Bitcoin Forum

Cryptocurrency investors in Australia are claiming several big banks are freezing their accounts and any transfers to outside exchanges.. A report in the Sydney Morning Herald quotes a cryptocurrency trader named Alex Saunders, who says the National Australia Bank, ANZ, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Westpac Banking Corporation have been freezing customer accounts and transfers to four different bitcoin exchanges  – .  Banks Crack Down on Crypto appeared first on BlockTribune.

http://blocktribune.com/bitcoin-accounts-frozen-australia-banks-crack-crypto/

Bastards!! I can't wait for crypto to destroy these asshole  :-[.

Haven't had issues.  Some FUD methinks.

Well, rule #1, never convert your bitcoin back to fiat. The banks and governments wants a cut of this. If  you are trading, convert everything back to bitcoin, and keep it in this currency.

fiat is the most insecure thing ever, not because of theft, but because of governments. I'ts like their last grasp before we become free

Yeah, I've mentioned this a few times.   That will be a serious 'check' type move (maybe not mate, but definitely a strong move).   Cut the fiat to bitcoin exchange connection and you put crypto in a headlock.   Crypto doesn't die but it becomes a lot harder to convert fiat to crypto for average/mainstream folks.   How will you send it to exchanges?   By snail mail?  By hand?   My guess is that you'll start to see more black market exchanges, which is a bad direction but sometimes if they fight dirty, the other side is forced to be dirty as well.

Please let's not be so 100% sided but combine a little bit of both.

Almost everyone is worried about crypto exchanges doing stupid things or going "hacked" or delaying withdrawals of verified accounts by a few weeks, while at the same time the same users going against regulation. Doing this is very stupid.

A little bit of regulation is actually healthy.

For example if the govs said that is mandatory to follow some very strict security rules when it comes to handling cold/hot users coins then this is very beneficial for us the traders/investors because the exchange will be audited to see if they don't breach some common sense procedures (by intention or mistake). Otherwise you will see headlines of another exchange "hacked" (maybe by an insider who works there and exploited a backdoor that he left open). Of course you can't make it 100% bullet proof, but at least you reduce the risk.

What the banks did in this case is common sense. Otherwise hackers/crackers, human traffickers, criminals will flourish.
I prefer to pay a small cut to the govs in order to be assured that the criminals will not affect my affairs.

Another perfect reason to not leave your funds in exchanges. Never ever use exchanges as wallets. Only use exchanges for their one single purpose: as a cryptocurrency exchange. Nothing more, nothing less.

Really unfortunate for those people, though.

Google --> Australia AML KYC

Bitcoin plunged by more than $1,000 (£740) on Thursday after South Korea said it was planning a crackdown on trading in the digital currency in the latest of a string of warnings for investors.

It dropped to about $13,500 after trading at about $15,400 on Wednesday. The dip was seen as a further illustration of bitcoin’s volatility.

The cryptocurrency has surged in value this year by more than 900%, becoming one of the biggest stories in finance amid a slew of warnings of a pending market crash.

Bitcoin recovered ground later on Thursday and was trading at about $14,000 at 5.30pm UK time.

South Korea, which is one of the biggest markets in the world for bitcoin, said it was preparing a ban on opening anonymous cryptocurrency accounts and new legislation to enable regulators to close coin exchanges if they felt there was a need to do so.
Residents of Australia can use Coinbase to purchase bitcoins with a credit card or ... Purchases made with bank transfer can take up to 5 days to complete;

Its always better not to store coins at exchanges and use them what they are for. Instead plz use concerned wallets to store and more security. That is all i am thinking about. Lets see where will the crypto world head to as it remains defeated until and unless its regulated. I m waiting for the regution news so eagerly since long but as of now still waiting. Lets see what this year brings for all of us.

Sometimes you have to have fiat or you need to hedge against a big drop in price.

If banks are freezing accounts it is likely due to huge amounts of money being transferred and them informing the tax authority that demands temporary freezing untill the funds can be explained.

Many exchanges have said they do that regularly.
It is no conspiracy but fact.
It's also why some guys got arrested by the FBI in Florida in a parking lot after doing a deal for 30k worth of BTC.

The link to banks is the problem.
banks have strict laws.. even with unlawful "crypto" coins.

