Skip to content
ENFR

GlossaryWallets and custody

KYC

Also · Know your customer · No-KYC

KYC, know your customer, is the identity verification that regulated exchanges impose before selling bitcoin. It links a legal identity to coins, and that link outlives the account.

Buying bitcoin with a bank transfer on a regulated exchange requires an identity document, a selfie and often proof of address. The exchange keeps that file, together with your deposits, trades and withdrawal addresses, and must hand it over on legal request. It becomes a permanent record that a specific person once held specific coins.

Withdrawing to your own wallet does not erase this. Chain analysis can follow the coins from the exchange onward, and the exchange’s database can leak or be sold, which has already exposed holders to phishing, extortion and home invasions. Keeping KYC and non-KYC coins in separate wallets, with coin control and labels, limits what any 1 leak reveals. No-KYC acquisition through peer-to-peer markets, earning or mining avoids the link altogether.

In French · KYC

Related terms

Definition reviewed on October 22, 2026

Read on Off-Chain Media
6 min read

Bull Bitcoin drags DAC8 before the Conseil d’État to have it canceled and draws a line in the sand

Bull Bitcoin announces that it has brought the French decree transposing DAC8 before the Conseil d’État, even though the company has just obtained its MiCA authorization. Behind this apparent paradox, Théo Mogenet, Managing Director of Bull Bitcoin Europe, defends a simple line. A Bitcoin platform can accept entering the European framework, without accepting that compliance becomes the systematic collection of sensitive data.

7 min read

How to Take a Bitcoin-Collateralized Loan While Preserving Your Privacy

Preserving privacy while accessing Bitcoin-collateralized loans is vital for digital sovereignty. This guide offers practical steps to use Lendasat privately, protecting identity, transaction history and on-chain activity.