From KYC to Hive: The Battle for Trust

Working in the Business Office of our school for more than a year now, I can testify that both government agencies and banks are becoming more strict these days and are asking for additional documents from the school. They want to know the source of donations and the nature of the relationship between the donors and the donee. They want to know the names and addresses, both individuals and institutional. The justification for this tightening in oversight is their fight against money laundering.

They can do such restrictions within the existing system. However, they are not satisfied with it. They are wary about innovations both in blockchain and cryptocurrency technologies. They don't want their monopolies and control to be challenged. They are hostile to the idea of replacing the current system that is dominant in the crypto space.

In such a world, decentralization is a threat. They will use all alibis to convince the public that decentralized entities that don't require KYC cannot be trusted. It is as if, centralized institutions such as government bureaus and departments and those that offer financial services are worthy of our trust.

It is exactly the issue of trust that collapsed in the aftermath of the 2008 Housing Bubble. It was then that those in the know shifted their trust to codes. Hence, this explains the unparalleled increase in the price of Bitcoin that even artificial intelligence like chatbots struggled to give the exact number in terms of percentage. All it can give is a rough estimate of a "several million percent" increase.

Nevertheless, I admire the persistence of the current system as represented by the US FBI. Just 22 hours ago, Kevin Helms of bitcoin.com reported that the FBI has issued a warning against unregistered cryptocurrency that doesn't require KYC. People are advised to transact only with those that comply with U.S. anti-money laundering laws. Furthermore, crypto users are urged to check if the crypto platform is registered as a Money Services Business (MSB) with the U.S. Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). Source.

KYC for the FBI is a must to consider a crypto platform safe and legitimate. Network like Hive has no place from the perspective of the US government. They want to know the names, birthdays, addresses, and IDs of crypto users. This is their idea of safety and security.