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Clearly banks follow AML/KYC regulations.

But every bitcoin exchange (Ethereum exchange) I've seen has registration requirements that are far in excess of any bank I've used.

  • Gemini requires your username/password login for your bank's website (extra LOL)
  • Kraken requires persistent access to your webcam
  • Coinbase requires selfies

And at the other end of the spectrum, Venmo requires even less than a bank.

What is a better exchange that I would not be embarrassed to recommend others to?

William Entriken
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  • "Gemini requires your username/password login for your bank's website (extra LOL)" Citation needed? Certainly I didn't provide anything like that when setting up my Gemini account about six months ago. – user19510 Mar 26 '18 at 21:36
  • Please correct me if I am wrong, but opening a bank account requires a physical visit in the bank or similar submission of documents as with exchanges. Thus "Far in excess" is a false statement. – Mikko Ohtamaa Mar 27 '18 at 10:31
  • In the United States, banks do not require physical presence to set up an account, ING Direct (now Capital One) did not have any physical locations nor would you need to mail anything to them. – William Entriken Jul 22 '19 at 15:58
  • Creating a Gemini account is simple, but "upgrading" the account to where you could actually trade anything requires (or did require) your bank account password. In other words, persistent access to withdraw all funds for any of your account. – William Entriken Jul 22 '19 at 16:00

1 Answers1

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This depends based on your country and seems to vary a lot.

I believe it's exceedingly difficult for US citizens and a lot easier for many other countries. This is due to stricter regulations in the US. So it's a bit difficult to say which exchanges are easier in that sense. And anyway this StackExchange is not about exchanges but about Ethereum.

I'm based in Europe and when opening my Kraken account I basically just gave them my email and name and that's it. I have something like ~5 accounts in various big exchanges and have never given them any ID or pictures or so.

Lauri Peltonen
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  • To add additional context to Lauri's good response, the SEC's broad purview means an increase in regulations is not limited to the US, but any body facilitating the asset's in question. – Vignesh Karthikeyan Jul 22 '19 at 11:26