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Oh, right yes I forgot that. I was going to sign up for Coinbase to demonstrate some stuff as a live demo - buy a few $ worth of BTC and transfer it between wallets/show it in the public blockchain/etc.

They wanted me to scan and upload a government issued ID in order to give them money. Nooope, not a chance in hell.



They do that because the US government requires them to keep those records.

This isn't Coinbase twirling their evil mostache and scheming about selling your personal data.


It’s pretty much all governments, not just the US. “KYC” regulations are kind of brutal in some ways. Especially when the security of that data comes last to everything else...


coinbase and other exchanges that exchange cryptocurrency for US dollars run into this issue because of Know Your Customer anti-money-laundering laws in the US. I've had to go through the same process when signing up for bank accounts online.

why the hell instagram would need this, I have no idea.


Instagram is going to be a financial transaction service.




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