Bitcoin Forum

Some days ago, I received an email entitled: "Pononiex Account Alert: verification needed"

In the email, they sent me some instructions regarding the new restrictions they're implementing their service. They give me 7 days to send to them both a governmental ID (my passport, for instance) and a photo of my own face along with a paper with the date wrote in it. There is no option if you want to use Poloniex, for in the mean site you will find this:
https://i.imgur.com/s1yLZvW.png

Given the recent information leaks scandals, it is awesome they ask for a personal photo of your face. Ok, due to recent regulations, the user real name has to be shared, for the law is taking this way. But a pick? What's the point of sharing with them my ugly face? Why is so urgent to them?

Anyway, this is crystal clear to me: RIP, Poloniex. I will no longer use their services, as long as other exchangers continue offering anonymity.

You do not use skrill? Have you seen the procedures for verification a skrill account? you would probably be shocked if you did skrill account verification. they ask the person to download an application and this application will scan your face and confirm if it matches your ID. besides they ask for many other things. is a very stressful process. probably many exchange will follow the example of poloniex, this is the end of anonymity the end of altcoins that are anonymous as monero

That's a bad news if they are now asking for verification but it's weird because I didn't receive any email from Poloniex looks like your the only one who received it.
For now, it's not safe to give any personal data or government ID because there is news about adding new policy according to general data protection regulation. So I think this may be the reason for asking for ID's.

Oh! It already started. On Dec 2017 they have announced here (https://poloniex.com/press-releases/2017.12.27-Notice-to-legacy-account-holders/) that they will require legacy accounts to become verified. So meaning after receiving the email, legacy account holders only have a week to be able to withdraw their balances if don't want to comply with the verification. Though there have been an upfront announcement last year, isn't 7 days a bit short? I know, processing the verification will only take minutes, but some people might be unable to check their email for a week.... Anyway, that's only what I thought.

Only way is to be verified because unverified accounts will be useless on and after the deadline:

Puf, man, I once thought about using this, but of course, I didn't download this crazy stuff. Why the face? This is my central question. Why do they need to know the shape of your face? They are going too far.


Maybe it depends on the country for the moment. Poloniex is from the US, I'm from Mexico, perhaps that's the reason... You know Trump's Government and Mexicans...

Too short, of course. Maybe it is about making people act without having time to give the desition a good consideration...

Didn't got the same email too but I undergo to that verification months ago because Im aware of their new policy as Im regularly used Poloniex. Just wondering why Poloniex just send you the email days ago and not before.....

Moving on... well obviously it's R.I.P to those who aren't comfortable to that kind of system so take that as a reason why people should used other exchange instead. But for me, like I mentioned Im a regular trader on Poloniex, I don't want to have a limited activity because majority of my diversified funds throughout multiple exchanges are here. There are only couple of exchanges that I undergo this kind of verfication because I have no choice. So far so good and Im not new to this verification thing so Im sure it won't be used to shitty activities.

Just to be clear that Im not encouraging anyone to just follow verification system of a certain trading platform, be vigilant. It's just that my situation is different from others as I mentioned that I have big funds sitting here for trading purposes. Years of using them and didn't got a major problem.

Don't worry, I get you, and I have neither nothing illegal in the move or anything to hide from. But the point is about surveillance. My face, face recognition... this is going too far, under my own perspective, of course.
We are living a surveillance nightmare just being known recently with some news as the Facebook leaks related ones. The leak of information can also happen in exchangers, as well. Facial recognition... this just sounds Orwellian to me. My pick is already on my ID, so, why they need another one? are they going to ask you for a digital fingerprint as well? (this is on the  id, by the way). What's next? A retina scan? A DNA sample? And who are they going to be obliged to share this information with?

To have nothing to hide doesn't mean you have to share everything.

It's not whether Poloniex themselves will use it for shady activities it's whether they can keep it safe. As we know from past events Bitcoin users who hold a substantial amount of coin can become targets of hackers. Exchanges in the past have been taken down and breached. In the past only certain amounts of coin were stolen. But if Poloniex was now compromised they would not only get coin they would also get the identity of several thousand Bitcoin users. This sort of shit is what turns me off from major exchanges and makes me wish there were decentralized exchanges out there I've yet to find one but if anyone knows of any please let me know.

