- Determination of the customer's risk in terms of propensity to commit money laundering, terrorist finance, or identity theft
- Creation of an expectation of a customer's transactional behavior
- Monitoring of a customer's transactions against their expected behaviour and recorded profile as well as that of the customer's peers
And here is the problem. If you are a normal, 9-5, go home to the wife and kids guy, then you will probably fit the guidelines/expectations perfectly.
If you are (like me and many others), an expat in Asia, using bank accounts in very Third World countries, you are shit out of luck. Can I get verified at Coinbase, Bitstamp or other major exchange? Not likely. I get forced to BTC-e because I don't fit the normal profile.
If I could get a KYC support person to listen to my story, and make some allowance for it, it would be easy. Unfortunately, that would take 30 minutes which they don't want to give. The questions usually go like this:
Why don't you have a US bank account? Why do you have an account in Cambodia and Vietnam?
-- Because I haven't lived in the US in 8 years. I split time between those countries.
I need a utility bill and a copy of your passport.
-- Here is the passport. I don't have a utility bill in my name. It is normal here that utility bills stay in the landlord's name. Since mail is never actually delivered, I pick them up at the utility office anyway. What can i give you instead? A copy of my lease, notarized? A letter from the local police? Name it.
Sorry, sir. Our rules state that a utility bill is required. We will not be able to allow you to transfer your money back to your account from the exchange. Fuck off, money laundering scum.
Expected profiles and expected behavior suck.