Ask HN: Crypto payment gateways and the new travel rule advice?
When transferring any cryptocurrency to another party, you must provide their name, country, and city. Some exchanges may even require additional information like passport numbers, though I haven't experienced this yet.
I've encountered these requirements with both Coinbase and Revolut.
While it's one thing to make a Bitcoin transfer to a friend or business, it's unclear how this system is supposed to work with crypto payment gateways.
These gateways provide a crypto address and wait for a set time to receive the payment. If delayed, the transaction times out since the price of Bitcoin will have changed—which is understandable.
The issue arises when exchanges like Coinbase require Travel Rule information that the payment gateway doesn't provide—causing the exchanges to pause the transfer until you provide it. In some cases up until now people are just filling in random info.
Revolut's response was simply that I must provide the personal details or risk losing my transferred money.
I'm seeking insights from anyone working in this sector about how this problem is being addressed. I've reached out to several payment gateways, but they seem confused since this regulation doesn't appear to be implemented in the US, where most gateways operate.