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For years KuCoin was the answer when someone asked where to trade altcoins without handing over a passport. That answer expired in stages. Identity checks became mandatory for new accounts in July 2023. In January 2025 its operator pleaded guilty in New York and agreed to leave the US for at least two years. In February 2026 Austria barred its new EU arm from taking new customers.
None of that makes KuCoin a bad exchange. It still has one of the biggest altcoin menus in crypto and a full set of trading tools, and we list what it does better first. But if what you wanted was the old KuCoin, a way to swap coins without an identity check, that product no longer exists there. CoinVast does that one job: no account, no documents, and a risk check that runs before your money moves.
The one-sentence verdict: use KuCoin, where it serves you, for altcoin trading and its tools; use CoinVast when the job is a private coin-to-coin swap without an account.
Most "KuCoin no KYC" advice online predates every entry below. Here is what actually happened, with the source for each in the Sources section.
KuCoin announces mandatory identity verification for every new account from July 15, 2023. Existing unverified users lose deposits and most products, keeping withdrawals and a short list of exit actions.
KuCoin's operator, Peken Global, pleads guilty in New York to operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. It agrees to pay more than $297 million and to exit the US market for at least two years.
Canada's FINTRAC announces a C$19,552,000 penalty against Peken Global for failing to register and to report large and suspicious transactions. KuCoin appeals in Federal Court.
KuCoin's EU arm receives a MiCA license from Austria's financial regulator, covering 29 countries in the European Economic Area, with Malta left out.
Austria's FMA bars KuCoin EU from new business, meaning no new customers and no new contracts, until key AML and sanctions compliance roles are filled. KuCoin says two compliance staff had left and calls the matter limited in scope.
KuCoin, which still lists Monero spot pairs, pauses XMR deposits and withdrawals for wallet maintenance, one of the interruptions to moving XMR in and out during 2026.
✓ and ✗ mark what’s better or worse for you, not a feature checklist. KuCoin cells trace to its own announcements and public regulatory records listed in Sources.
| Feature | KuCoin | CoinVast |
|---|---|---|
| Accounts and identity | ||
| Account required | ✗ Yes, full registration | ✓ No, and there is no account to create |
| KYC required | ✗ Mandatory for every new account since July 15, 2023 | ✓ Never. The deposit is screened, not the person |
| If you never verified | ✗ Existing unverified users lost deposits and most products in 2023 | ✓ Nothing to verify, so nothing to lose access to |
| Where it serves you | ✗ Out of the US for at least two years under its 2025 plea; EU arm barred from new business since February 2026 | ✓ No coverage map on a crypto-to-crypto swap; sanctioned regions excepted |
| Privacy coins | ||
| Monero (XMR) | Still listed for spot trading; deposits and withdrawals paused for maintenance in 2026 | ✓ Native XMR, settled against our own Monero node |
| Own blockchain nodes | Not disclosed | ✓ Self-hosted BTC, LTC, BCH, DASH and Monero nodes |
| Custody and freezes | ||
| Who holds your funds | ✗ KuCoin, in account balances | ✓ You. Coins pass through us only for the minutes a swap runs |
| If compliance flags you | ✗ Account restricted pending review, all balances included | ✓ The swap never starts; coins auto-return minus the network fee |
| Proof of reserves | ✓ Monthly Merkle tree report with a self check tool | Nothing to prove beyond open orders; we show those on /reserves |
| Sanctions-list match | Account restricted under law | Held and reported, the single stated exception to auto-refund |
| Trading and features | ||
| Assets listed | ✓ Hundreds of coins, one of the largest altcoin menus anywhere | ✗ 136 coins on 86 networks, every pair live |
| Order books, futures, margin, bots, earn | ✓ All of it | ✗ None. Simple swaps at one fixed rate, locked at quote time |
| Fiat | ✓ Card and P2P purchases in many currencies | ✗ No fiat, crypto to crypto only, on purpose |
| Fees | ✓ 0.1% maker and taker on standard spot pairs, 20% off when paid in KCS | A flat 2% spread, printed on every quote and locked at quote time |
| Trust signals | ||
| Operating since | ✓ 2017 | ✗ 2026. We are the new kid and we know it |
| Regulatory record | ✗ US guilty plea (2025), Canadian penalty under appeal (2025), EU new-business ban (2026) | Operating entity in formation; details publish on /trust when registered |
| Consumer protections | Some, through licensed entities in specific regions | ✗ None of that. The protection is structural: we never hold your coins long enough to restrict them |
KuCoin built its name on listing small and new tokens early, and it still carries hundreds of them. If the coin you want launched this month, KuCoin is far more likely to have it than our deliberately short list of 136.
Order books, futures, margin, trading bots, lending and earn products. CoinVast is a swap service: two coins, one amount, done. If you run strategies rather than single swaps, KuCoin is in a different category.
A 0.1% maker and taker fee on standard spot pairs, with a 20% discount when you pay fees in KCS. For frequent traders, that is much cheaper than our flat 2% spread, and we will not pretend otherwise.
KuCoin publishes a monthly Merkle tree proof of reserves with a tool to check that your own balance is counted. If you keep a balance on an exchange, that is the minimum you should expect, and KuCoin meets it. Our proof of reserves tracker compares it with the other large exchanges.
