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I purchase Monero through Kraken
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Not sure
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It is not exactly the same as KYC, because KYC is about the exchange verifying your identity, keeping a record of who you are, keeping a record of your transactions, and the crypto addressees that they send you funds to.
It depends on what your goal is and who is looking at your finances. If you want to buy hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of Monero to avoid paying taxes, then your bank and potentially the tax authorities will pay attention to a massive transaction leaving your account and disappearing into a non-KYC crypto exchange. So, from that point of view, it is effectively similar to KYC.
But if you are interested in privacy and the per-transaction amounts are not massive, then both the bank and the exchange will still have some record of the transaction tied to your identity. But the bank is unlikely to take notice, and the exchange, being a Non-KYC, will not verify your identity nor is it under the same level of pressure to keep detailed records. Still, some of your information is leaked and it is out there.
Monero is very private, so even with KYC you can pull it off the exchange and your identity is immediately disassociated from it.
Depending on how much you want to buy, and who you know, one way of getting it is to buy it from a friend or an acquaintance.
Funny thing is that those of who left aren't there anymore to comment that we did leave... So anyone who is still there is probably looking at the others who stayed and saying "See?! The protest didn't work because we are still here!"