I understand what you really mean. The best environment is actually unregulated and decentralized but the problem is that we are still beset with the weakness of human nature. Where there is an opportunity to make money, expect some people to exploit the same platform for their own selfish interest and this is where the problem is. In order to protect the many, there has to be rules, procedures and laws specific for cryptocurrency otherwise there can be mini-anarchy and that the whole market can be turned sour as less investors will be interested to go into something where there is no order. Regulations with good intent should be welcomed with both open arms and everybody should exert effort to follow those changes otherwise we will really have big problems.

this is good news banks start to be worried about bitcoin. also some news from south Korea support this news

 global fight will start between bitcoin and banks

This phenomena is not only happens on Australia, but it's a global thing (majority of the countries government will try their best to crack down your crypto trading record, by referring to your online fiat currency transactions) Like one of the above member mentioned, "It's better not to make a huge transaction with fiat currency, especially if you're trading crypto, as it leave a footprint for the government to track you down".

Any statements about this from the Australian government of any one of its bodies? If it has something to do with taxes then maybe there's a case for something going on down under but I would likely have seen some comments on this in more places than just this one crypto newsplace. Maybe there's something else that the AUS government is suspicious of and is getting something read for this individual or group of individuals? Money laundering suspicions perhaps? It wouldn't be the first time that there have been some freezes off of suspicion alone.

I wish this will not happen in My country.. ???

Exactly. What you said: "... weakness of human nature.", are the keywords here.

To be honest I don't think that there will be a "big battle" between the big banks and the BTC. Instead the banks will (some already did) start to embrace it and not to mention that central Bank of England is researching a cryptocurrency for their own.

There have been many times that it is risky to store coins on an exchange. Though I am the best and largest exchange, I will not keep all my encrypted money there, usually only when I need to trade.

I doubt the authenticity of this news. I have crypto lover friends their in Australia who I confirmed it with and they said they never heard of any such thing happened there in Australia so I guess it is some sort of fud.

Not good news for those of us in Aus, the 4 big banks control most of the market. It will make new crypto purchases very difficult

Hmm... See this, it looks like it's not a fake news. Maybe your friends haven't done a transactions recently so have not yet suffered from this ban in Australia. I am interested to know what is the final output from this. If this is general it will be a very bad news.:/

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DSLohPrU8AM8yB2.jpg:smallhttps://pbs.twimg.com/media/DSLohPrUEAAjwwD.jpg:small

https://twitter.com/BitcoinBabeAU/status/946575047254204417/photo/1

http://www.smh.com.au/business/bitcoin-tensions-rise-as-investors-claim-banks-freezing-their-accounts-20171229-p4yy3z.html

I don't know about Australian regulations and whether they tolerate the use of cryptocurrency or not but the article didn't talk about official ban of cryptocurrency.
Banks aer freezing accounts related to Bitcoin exchanges because of security risks.
It is just a trader who spread the news. Waiting for a more official statement.

You might be correct, I'll try to talk to my Australian friends in detail about it and try to learn more about it. Thanks for the info you provide above for all of us to learn more about such rules and regulations in Australia.

Well, all the more reason to take your money out of the banks. And even more reasons to stop storing your BTC in exchanges, Seriously, I've seen countless of posts in every bitcoin forum on the internet saying that you should not keep your Bitcoin on exchanges as there's the risk that they will share your private info to 3rd parties.

Wow, that news article couldn't be more biased: "Bitcoin, a currency once known for its use by criminals trading online through a ‘Silk Road’ for drugs and weapons, has become a popular investment option."

Really? is that all they know about Bitcoin? why can't they mention anything from the present?  I'm pretty sure that the govt and big financial institutions in Australia are using the 'Sydney Morning Herald' as a tool to spread FUD and scared tactics about Bitcoin. Absolutely disgusting.

And this over here, from the article: "A Commonwealth Bank spokesman said “however, we do not currently use or recommend any existing virtual currencies as we do not believe they have yet met a minimum standard of regulation, reliability, and reputation compared to other currencies that we offer to our customers"

It's all about keeping the ponzi fiat alive, it's about the Commonwealth Bank being scared that the customers might start putting their savings outside the system.