Even if you aren't  bothered by the additional information required yourself you should still be prepared to boycott anyone that requires this information as it's just not needed.

Doesn't a passport have a photo anyway? I don't see why they would require an additional one.

They can't verify it's actually you if you only give them the photo of your passport, since there would be no time stamp etc, you could just use a false identity.

This is in their newest update "blog"

This seems scary. What exactly will happen after the next 14 days? Will they just claim my funds? I can't find anything about this and it seems quite weird.
Anyone who can enlighten me on that bit?

Right. Strange as other services which require evidence of who you are don't require the additional timestamp on a photo and normally just require ID of some sort. This could sometimes be a driving license or even a bill that you've recently been sent via mail.

If they do seize the funds after 14 days that would be wrong. One could make the accusation that they had planned that a lot of people wouldn't be able to provide the information they requested in such a small amount of time and therefore knew that they would profit from this.

It's okay to suspend users from using their services if they don't live up to the standards of Poloniex but they should allow access to the funds indefinitely. 

Additional photo with your own face and some time stamp will really prevent frauds and same as you said anyone can pass up others identity or documentation where they do add up with that kind of requirement i know it does sucks to have that add up but if you arent hiding something then this would be a problem into your side but if you are really into anonymous things then most likely you would really hate up this thing no doubt.

My legacy account is now frozen as well, thanks to poloniex's new policies.

As to the face image, I guess it's just becoming industry standard as more and more exchanges start doing it. No way around it, really. But I'd rather use another exchange than have to provide them with this, tbh.


Exactly. This is what I don't get.

Why is there a timeframe on which you have to complete verification? Not everyone is able to complete it by that date. I don't think that there are any particular consequences that they have listed, but that is sure as hell scary.

I would like to think anyone using Bitcoin would be encouraging businesses to go the decentralized route to a certain extent at least. I understand certain measures are to be taken but this is really overkill. They've been operating without this additional proof for a long time and I don't see why they have made it a requirement now.

It could be related to Circle's acquisition of Poloniex. It was clear that due to the approval of the SEC, that exchange would change fundamentally at a later point, but the only question is when. If I read through everything related to the potential transformation of Poloniex, then it very likely will become an exchange where professional entities will be able to trade a wide variety of Bitcoin tied instruments (futures, options, securities, etc). I don't think we'll be hearing much from Poloniex in that regard, but I do expect the security and verification measures to become worse than it is right now. Alongside Coinbase and Gemini, Poloniex now too is one of the most regulated exchanges in the industry.

I guess so. I would think they would be doing everything in their power to avoid regulation though. Doesn't look to be the case and I would like to think they'll lose a lot of customers. I just hope people will be able to get their money out without any issues.

It is like Bittrex-scenario all over again. They are implementing what Bittrex did in the past and this will definitely put most of the traders to other trading platform. Government policies are really making their way into these exchanges to hurt our anonymous trading life. I've been thinking if I will let them have my face but as things stand right now, there are other exchanges out there that don't require any verification at all. This will only limit the selection of trading pairs that I can play with but I'm totally fine with it.

I don't see why anyone would use Poloniex over other trusted exchanges which don't require you to provide photographic evidence. I think we'll eventually see the others go the same route though and will eventually have to accept it or move on to p2p exchanges like localbitcoins.

Yep, most likely its related to Circle acquiring Polo and this is one changes they likely wanted to see. Fully regulated and compliant however, might lost a few customers in doing so. I haven't received any emails yet, but I think they consider my account dead already, LOL as I haven't done any tradings for the last 6 months or so. But I agree with @seoincorporation, I wouldn't share any drop of my information and I would go for exchanges that is anonymous, as most of us really value our privacy.

Maybe this will be implemented in other exchanges too soon so we have to agrees their terms if we want to use their services.I don't have any problem with sharing my picture but most of the people need anonymity in the crypto field.The solution for OP problem is to change into some other exchange but it maybe a temporary solution because in other exchanges also will implement the same rules.So guys don't keep huge amount in any exchanges if you don't want to agree these rules because your account will be frozen until you done the verification process.

