Bitcoin Forum

I've read many reports of these two companies closing accounts for "high volume inconsistent with personal use" so was wondering if any of you have ever had your Coinbase or Circle accounts closed for "high volume"? If so, what were your monthly buy amounts before they asked for AML/KYC details?

Yes, coinbase closed my account but it was because I tried to make a $4 buy from a bank account I had closed, and it was an accident.   I also use Circle and my bank questioned me about whether I was using it just for me.  Crazy.  But they didn't close my account yet.

I have never heard either of the websites closing accounts due to high volume of buy or sell but due to inconsistency and account details mismatched, just for security purpose.

No so far I never had the problem they closed mine account. There are stories about people who got there account closed by Coinbase because they gambled.

Thanks guys. If I were to buy $30,000 USD per month, would they close the account and require me to have AML/KYC licenses and policies?

maybe you should ask the support or search the website when verification is needed?
maybe some articles in the FAQ are helping:
https://support.coinbase.com/customer/en/portal/topics/771345-our-customer-commitment/articles

This is a big amount to buy monthly, i would highly suggest to contact directly coinbase or circle, i have read that if they close your coinbase account they will ask you to for an external address to send the remaining bitcoins but research to be sure.

Yes, my coinbase account was closed due to inactivity, I made it when I started with BTC but realized the importance of private keys after that and stopped using it once and for all.


Most definitely YES.

As of now i never experience it yet but i heard it many times here in our forum also in reddit.. Also they are closing you account if you are receiving a bitcoins from gambling site so better to talk the support if what are they rules...

Well any BTC going out of my Coinbase/Circle account is always passed through a mixer for privacy. Any coins going back in may also pass through a mixer depending on where it's coming from.

I know it's against Coinbase/Circle policy to trade bitcoins, but I feel that is my right as a customer. So I currently just say I'm using their BTC for investing and business when Coinbase had asked me recently.

I wonder why they offer $10K per day buy limit, if they would limit me for buying $30K per month consistently?

My CoinBase account got suspended without any reason. I think this would have been due to the fact that i got some satoshis from the gambling sites.
After that i withdrew all my btc to desktop wallet and stopped using it.

Sure coinbase will close your account if they think there is something suspicious like a high buying/selling transaction  volume.
They need to verify user with huge transaction volume to avoid something illegal, coinbase not allow any illegal activities in their service like gambling, ponzi etc.

I believe what they do is a normal safety implementation by doing it since, sudden increase of volume than usual could actually be a reason to someone earning in a dishonest way and they do this to make sure it won't happen. I'm sure if you could prove than nothing on your side is against their rules, they would re-open your account. On a side note: Coinbase literally suspends account to a lot of reason and the reason for your account suspension could actually be something else. I tried to open an account in the past with them, but the minute after account creation, my account got suspended due to my location.

so far i never felt that,conbase is so good so far,i never found any problem.
but i watch from some thread that coinbase often to close some accounts with unrational reason,but one thing that make me sure that coinbase hate gambling site,they will close some wallet if that wallet receive bitcoin from gambling site.

I have read on this forum so many thread regarding coinbase and xapo closing down the accounts who are in gambling or some suspicious trading in bitcoins , but i have not got any problem like this and i am a very small gambler so they wont bother it. But now i think i have to switch over to desktop wallet which will be safe if any day they just close my account before itself knowing their trouble and then cry.

Thanks for the information on coinbase wallet.

Gentlemen, if you can't see the need to start converting BTC into anonymous coins immiediately after acquiring them from the coinbase boys, you're missing the bigger picture. We just need markets to start accepting those coins exclusively, for everbodiy's protection.

Some people on reddit have reported Coinbase closing accounts because the coins went to gambling or pharma sites. Have no idea how Coinbase is monitoring this - perhaps they have a blacklist of addresses you get into trouble for sending to?

No there is no such blacklist of addresses as most of the addresses are not reused again in case of gambling sites.Unique address for every player.However they belong to the same wallet ,which could be easily found with service such as walletexplorer .Most of the accounts closed by coinbase were gambling wallets,has nothing to do it volume though!

So Coinbase was tracking wallets, is that what you are saying? How do they know which wallet belongs to gamblers and which don't?

