Shalini Nagarajan, 13 June 2021
Many people think bitcoin transactions can be anonymous or untraceable, but they’re misunderstanding how the process works, Ben Weiss, CEO of crypto ATM operator CoinFlip, said at a webinar on digital assets this week.
“It’s not anonymous. It’s pseudo-anonymous. You can’t buy any large amount of bitcoin without KYC or ID or driver’s licenses,” he said, referring to “know your customer” and similar identification checks.
“Bitcoin is actually more transparent in many ways than typical things in the financial system,” he added.
The perception is that because the digital currency is often associated with illegal activity, then it must shield the identity of the user. But that is not true, Weiss said.
The bitcoin addresses may not have names registered to them, but in practice, they can be linked to real-world identities, he noted. That’s because every investor is required to log their personal information before they buy the cryptocurrency.