There are two different risks that has been mentioned in the topic and seemt that they have a connection, but they are totally different:

1. Every 5th post is about not to store the coins on the exchange, because of the risk.
Should store large amount of your coins on an exchange - Definitely no. But not because of exchanges are reporting to governments (possible, but this is not the biggest risk). The biggest risk is that an exhange can close in every second and run away with your coins or get hacked and someone will run away with your coins. (or the exchange ask someone to hack and share 50%-50% :) )

2. I've read similar posts about banks who close the account because of receiving fiat from bitcoin exchanges (or not entirely closing the account but just not accepting the transfer from bitcoin exchanges and returns the transaction).
Should you wire back fiat to your bank account from an excange - Your decision, but it was a working solution before. If banks and government want to cause serious problem to bitcoin, they can just cut these transfer lines from exchanges to induvidual accounts, and they will force people to use their bitcoins somehow differently. (If LN will go live and you will be able to buy a coffee for bitcoin then this will not be a serious problem anymore, but until then, it can cause us headache...)

I'm surprised there hasn't been more of this worldwide really. At this moment in time there's little upside for banks and a whole lot of head aches. If they do go all out it'll wind up like China and go full P2P. There's not much the banks can do about that.

Shall we not look at this as a crackdown on Bitcoin just because it is not controllable by the government? Are we looking at more and more countries going the China way?

Its finally happening when a lot of people were predicting about the happenings and expectations for bitcoin in 2018, my argument was actually tilted towards this direction in that when government realises that their controls are becoming ineffective and that the dominance of bitcoin is now changing their highly revered social structure, they take the easy way out which is what the Australian government is doing at this time.

However, I don't see this as something to lose sleep over because they shut a door to do it via government known sources, they would then open up the opportunity to do it without their poking eyes or even without them knowing just by trading among citizens and still transferring to individual bank accounts since they can stop citizens from sending and receiving money from each other.

These kind of things were bound to happen. It's actually surprising that it's just happening on only few countries. I think the reason for this always goes down to a mix of greed and security.
With the current trend and price of bitcoin, you can't expect the government and banks to just shrug off the lost(or potentially at least) money and huge amounts of it that they are not in control.
On the other hand, you also can't deny that bitcoin isn't being used in illegal activities. You also can't expect to earn huge profit and not be taxed.

This is just the beginning of the war of fiat money with crypto currency.
2018, will present us many more unpleasant gifts.

The issue between banks and bitcoin is getting worst and it would be very difficult for people to keep their bitcoin. They will need to find for another way to transfer their bitcoin and use it as a fiat. I think some governments are really serious to look for a way they can control bitcoin. Banks are getting strict with cryptos because it is really a threat for them good thing my country did not make any move like this.

To be fair, try to look at this from their perspective. If I were a manager at a large national bank, I would be extremely nervous about hundreds of millions of dollars in inflows and outflows to/from Bitcoin exchanges. I know there was a bill introduced earlier in the year regarding exchange regulation, but I believe nothing was passed.

So this is all still somewhat of a grey area in Australia. When the sector was tiny, the amounts of money were so small that it wasn't a major AML concern. But Bitcoin isn't tiny anymore. Major banks might be putting their ass on the line by acting as intermediaries for large exchange operations that may or may not be legitimate. Not sure how money transmitter licenses work over their either.


I think we'll see major crackdowns in the next year or two. I wonder how many of the early generation exchanges and businesses will survive. A lot of businesses could be crushed by compliance costs when targeted regulations start coming down the pipeline.

I call this BS.

Guys trying to score youtube hits and fb likes.


There are 32 banks in Australia (excluding subsidiaries).
Are you going to believe she has gone to every bank and they all closed her account?

I'm sure their where involved in something fishy, moving large sums of money using personal accounts to avoid fees for a business account.

The Australian dislike for bitcoin put Jeremy from SpendBitcoins out of business long ago. This is not “fake” news this is old news.

