Unfriendly or unregulated exchanges Crypto exchanges are subject to “Know Your Customer” (KYC) guidelines for financial services, which aim to prevent businesses from being used by illicit actors for money laundering. In many countries, the regulatory environment establishes KYC as a mandatory and crucial procedure for financial and even non-financial institutions. One of the key elements of KYC policies is customer identification procedure, in which customers are required to present a valid ID before being able to cash-out their crypto funds. In some cases, an exchange does not comply or is not legally obligated to comply with KYC due to local laws. In these instances, customers are not asked to present their IDs, and even if they are, the exchange might not be willing to cooperate with law enforcement agencies and provide the necessary information regarding the crypto user’s identity. Decentralized exchanges Some exchanges rely on a decentralized network of peer-to-peer servers, which allows transactions to take place securely and without the need for a third-party entity or intermediary. Due to a lack of a central point of contact or KYC process, law enforcement agencies don’t have a point of contact with whom to cooperate to reveal illicit actors’ identities. Investigators may hit hit roadblocks during exchange investigations for many reasons: 1 Cooperation with global, peer-to-peer or unregulated exchanges 2 3 Keeping up with financial investigations in the crypto age 12