The Daily: Binance Adds KYC, Bitcoin Businesses Block Gab

Thursday tends to be the busiest day of the week in the cryptosphere for some reason, and today, Nov. 22, is the perfect case in point. In this edition of The Daily we cover Binance’s long-anticipated move to KYC for customers and censorship-prone Gab’s struggle to obtain censorship-resistant money.

Also read: Trial Begins: Bitcoin Exchange Accused of Wrongfully Reversing Trades

Binance Becomes Last Major Exchange to Add KYC

Binance, the world’s largest exchange by trading volume, has confirmed that it is adding Know Your Customer (KYC) verification. Since launching in 2017, the platform has enabled traders to withdraw up to 2 BTC per day with only email confirmation. Binance recently partnered with blockchain forensic specialists Chainalysis, however, making it clear that a transition to full KYC was likely to follow.

This week, Binance CFO Wei Zhou spoke of the need to introduce compliance as part of the platform’s global expansion efforts. Refinitiv, a division of Thomson Reuters, has now been handed the task of administering KYC on behalf of the cryptocurrency exchange. With even so-called decentralized exchanges now moving to a full compliance model, the era of anonymous cryptocurrency trading may be coming to an end.

Gab Gets the Runaround
from Bitcoin Payment Processors

Free speech network Gab.com has been pushed from pillar to post by web hosts and payment providers over the last few months. Ever since Paypal and Stripe severed ties with the platform, it has been evident that Gab would need to accept cryptocurrency payments instead. As the company is starting to discover, however, uncensorable money can still be censored when it’s administered by centralized companies.

Coinbase, which has a record of blacklisting entities stretching back to 2012, has predictably refused to do business with Gab. Bitpay has also now followed suit. Several prominent bitcoin figures have pointed out that if Gab wants to avoid payment censorship, it needs to host its own server to accept BTC. The free speech platform has now received an offer of support from Btcpay Server.

Ah Bitpay would not accept @getongab, that was fast! Let's get your server running! pic.twitter.com/rFRfBujHSO

— BTCPay Server (@BtcpayServer) November 22, 2018

Credit Network Bloom Posts Record Growth

Not all things contract in a bear market: Decentralized credit network Bloom has posted figures showing record growth over the past two months. The project claims to have grown 74x faster in September and October than in the two months prior, creating over 16,000 IDs last month, a new record.

Bloom’s blockchain-based identity and cross-border credit scoring system is designed to restore data ownership to individuals, allowing them to control their financial information. Bloom has seen record growth off the back of a number of high-profile data breaches and scandals, including the Facebook and Cambridge Analytica case. Bloom co-founder Ryan Faber has said the project is now on course to hit 75,000 Bloom IDs by the end of the year.

What are your thoughts on today’s news tidbits as featured in The Daily? Let us know in the comments section below.

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