The same has been said of Paypal.
And i found out the hard way.. they seized my account and took about 5 grand.
They put me through hell for around 2.5 months of stringing me along with an inquisition.
I had no idea it was against their TOS (using any crypto coins with their service)
The staff here have deliberately tried to hide the fact for around 6 years.
They gladly put a sticky here warning about "Chargebacks" but not that if your caught you could lose your money etc
After i got it resolved with my lawyer i ran into a guy in IRC who said he was out 128k for over a year fighting them.
Get it yet ?
It's FUD until your caught.. not everyone is caught all the time guys.
And if you did your homework before running here to chant "FUD" like a retard you would learn AML laws are typically triggered by doing a minimum amount transfer.
For example in the USA / Florida i think it's 10 grand or maybe 30 grand i forgot (Google it)
Point being is you WILL get flagged silently by an exchange potentially when others will not when moving larger amounts of money.
What is 2 BTC worth ? over 30k ?

Don't pretend to be smart.
Be smart.

When you are warned listen.
When i got my email from Paypal about the TOS violation i Google'd part of it and guess what i seen ?
A guy here on this forum who got the same damn email from them.
Yup.. it was common knowledge here all along going back that many years.
yet look around see a few hundred topics on it offering to buy and sell with PP ?
Some of them told me they keep getting caught then just make a new PP account.

Crying FUD ?
No you are fraudulent lying slithering deceitful little criminals violating real laws.
And you will be fucking dealt with.

Hey snot nose little pukes.. you might want to review Mommy's tax return and make sure you paid your taxes.
After the big rise in price with BTC a lot of you owe the tax man a fortune now.
And i'd pick a fight with a Hell's Angel in a bar before i fought the tax man.
Ever had your wages garnished ?
I've done both and dealing with the biker was easier than the Canadian Tax service  :D
Al Capone ring a bell ?

http://www.coindesk.com/localbitcoins-users-criminal-charges-florida/
http://www.coindesk.com/irs-bitcoin-tax-guidelines-mean/
http://www.coindesk.com/canada-revenue-agency-tax-rules-apply-bitcoin/
http://www.coindesk.com/coinbase-users-court-bitcoin-irs/

Get smart investards.

I am a new here, so i might ask an obvious question. Is there a way to bypass banks in the process. Lets say transfer crypto to fiat and back on the exchange and then deposit the money in bank? I presume that works for smaller amounts...

The way you thought of it of course not.
How do you bypass a bank when you are going to deposit your fiat there? :D
You say crypto to fiat back on exchnges, how do you deposit how do you withdraw ?


The problem are not the banks , the problem is that exchanges don't offer other ways of depositing money fast and cheap other than banks.
Your only way to avoid banks is to go and deal in cash via local bitcoins.
Kind of ironic....using banks which are the "enemy" of BTC to actually buy BTC.And then complain that there is no other way...

will 2018 be the year where gov will go crazy over crypto?

Localbitcoins has always used a wide variety of services OTHER than cash.
And funny enough it's cash deals that i never tried there.
I've done Banks, Western Union and Interac eTransfer with Localbitcoins.

If Banks are the enemy why is the world pumping up the scam coin called Ripple then ?
Don't fake ideology people.. live it !

AUSSIE is a laboratory for world-zionism, they can control AUS from tel-aviv, more than they control USA, its probably easier to control/test the AUS public, and corral them into centrailized gov-kosher btc exchanges, and move to a cash-less society

ZION dis-armed the AUS public, so now taking their money will be easy :)



ZIONISM hates competition, besides ripple can let you enter the bank by other means, because ripple is used by 'legitimate' companys you use them as your ingress/egress to btc, then you would be kosher with the bank,

Just like MARIJUANA in usa, at first any pot shop ( legal ) couldn't have a bank account, ...

Zionist banks are picking and choosing the friendly exchanges they want to corral people into,

Most likely some exchanges in AUS were not be friendly with AUS tax collecting authority, so they call bank, and tell them that exchange is used by laundering ppl.

Same with coinbase in USA, they have been licking the balls of IRS since day-one, so in soon future, you will see all exchanges in AUS that survive lick balls of tax authoritys

..

All of this is bullshit, cuz original bitcoin, you met in public and traded for cash, go back to old days ppl, return to our roots

Fuck exchanges, fuck 3rd party wallets, ... all this is designed to rob u, of your btc

Banks are crazy to think that they can lose customers because their investments are less profitable than investments in crypto. Banks need to change their thinking and offer their customers crypto investments as well

This sounds like a scary look. Are these accounts suspected of money laundering? It is still limited to investing in cryptocurrencies.

