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The vast majority of the Bitcoin trading platforms both in the US and the UK require some sort of ID verification in order to make Deposits/Withdrawals.
Is this because of these two countries current legislation? does this obey to some sort of policy?
Thanks.
In the US, these are called "Know your Customer", and "Anti Money Laundering" (KYC/AML) laws and is enforced by FINCEN (financial crimes enforcement network) in the US for any businesses that qualifies as a "Money Service Business" or "Money Transmitter".
This guidance published on March 2013, http://fincen.gov/statutes_regs/guidance/html/FIN-2013-G001.html , makes it clear that Bitcoin exchanges must comply with existing regulation for KYC/AML.
https://www.irs.gov/businesses/international-businesses/list-of-approved-kyc-rules
These are the KYC rules for each country. Do not let places take advantage of you. I had one trader ask for a phone call verification from a country where that wasn't even the required law according to their KYC. So, work out your limits and what you feel comfortable with doing as a buyer and stick to it. You will find many traders that operate properly with you according to your personal privacy requirements.
KYC and AML are required if the entity is moving money from A to B. Those entities are referred to as MSB (Money Services Business). However crypto exchanges are are not truly MSB's but they still do KYC and AML. See this insightful article: https://hackernoon.com/bitcoin-is-not-money-if-you-seek-compliance-you-are-asking-for-trouble-cbe9107e5298?source=linkShare-ea6a485c6847-1499320847