I had strong feeling that something like this is coming in poloniex after their acquisition because every registered business need to report to their respected government if they want to deal with fiat and this might be their first step to introduce easy crypto purchase through credit cards in future.

Most of the exchanges are now implementing KYC policy even kucoin like pretty small exchange now have verification LOL.

You can't run off with selling bitcoin without reporting to tax authorities in near future, even localbitcoins now require you to verify your account to create ad... ;D

An exchange can be hacked for a non-inscribed user as well, which makes that even more preocuṕant, for if they hare hacked, the information stolen will contain an image or your face, as long as all your personal data, including, email, residence, formal ID, and so. Besides, now the hacker's target can be, in fact, the data itself. If you have a big amount they will be able to know even where you live.


Of course, and I, in fact, as you can see at the image, I have zero in poloniex.
To me, the problem is about the shape the world is taking. We are into a surveillance nightmare, the facial recognition can say everyone where have you been (a train station? an airport?). I don't see why is necessary to share something so personal, linked to another kind of personal data with no fiscal value.
Besides, as I was talking, many exchanges have been hacked, and now the new target can be the information itself, for it worths money, people, a lot of money. Information is power.

I've looked a bit deeper in this, and i found the following statements they made.

https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinMarkets/comments/8mizvf/dear_poloniex_you_specifically_said_you_wont_hold/


So, this turned out to be a lie. I though they were handling this entire KYC situation better than Bittrex, turns out i was wrong.

I still don't have any answer or clue as to what will happen to my funds after the 14 days, and now that i see the shit they already pulled off,


I'm starting to get a bit worried.

If they're willing to lie about the above statements, it might actually become a pain in the ass to get my funds out, and if i don't, they'll just take them? This really doesn't seem right..

When Circle-Poloniex became official I simply left! I am not giving away my data so easily because I value my privacy more than anything else. You should have seen it coming

Whaaaat?  That's complete BS if that's the case, and I don't think they're even allowed to do that without some prior notification--but I'm not a lawyer.

I had to do this kind of KYC on Kraken a while back when I wanted to be able to deposit US dollars on their site and trade fiat/bitcoin, but without the fiat they didn't require any sort of identification at all.  Is that what's going on here, or is Polo requiring KYC from all customers?

If anyone isn't comfortable with giving them a pic, I'd say dump 'em.  Otherwise you're screwed, and I suspect this is going to be standard practice across exchanges before long.  It sucks, but I've been expecting this for a while now.  There is no way governments are going to allow anonymous transaction, whether it's fiat or crypto.

If i recall correctly, Bittrex did that exact same thing and i have yet to see anyone sue them for it. (Suddenly locking accounts because they're "Unverified" w/out giving any prior notice that is)

Meanwhile my money ( although it was more or less pocket change for me), half a year later, is still stuck on their platform.

So, in sort, they have kidnapped your money and they will free it only if you give them sensible information.
I can't see how some people agree with that!!

Decision would vary and it depends on people decision if he would risk out his own identity for the sake of that amount inside of the locked account.If we do talk about 10-20 BTC then i might i do it but with lesser amount it would really be a dumb decision for you to made to risk it out.Its our choice if we comply and now they are gradually becoming om strict when it comes to compliance and ive been wondering on how many exchange will definitely go with this rule.

P2P exchanges are the only ways around this although I suspect government to issue restrictions or law changes to prevent this from happening so that they can monitor who is buying and selling Bitcoin. Sad times we live in that we have to provide several pieces of information even for trading with an anonymous currency.

I don't like that exchanges have been targeted in the past by hackers and now much more of our information will be available to be used for no good if obtained by the hackers.

Well, have said it and I will repeat again. I never like the exchange from the begining and I wonder the trading platform they offer on there that trigger many cryptonier.

I don't agree with these changes and I definitely won't be using Poloniex after this, but it's wrong to say they kidnapped your coins.

