk of bitcoin exchanges, but the report provides a gauge of the potential for cryptocurrency money laundering in each country.

Earlier CipherTrace researchers stated that in 2019 about 74% of bitcoins moved across borders in inter-exchange transactions. They argue this poses money-laundering risk given insufficient KYC/AML measures and threatens banks.

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