So they're saying they want to know ALL addresses I own that have a balance?
That's not how I read that email, but I wouldn't be surprised if that's the
final goal next step. I assume the only reason taxes don't ask that yet is because the tax agency can't handle it in their (ancient) systems.
What gives them the right to know this information? It's not like people are selling coins to withdraw to a bank. We already have KYC for that.
It just doesn't make sense. Especially the "send a small transaction to confirm ownership" part:
every transaction I sign confirms I own that address. Those small transactions only make sense with banks, when a phone service provider asks to pay €0.01 to confirm ownership of the bank account for auto debit. None of that applies to crypto.
The law was created to combat money laundering or the financing of crime. Basically, they want exchanges to record who it is from, and all the addresses they receive/send coins from.
In other words, you want to send money to an exchange, you have to say whose address it is. If you want to take money from the exchange, you have to say whose address it is.
They want to create a connection between people and addresses. This way, they can track the money more easily.
Honestly, for Europeans, if you want to guarantee privacy, you have to stop using exchanges that operate in the EU.