They gave ample warning that KYC was going to happen and I received emails from them all the way back in December 2017 stating that they were going to implement mandatory KYC in the near future. At that point I simply withdrew all my funds and never used Poloniex again.

I never got an email. They also stated, as mentioned above:


They 'kidnapped' our coins by not notifying us of a deadline, and blocked withdraws for legacy accounts.

It really sucks. I should have withdrawn my invested coin on poloniex. This new rule of them really cause me problem which is in the end I have to give up my coins since I don't have a valid ID yet because of the certain process here in my country.  Glad that still you receive the warning earlier, which didn't happen in my case since I did not noticed it.

Yeah, the way they handled this was totally wrong. I was able to get my funds out before the end of Q1, but when I saw that my legacy account was still working without any further restrictions, I figured that they were postponing these actions and it was ok to redeposit for the time being. At least they would give a notice if they were going to force KYC later and you would still be able to withdraw $2k a day for couple weeks like they outlined in their original post, right? Wrong. If you had that line of thinking, you would've gotten completely fucked by this, as your coins would indeed be kidnapped. As mentioned above, the  "get it done in 14 days" message is incredibly unsettling as we aren't told what will happen if we can't submit the documents by then.

All in all, a very unprofessional shitshow.

This is KYC taken too far on a serious note. I really don't have issues with KYC but to the point of face recognition, the next thing this people would ask for would be to do a live recording of your house address and the landed document to show you are really living there after that, they ask for DNA results to confirm the relationship between you and your next of kin after they must have ask for his own details as well.

And the worse of it is the duration you are allowed to provide the details and disable of withdrawal to force you to do it if you want your fund back. That is the more reason why one needs to keep majority of his fund outside the exchange sites because any time without notification, they come with new policy which not Ok by you, there is no choice than to comply because of the money involved. This move should be totally condemned by all believers of crypto-currency of the need for some decent anonymity.

I'm not sure why you didn't like them when they first started at as they were pretty popular for a reason. It's only since they have started going the route that all exchanges will eventually go down that they've become a ball ache to deal with. It's good to know that they aren't preventing withdrawals.

this will probably be redirecting traffic towards decentralized exchanges if verification procedures continue becoming this complex...

and just how safe are these app verification services as I know they are third party companies doing deligated to work on their behalf ??

I hope users are given some time to move funds away from the exchange if they do not want to continue using their services.

Of course. As long as users allow this kind of over asking for information, they will continue going on with this. If we just move the funds to another one, then probably they will need to reconsider what are they doing, but it is unlikely going to happen.

I've read many people didn't even receive the email, so they've just lost their funds? How can it be legal? If the law change, it can't be retroactive, so you must be able to say "I don't agree", to retire your money and to leave the exchange. This is going too far.

OK, now you have an opportunity to switch to another exchanger where any private information needn't, but what you gonna do if such practice will be usual? I guess in coming year it is going to be so. I just wander do they guarantee the safety of our information?

Can you name a single exchange which offers anonymity ? I mean after significant amount of trades most of these exchanges tend to ask for documents for verification.Poloniex is just the start, soon you will have the exchanges which are heavily regulated by the government policies.Having said that, my account is also locked out of trades on Poloniex. I'm not sure should I verify my identity or find a better reliable service.

I think most of the exchanges or maybe everyone and it must be some kind of protocol to every exchanges if they really requires some personal information to their clients. I haven't used Poloniex yet, but in Binance they do have a limits for a non verified users to allow them to withdraw Bitcoin. I hope my account won't get locked out if i am going to be inactive but i don't put any crypto to any exchanges because i always secure them to a hardware wallet.

Shapeshift? Changelly? I haven't heard any big accusations for these exchanges(yet).

---

Apparently poloniex broke their promise,as they said something else on December 27,2017^[1] and now they are saying something else.^[2]

---

^[1] : https://poloniex.com/press-releases/2017.12.27-Notice-to-legacy-account-holders/
^[2] : https://bitcoinist.com/poloniex-breaks-promises-forces-kyc-legacy-account-holders/

exactly , I am actually one of those who doesnt even received the notification. Gladly I lost not that big amount probably around $20 in value. Maybe they did it so that the other traders will not have a choice but to provide the information since they can't withdraw their amount. I suggest people to just leave because for me what they have done is unethical and if they have done it once they can do it again and again

First time I've heard of the scrawl next to the selfie thing from Poloniex.

