Trezor, maker of cryptocurrency hardware wallets, stated this Friday (28) that it will next month remove the Address Ownership Proof Protocol (AOPP), designed to accommodate the implementation of anti-money laundering requirements through the Know Your Customer (KYC) registry.
The implementation of AOPP generated complaints from customers on social networks, as the solution shares user identification data of private bitcoin wallets, an action abhorred by the crypto community.
In short, AOPP is an automated way to share evidence that a user has a private cryptocurrency wallet when transacting with a regulated exchange, a prerequisite, for example, in jurisdictions like Switzerland.
“In Switzerland, a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) — any financial intermediary dealing in crypto assets such as Bitcoin — is legally required to require proof of ownership of a customer’s wallet address before withdrawals and deposits can be made. AOPP is a simple, automated solution to provide proof of ownership of an external wallet address,” explains the AOPP website.
“Looks scary,” wrote one Twitter user. Next to the publication, an image that suggests what the AOPP solution does: it identifies the owner of the wallet. “How many countries now require this, the KYC of a private wallet?” he added.
In response, Trezor said in a statement that after careful consideration of recent comments, it will remove Address Ownership Proof Protocol (AOPP) in the next update to the Trezor Suite and that it will provide a guide for manually verifying addresses.
“Our sole objective was to facilitate self-custody withdrawal for users in countries with strict regulations, but we recognize that more harm than good could be done if this were seen as proactive compliance with regulations we do not agree with,” he said.
Trezor added that the implementation of the AOPP was not a measure taken due to any external pressure, regulatory or otherwise, and that similar implementations are not planned. He also said that he “strongly” opposes the implementation of regulations that infringe on privacy.