Yes they do it imo, afaik they track some hot wallets of well known bitcoin gambling sites like betcoin.ag so when their users receive from one of the tracked hot wallets of gambling site then they will ban the users. That's why many people avoid coinbase if they want to use their btc to gamble.

for me I haven't tried any of them , cause they don't accept registrations from my country
but I heard a lot of stories about coinbase closing accounts due to some gambling activities but never heard about closing accounts due to high volume
indeed they don't take the bitcoins they only ban you from using their services in the future , so it's not a big deal I guess

30 grand a month is a hefty chunk of change. I'd be looking elsewhere. Maybe some type of OTC deal. There's no way I'd want my money and coins tied up with trigger happy guys like Coinbase.

Circle is not available in my country too, but I am for over a year with coinbase and i never ever had a problem with them. A very straightforward service with a even better support team.
A+ from me.

I'm using Coinbase as my main wallet and I never had problems with it because I'm trying not to break their terms of use. I never using Coinbase wallet for depositing or withdrawing from gambling sites.

I recently purchased a Circle debit card (I live in Australia) and can happily say that I have not recieved any problems! Low fees, fast deliver, everything that I could hope for.

...

I just got started with Circle, so far so good.  No problems, no accounts closed.  Low fees when I buy Bitcoin.  :)

Re Coinbase, I have not even been able to open my account with them (US citizen).  Maybe there's a glitch.

I had been wanting to get an account with someone to buy BTC as I am tired of paying 9% - 14% at the BTC ATMs and the hassle of localbitcoins.  Winner so far?  Circle.

Yes, I know for fact that coinbase is closing accounts.   Mine was closed, and I couldn't figure out why (at first) other than my OTC ratings and Localbitcoin.com account (both of which haven't been used in a very long time (before I established a coinbase account)).

First, they asked questions on where I get my coins, etc.  I gave a detailed account.  (Mostly mining via BFL (hosted), cloudhashing, and at home (even with receipts, hosting fees, and pictures of the gear creating mass heat in my house)).

Then, they said I was an MSB and wanted me to register as such.  Talking to an accountant, he said I am not an MSB being that I (at the time I was mining, selling odds and ends on craigslist for BTC (when possible), and buying locally.  Rarely ever do I sell any coins.

Being that I declined to register as an MSB, I was prompty terminated from the program.  Fortunately, I was able to withdraw the coins I purchased from them (although they didn't have a choice since they pulled the funds from my bank account) and I still have those specific coins.

With my account/wallet, I have only purchased things like:  overstock.com, plane ticket, gold/silver (providentmetals and apmex), newegg, Casascius and Titan Mint coins, software (slysoft), a lock, trezors, movie, and a painting (bitcointalk).  Nothing that could remotely be considered bad.  I even gave detailed transaction numbers and details.

All the above said, I was later shown a wallet explorer / tracking info regarding my wallet coins (not by coinbase).  And, we think we figured out the reason.

It turns out I made several loans to a person that is/was fairly well known.  (Saving secured loans whereas I got his Casascius coins as collateral each time - and still have them (since graded and added to the collection)).
He disappeared and after waiting over a month past the default period, I considered all the coins mine.  He has since never shown up or contacted me.

The reason I bring this up is because as he was sending me the physical coins and I would send him the additional BTC each time, it turns out the addresses he had me send to are listed as Silk Road, evolution, Gambling, and Mixers.  (Addresses were labeled as such by the tracker, but I don't know by whom or even if correct info.)  Obviously there is no way for me to have known I was loaning coins to an address that was and/or later determined to be anything illegal in any way.

Although the government and authorities, etc can see I have never gambled, bought drugs, or even had an account with any such site (although possibly the reason the guy disappeared/defaulted), coinbase can't see that or doesn't care to look into it.

I tried to explain this to coinbase and to have them research it more; however, they were only interested in talking to my MSB Compliance Officer, of which I obviously don't have one.

Short answer to the question.  Yes, I have had a coinbase account closed and without clear definition as to why.

They can monitor accounts or hot wallets of betcoin.ag, but how can they monitor for example directbet.eu, they use a different wallet everytime, especially when you only send to directbet.eu wallet money, and you decide that you want winning in a different wallet, in this case I think is quite impossible for coinbase to check this. By the way what do they have against gambling in the first place ?
Isn't anyone free to do what he/she likes with his/her bitcoins anymore ?

