I’m contrasting payments in general there, centralized always requires KYC legally and is pretty well enforced vs decentralized payments it may be required legally but is not enforced via the protocol. No crypto (that I know of) has KYC built into it at a protocol level, some are varying levels of anonymous and low friction.

I do think what you’re implying is correct that you actually do need to go through KYC for some payments/business relationships regardless of whether they’re conducted through the regular banking system, cash, or crypto. I’m not a lawyer though