Crypto Without KYC: How It Works and Which Platforms Actually Deliver
In February 2026, IDMerit, a company based in California that specializes in identity verification, suffered a data breach that compromised approximately one billion records across 26 nations. A researcher from Cybernews uncovered a misconfigured database in November 2025, yet IDMerit only made the breach public 99 days later. The leaked information encompassed names, addresses, national ID numbers, birth dates, phone numbers, and KYC/AML logs related to crypto and fintech services. By 2026, regulatory pressures led to a 50% reduction in no-KYC services; US exchanges are now required to submit Form 1099-DA, while the EU's MiCA mandates zero-threshold KYC. The article reviews five platforms, favoring Godex for its established history and policies. Although no-KYC use is permitted, users are obligated to report taxes.
Key facts
- IDMerit disclosed a data breach on February 18, 2026, exposing ~1 billion records across 26 countries.
- The misconfigured database was discovered by a Cybernews researcher in November 2025; disclosure came 99 days later.
- Exposed data included full legal names, home addresses, national ID numbers, dates of birth, phone numbers, and KYC/AML logs.
- US exchanges must issue Form 1099-DA starting 2026; EU MiCA enforces zero-threshold KYC since December 2024.
- The EU shut down anonymous swap platform eXch.cx in 2025.
- Chainalysis 2026 Crypto Crime Report: over $3.4 billion stolen in 2025, with $1.5 billion from the Bybit hack.
- Crypto.com suffered an undisclosed breach linked to Scattered Spider, revealed by Bloomberg in 2025.
- Godex operates since 2018, supports 937+ cryptocurrencies, has no KYC, no volume limits, and deletes transaction records after two weeks.
Entities
Institutions
- IDMerit
- Cybernews
- Chainalysis
- Bybit
- Crypto.com
- Scattered Spider
- ZachXBT
- Pcaversaccio
- Godex
- ChangeHero
- Bisq
- GhostSwap
- PancakeSwap
- Trezor
- Monero
- Trustpilot
- NFT Plazas
- Bloomberg
- IRS
- EU
- FATF
Locations
- California
- United States
- EU
- Seychelles
- Iran
- North Korea