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Comment by kristianc | Hacker News Reader

They're one and the same thing. Compliance is a way of demonstrating that you have met certain data and information security standards.

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KYC has zero to do with information security, and there's a legitimate argument that much of the regulation is anti-competitive regulatory capture with the primary goal of preventing new entrants in the market, with "security" being a secondary concern.

KYC isn't some conspiracy to keep Bitcoin firms out - it's a vital protection against money laundering, terrorist financing and checking for identity theft.

There are very real consequences in the real world when these checks get skipped or overlooked.

Nobody said anything about it being a conspiracy. It's not a conspiracy that entrenched actors advocate for rules they can trivially follow that just happen to kneecap upstarts. It's an expected and recognized behavior of large entities.

That goes double when "terrorism" is brought up, which is a metasituational justification for nearly any conceivable rule.

They aren’t trivial to follow - Standard Chartered were fined $1.1bn for AML non compliance, Swedbank and Danske have lost their CEOs. KYC is vital for the integrity of the economic system precisely because ML is as prevalent as it is.

That's not true. KYC is for preventing money laundering and terrorist financing. You do NOT want the RCMP/FBI asking why you permitted terrorists to use your platform.

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