Quite honestly, I don't gamble.  So, I don't know how the wallet structures work on any gambling site and/or how those addresses are leaked to any wallet explorer site.

Since coinbase is tied to the banking industry and to California, they have to follow guidelines for USA.  Gambling isn't legal and US Gov is 'against' online gambling.  So, that is, at least, understandable (not that I agree with it since it's ok to gamble in Nevada (and other areas)).   What isn't understandable is tracing coins to a gambling site and ban members for whom any of those coins went through.   Akin to banning every member that has any drug residue on US Currency in their wallet knowing that 90% of all USD is tainted.  http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/08/14/cocaine.traces.money/ (http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/08/14/cocaine.traces.money/)    So, I submit that coinbase should simply automatically ban 90% of it's accounts or realize that I don't have control of the actual coins I receive (spammers from gambling sites send tiny fragments to many people as adversing) and the end point to where go when I spend them.

Coinbase is the shittest site I ever experienced in my life!
I had an account there and had received a warning long ago about using funds for gambling on luckybit (I did not knew their TOS at that time). I agreed to their warning and after that I have not used it since 5 months. Suddenly on yesterday I opened my account and this message was shown:

https://i.imgur.com/4q9tU9e.png

After emailing their support team they replied me this:


Seriously, WTF is this shit! I did not gamble with it and kept the account untouched for 5 months and this shit came after that!

Thankfully I did not deposit a single satoshi after first warning.

A jar of piss is better than Coinbase!

I must say that is pretty crazy indeed, its pretty weird they have done this even without you doing nothing.
I would as soon as possible contact their support for questions about this...

I contacted them all at once and they replied me that pre-phrased paragraph of bullshit which means nothing in my case. They are explaining as if I am a drug lord.
Now I know why everyone complains about them.

I now hate Coinbase more than Tradefortress (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=67058).
The name "Coinbase" makes me feel like vomiting on them. All of their staffs are retarded assholes.

I had my coinbase account frozen for a little while, when coinbase had some trouble with my debit card. They cleared it up though, my account's back now.

Just make sure you don't buy something with your coins.  If you do and those coins eventually go to a bad address, then you will be banned.
This is worse than even paypal as you can be banned for coins you received (even as a donation) all the way to coins which are used for something 'off base' after having gone through even many people down the chain.

Advice?  Don't spend coins you buy from coinbase.  It's considered evil.

Best suggestion would be not to visit Coinbase ever.
But if there is no option for you to buy bitcoins other than Coinbase, you might buy them from there and soon after receiving the coins, send them to other wallets of your choice. From there you can do whatever you feel like.

Overall, Coinbase is a bitcoin jail.

That is indeed pretty ridiculous, I think this is sounding crazy why they are so on their rules...
This will mean that someone can be banned for almost no reason..

They will end up banning all their customers. :)

Looks like the rules are way to tight, I know the gov and any entity is looking to control bitcoin as match as they can, bitcoin is a lodger for sure, but they can not guess if some address in past was used for gambling or anything they don`t like to blame it on user!
Its insane, if banks would do the same, ppl would burn them down and that may happen soon as it going!

sure I don`t like thiefs, gambles, etc but arrest them put them in jail, wtf I care but you need a proff

I have a Coinbase account, for over 2 years now. Still open, doing most transaction in local Bitcoin, don't know why I have Coinbase account.

Most people accounts are just cause they see where the  coins are going.

And if it does lead to any of the gambling sites, its safe to assume your account is going be cancelled sooner or later.

Other then that most people are still with them regardless cause they are the only options for the US besides localbitcoins.

I heard they also lack on fufilling order on prices in the past as well.

That.
So, make sure your coins never go to gambling (or drugs, etc) at any point.  So, even if you give coins away to someone and they gamble, then you're still a target.  And, no way to prove it wasn't you that did the gambling, etc.

I never had this to be honest but these days there are a lot of people complaining about coinbase.
Its not going very well with coinbase by the way so this could be the reason of course.

No I also never seen any in my circle getting their coinbase account close, the problem is that they are having strict rules about gambling what makes it more not attractable at all..

Remember, it's not just you they are worried about with drugs or gambling.
If you sell or give away coins to someone that does drugs or gambling, then you are the one to suffer.

So, before you give coins to a friend or family, just make them pinky swear to not use them for any reason other than to save them.