Since July 15, 2023, every new KuCoin account has to complete identity verification before it can do anything. Accounts that never verified were cut back to withdrawals and a handful of exit actions. The old workaround of a fresh account with a withdrawal limit is gone, and once you verify, your documents sit in a database you do not control.
A US guilty plea and a two year exit, a Canadian penalty under appeal, and an EU arm barred from new business within months of its license. Each of these changes who KuCoin can serve and on what terms, usually with a deadline attached. If you depend on one exchange in a country where it is under pressure, plan for a sudden change. Our exchange fines tracker shows how these cases have played out across the industry.
KuCoin still lists XMR, which is more than most large exchanges can say. But in 2026 it paused XMR deposits and withdrawals for wallet maintenance, and a pause is exactly the moment you most want to move. CoinVast settles Monero against its own node, and a swap sends XMR straight to your wallet.
On any custodial exchange, a compliance flag can restrict the whole account while a review runs. After a regulatory penalty, exchanges usually tighten their monitoring, and tighter monitoring means more accounts held for review. That is not malice; it is what holding customer balances under pressure looks like.
Our own fine print, stated just as plainly: CoinVast screens every deposit before the exchange starts. Pass means the swap runs and is final. Fail means it never starts and your coins auto-return minus the network fee, no documents. The one exception is a government sanctions-list match, which the law requires us to hold and report.
On KuCoin, as on any custodial exchange, checks run while your money sits inside their system, so a flag lands on funds they are already holding, and restricting the account is the cautious move.
CoinVast inverts the order. The risk check runs at order creation, before you send anything. Pass and the swap runs to completion, final and never clawed back. Fail and it never begins; your coins auto-return minus the network fee, with the hash printed on the order page. At no point do we hold your money while deciding what to ask of you.
It is the difference between a swap that took ten minutes and a support ticket that says the review is ongoing.
KuCoin charges 0.1% maker and taker on standard spot pairs, 20% less when you pay in KCS, with withdrawal fees per coin on top. On pure trading cost a KuCoin trader pays less than our spread.
CoinVast charges a flat 2% spread on every swap, locked the moment you create the order, with the payout network fee on its own line. On a $1,000 swap that is $20 of spread, printed before you commit. No tiers, no token discounts, no account. You can check our quote against any price index in ten seconds, and decide whether the trade is worth making before you send a coin.
Not for a new account. KuCoin made identity verification mandatory for every new registration from July 15, 2023. Accounts that existed before then and never verified were cut back to withdrawals and a few exit actions, with deposits blocked. If you want to swap coins without handing over identity documents, you need a service that does not run accounts at all, such as a no-KYC swap.
No. As part of its January 27, 2025 guilty plea in New York, KuCoin's operator Peken Global agreed to exit the US market for at least two years and to pay more than $297 million in fines and forfeiture. US residents should not expect to open or keep a KuCoin account during that period.
Yes, as of October 2026 KuCoin still lists XMR spot pairs. It has paused XMR deposits and withdrawals for wallet maintenance in 2026, most recently from September 24, so check its announcements before you rely on moving XMR in or out on a particular day. CoinVast swaps native XMR settled against our own Monero node.
KuCoin's EU arm received a MiCA license from Austria's financial regulator in November 2025, covering 29 countries in the European Economic Area with Malta left out. In February 2026 the same regulator barred it from new business, meaning no new customers and no new contracts, until key anti money laundering and sanctions roles were filled. KuCoin said two compliance staff had left and called the matter limited in scope.
No. KuCoin is a full exchange with hundreds of coins, order books, futures, margin, trading bots and earn products. CoinVast replaces one job: exchanging one crypto for another without an account or KYC. For active trading or long-tail tokens, KuCoin does things we do not.
The risk check runs when you create the order, before any coins move. Pass means the swap runs to completion, final and never clawed back. Fail means it never starts and your deposit auto-returns to your refund address minus the network fee, with the return hash printed on the order page. The single exception is a sanctions-list match, which the law requires us to hold and report.
Yes, on pure trading cost. KuCoin's standard spot fee is 0.1% for makers and takers, lower with KCS, while CoinVast charges a flat 2% spread. Ours is a single number printed on every quote and locked when you create the swap, with no account, no verification and no balance left on a platform. Whether that trade is worth 2% is your call, and we print it before you send anything.
In most jurisdictions, yes. KYC obligations fall on businesses, not customers, and swapping coins you already own is not a crime. Every CoinVast order passes sanctions and risk screening before it runs. Rules vary by country, and a coin-to-coin swap can be a taxable event whether or not anyone saw your passport.
Yes, and for many people that is the practical setup where KuCoin is available to them. Keep KuCoin for its altcoin menu and trading tools, withdraw to your own wallet, and use CoinVast for the swaps you want to make without an account, such as moving into Monero.
Claims about KuCoin trace to the pages below, read in October 2026. If a fact changes, tell us at [email protected] and we will fix the page.
Screening runs before you send, the spread is printed on the quote, and Monero is on the menu. Test it with a small swap.
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