Will KYC become a thing of the past with new crypto privacy tech?

New privacy-focused technologies are very likely to change the traditional KYC rules that have always been so vital in the industry. For those who may not know, KYC is a set of regulations that require persons and businesses to identify themselves with identification and proof of address before engaging in financial transactions. All this is so that the users are indeed who they claim to be and that the transactions are not fraudulent.

Growing unease over the importance of Know Your Customer regulations has been stirred up by the rise of cryptocurrency and online gambling, and for years now, measures have been put in place to stop fraud and money laundering among all other illicit activities. Now with the rise of new privacy-driven technologies, people are looking at KYC as yesterday’s news.

It’s important to understand the current state of affairs as a recent list from Cardplayer has been released by Darren Moore, of the best no KYC crypto casinos for 2024 which highlights several platforms that prioritize user privacy above traditional KYC requirements. This has sparked a huge debate amongst industry experts, with some arguing that these new technologies could render KYC regulations obsolete.

Examples include Zero-Knowledge Proof, a cryptographic advance that allows users to prove their identity without showing any kind of personal data. There has been quite a fascination with this concept among the blockchain community, as several projects have started already to adapt ZKP in their protocols in order to beef up privacy features for their users. it would change the whole approach toward identity verification in crypto gambling.

Another innovation that has received some attention is Homomorphic Encryption (HE). This method enables computations on encrypted data without decrypting it. In the context of KYC, this would permit secure and anonymous transactions, thus making it more difficult for a regulatory body to track user activity. If implemented correctly, HE could provide an unprecedented level of privacy for crypto-gamblers.

The emergence of these technologies has sparked concerns among regulators, who are struggling to balance the need for security and transparency with the desire for user privacy. While some argue that these innovations could be exploited by malicious actors, others believe that they offer a more effective means of achieving true anonymity in online transactions.
One thing is very clear, the future of crypto-gambling is uncertain. Will these new privacy technologies render KYC regulations obsolete, or will they simply provide a more sophisticated means of achieving the same ends? Only time will tell.