or its just my region pricing.
That's the price you pay for not living in the US. Don't you know we're the only country that matters!? (/s)
There is a thread of other gift card providers here:
Gift cards providers. Perhaps you could find one with better pricing for your region.
that seems rather doubtful. i've never used bitpay to pay a service where i've KYC'd, and i really don't think browser/IP/blockchain analysis is a functional replacement for a KYC program that demands official photo ID.
I would agree with this. Considering BitPay say they are doing this to comply with various AML laws from various governments, I highly doubt that those governments would say "Yeah, non-perfect and easily fooled blockchain analysis is sufficient" when they can just as easily say "Everyone must upload their passport".
Found a response on Reddit from a BitPay staff member:
https://www.reddit.com/r/btc/comments/kvujzq/fck_bitpay_use_coingate/gj0w8se/. It seems like they have introduced or are introducing mandatory KYC for all EU customers, regardless of value of transaction.