 Bank of Australia have already warned about this. They have banned bitcoin currency when they found the evidence that bitcoin money is getting used in illegal activities like money laundering and arms dealing. National Australia Bank, ANZ, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Westpac Banking Corporation -- have frozen transfers and customer accounts that have had interactions with CoinJar, CoinSpot, CoinBase and BTC Markets. Many boicoin investors are claiming that their accounts have been frozen by the bank. Bank are claiming that they are doing this for security check by the financial institutions. But this has not affected bitcoin price much, it has recovered from $12000 to $15000 today.

I get a kick out of the scene when they chant ideology when it suits them.
They get into trouble with bank transfers because it violates old established laws..
Then they line up to pump the scam coins called Ripple and Ethereum.. both who had bragging about doing bank deals.
Then.. when the 3rd party exchanges like GOX or Cryptsy or Mintpal rip you off you then flip flop on your ideology and then cry for the Police and lawyers.. then run back here and chant no laws and taxes are bullshit.

You.

ALL OF YOU are scammy idiots.

I can't stand crypto.
You are all bullshitting hypocritical little fucking greedy frauds.
I am glad i dumped my coins way back.. why would i support Bitcoin anymore ?
It's not like it works well or has any chance of being fixed.
I hope the govt's rape the living fucking shit out of you all and throw many of you in jail for fraud.
This is all nothing but noob pajeet investard faggotry fer teh ROI'z.  ::)

PS:
Just because you randomly decided ideology is good thing don't mean fuck all.
You *SHOULD* have been supporting it since day one.
Not when it hits your wallet assholes.

For example when exchanges one after another started forcing us to show picture ID you should have said NO.
You didn't.. because you *NEEDED* to keep profiting.
Why did they do that ?
AML / KYC law across the globe.
Laws that exist in all major countries.

Which means all your activity is govt compliant and *MANY* exchanges have told you all publicly they do in fact disclose your info to the authorities such as Tax agencies or FBI etc.
So regardless of riding the ideology coattails temporally because of an inconvenience you know have to face the fact that if you move money over the limit you WILL be flagged.

Hey dumb fuck profiteers.. go buy scam coins called DEEP ONION or Monero at Poloniex..
Just don't forget to get verified so you actually move coins in and out. LOL  :D

When do you realize the "chain" startup scene is a retarded scammy ass fucked joke ?

Crypto is dead.
It died a hell of a long time ago.
It's been five years since people forgot WHY the coins were made.
Any fucking prick who owned an ICO coin or Deep Onion or Ripple or Ethereum should get a punch in the head and jail time.
You reap what you sow..

Not me.
When i heard of tax laws in 2013 i paid my taxes and have had no "profit" to declare.
I also never willingly supported any scammy coins.
I TRIED like hell to support ideology.. for a reason.
So i didn't have to fork over my picture ID to use a crypto coin.
Never have and sure as fucking hell never will.

I told you fuckers here I'd sooner light my money on fire than buy ICO scam coins like Ripple or ETH.
So i did.. i went outside with a fist full of paper money and lit the shit on fire then posted pictures of it.
I have integrity.
You cock suckers are human garbage and you deserve every but of govt harassment you get.
I am cheering for the fed's not crypto.
I hope they bend you all over and fuck you hard.. you deserve it.  :D

Go fuck yourselves and your "startup" ROI's  ::)

Banks tell different reason for stopping cryprocuurency, truth is they are afraid of their business slowdown or shutdown. Banks eat peoples money by charges, fees, giving less dividend or share price in turn to customers. Banks or government cannot control crypto, so they're doing this kind of things to be safe in business.

This news if it is true will definitely be the way the banks want to discredit Bitcoin. I think what they suppose to do is to find way and be part of blockchain technology which is the future of financial world. Blackmailing will not pay them.

banks now start fighting and try to make bitcoin weak.
Such Accounts Frozen make us pay to try to make open source and enable users to transfer without the need to verify identity or send tax data.
it is better to use out country exchange sites to be save if government start banning.
after china ban i assume more counties start banning

I still do not understand. Lets say you get the bounty in bitcoins, you transfer it on the exchange in fiat and then send that fiat into your bank account. Can the bank freeze this amount of fiat money just because it came from crypto exchange?