Q: Is KYC the same as AML? People in finance offers throw both terms around.

Q: Is KYC the same as AML? People in finance offers throw both terms around.

A: Related but not the same, and the distinction matters once you promote regulated verticals like finance, crypto, or gambling.

KYC (Know Your Customer) is the identity step: proving a user is a real, specific person. ID document, proof of address, sometimes a liveness selfie. It answers 'who is this?'

AML (Anti-Money Laundering) is the broader program that KYC feeds into. It answers 'is this person's activity legitimate?' — screening against sanctions lists, watching for suspicious transaction patterns, checking if someone is a politically exposed person, and filing reports when something looks off.

So KYC is one input; AML is the whole compliance machine around it. For you as a partner, the practical effect is the same: in regulated offers, a chunk of your conversions sit in 'pending' while the advertiser runs these checks, and some never fund because the user fails verification or screening — not because your traffic was bad.

This is why finance and crypto offers quote validation rates, not raw conversion. Build that expected drop-off into your math.

Short version: KYC verifies identity; AML is the larger legitimacy program it serves. In regulated offers, both create a verification delay you should plan around.

Still stuck? Drop your case in the comments.