Topic: "proof of address". WHY?? - page 2. (Read 3022 times)

Surely its not a universal thing, nor an obligatory law everywhere, as most banks in eastern Europe, and many in western Europe too, do not require such a thing to open a bank account, you just tell them the address you want them to send statements to, and that's it.

Its mostly banks in UK which rigorously require such a thing as "proof of address" by a "utility bill".

If it was a AML requirement, then banks would be the first to require this, and many, if not most, don't.

Anyway anyone with two brain cells will figure out in 5 seconds that for AML purpose this is pointless, as anyone who would be up to launder some dirty money will get an "utility bill" without problems, it'll just cost him some money, maybe to rent a unneeded flat and sign up for electricity for one month, and then cancel - but for money launderers wasting a bit of money is not a problem. But it is a problem for a lot of normal people, who do not rent a place with utility bills in their name, and have to waste their time and money to get such a useless "pesudo-document".

You do not need to be apartment owner to receive utility bills on your name. Be the man, free your mother from paying for you.

Try googling KYC and AML, they may help.

In several bitcoin exchanges (bitstamp, mtgox, probably some others too) in order to become verified, you have to upload a scan of two documents. The first one is "proof of identification" - any government issued id with a photo and a person's name qualifies for this, so no problem here - 99,9% of people have at least some form of ID. The second one however, is a ridiculous thing called "proof of address" - "a utility, phone, or internet bill, issued in your name in the last 3 months and containing your address; or official letter which you received to your name and address, no older than 3 months, sent by a registered company or government agency".

Here is the problem:
1. Our family pays all taxes online, we literally haven't had any paper bill for more than 5 years.
2. The apartment where I live, belongs to my mother, and she is the registered owner of the apartment, so any bills are in her name, not mine.

It is not just me, I did a quick survey, and 80-90% of people around me would be unable to produce such a document for themselves. Maybe it is because I am surrounded by technically-savvy people, but most people dealing with bitcoin are technically savvy. Most technically-savvy persons I know, opted out of receiving paper bills when it became possible, if only for the reason that in my country you have to PAY to receive a paper bill, and online bills are free. The only other document I could think of, that would qualify as "official letter which you received to your name and address<...>sent by a registered company or government agency", would be a letter the police sends you if you fail to appear in court for your trial.
Even if you decided to opt-back-in to receiving paper bills (if only to receive this "proof of address"), what if you are living with your wife/husband/parents, and the apartment is registered to them? Then all the bills would be in their name, not yours.

I am not sure WHY these exchanges are implementing such silly "security measures". It is some law they must obey? It obviously has nothing to do with "security", because anyone with rookie MS word skills could forge such a "document" in 5 minutes (a utility bill features no stamp or signature). I was tempted to do it, but in the end decided to just use a different exchange.