© Reuters. KuCoin CEO: Privacy is not the main feature of Bitcoin
When preparing the KuCoin exchange to adopt mandatory Know Your Customer (KYC) checks, the company’s CEO argued that privacy is not the most important feature of (BTC). “When it comes to the purpose of the creation of Bitcoin, I think privacy is just one of its features,” said Johnny Lyu, CEO of KuCoin, in a July 4 interview with Cointelegraph. Instead of privacy, Bitcoin’s main advantage is a unit of exchange that allows holders to protect themselves from recessions, explains Lyu. The CEO reminded that Bitcoin was created following the 2008 financial crisis, triggered by the subprime mortgage crisis in the United States. “These events led to the birth of Bitcoin,” he points out. While some may feel that too strict KYC practices are not good for users, as they can limit privacy, the CEO of KuCoin believes that such policies are more useful than not , as they improve the security of users’ funds. “KYC is intended to protect the public’s assets and to ensure that they are protected on two different levels,” he says, adding:
“The first level is ownership, so you know the money is really yours. The second level is the ability to track your assets if they are stolen. So if you’ve lost your assets, we’ll be able to track them.”
The cryptocurrency industry will increasingly interact with the physical world, why compliance is necessary, continues the CEO of KuCoin. “Basically, in the whole development cycle of cryptocurrencies, I would say that KYC is an inevitable and also a very beneficial phase,” continues Lyu. KuCoin officially announced in late June that it would introduce mandatory KYC checks for all new users on its platform as of July 15, 2023. Without completing the KYC, newly registered users will not be able to access KuCoin’s products and services. At the same time, existing users who have not completed the KYC will be able to continue trading, but will not be able to deposit new funds. KuCoin’s new KYC restrictions will likely will affect the trading volumes of the platform in the short term, the CEO tells Cointelegraph. “We understand that in the short term, when the rules become stricter and stricter for some customers, some may leave,” says Lyu. However, KuCoin remains optimistic about exchange compliance over the long term, concluding:
“In the long run, more funds and compliant users will enter this industry in the future, which is a better way to open the door for everyone and make users more secure.”
According to KuCoin, the platform currently has 27 million users, an increase of 35% from the number of users a year ago. Following the announcement of the KYC update, KuCoin’s trading volumes increased significantly from around $540 million to over $660 million at the time of writing, according to CoinGecko data.
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