I have a verified non legacy account, though I'd like to see a definition of what legacy actually is, and I've never been frozen or asked to reverify. Because of that it makes me slightly paranoid. I don't want to blithely deposit a load and be asked to prove more than I already have as I don't have any more docs to offer.

They should include some sort of renewed status of everyone's verification. If there are any doubts I want to know them.

Definitely! They should have informed the users ahead of time that they are going to implement such a thing because not every one would want to expose their identity and they may use this information for something else not in the trader or investor's favor. They didn't give a chance to the users to decide whether they wanted to continue to use the exchange or not. I've been trading with Poloniex for sometime but I pulled out all my funds there months ago so maybe that's the reason I didn't receive such an e-mail.

With what happened, I am sure that they will be able to accumulate some coins because not every one would verify especially those that only have small amount left there and this would result for them to seize the funds and maybe use it for their own benefit. I expect some centralized exchanges to do this in the future as well.

I cant see how all the complainants have not seen this coming. Poloniex was acquired by Circle. KYC/AML was coming and every unverified account had months to prepare their accounts for verification.

For the users who have their coins trapped in Poloniex. What are you doing? If you dont control the private keys then you are holding nothing but IOUs.

Why don't you start by reading the thread before commenting this garbage?

Poloniex explicitely promised to NOT block withdrawals for unverified accounts, even after the forced verification process would have started.

I trusted them, since they're an extremely big company, and i don't see why they would  lie about such a thing, as it makes them look extremely untrustworthy.


I don't see how this argument makes theft of possibly hundreds of millions of dollars okay.

Ironic coming from a guy who uses Binance for all his coins.. :/

If I'm not mistaken, a legacy account is an account created before the KYC standard verification is enforced
there was 3 levels of verification, the higher the level the higher the daily withdrawal limit
to step up a level, you need to provide additional personal data. Level 3 = fully verified, equivalent to KYC standard, I think
basic level 1 required just name & nationality/country and this becomes legacy now

People aren't complaining about it being dropped in their laps we are complaining that they require this sort of verification in the first place. It's another loophole that we have to jump through which just seems unnecessary.

If you don't mind giving out your personal data then that's fine.

Ah. Thanks for clearing that up. I'm pretty sure I came along after verification was put in but the unverified could still do business. It would still be nice if they made it abundantly clear for everyone.

It all depends on your trade volume.Earlier, the document verification only applied for high volume legacy accounts but the recent updates have made it mandatory for every account created.

I wouldn't touch changelly with a 5 inch pole.They have had a very bad history of holding withdrawals for a long time.You know when I asked for the alternatives, I expect them to be as good as Polo in other terms as well.

This legacy account thing is nothing more than a way to trap in people thinking they enjoy a bit more freedom, where after that they are put in the same category as the rest. In the end governments don't really care about what your account is, they just want to know who or what you are, and whether or not you end up paying your due taxes. Every exchange that somewhat differentiated between regular and legacy accounts have put it to waste as easily as it was implemented.

I wonder how long it will take for governments to ease in one main verification level for everyone, whithout anything below or above it. Regulations become stricter the larger this market grows, which means that governments become more paranoid and control hungry. I strongly believe that it is just a matter of time. We haven't seen the worst yet.

I doubt that really makes sense for my scenario.I don't live in a country where Poloniex or the US government laws are considered relevant.So even if they have my information like my documents, the most that they could do is ban my account.Either way, I'm not interested in sharing any of my confidential stuff with a US based service so I guess it's time to say bye to Poloniex and look for other alternatives.

I hope that after poloniex applied this, their service to their member will be better because they force us to verified the account so we must obey to them IF we still want to trade in their sites. but if you are not satisfied with their services, you can use the other exchanges and I think many of exchanges still don't use this verification for their member.

As I have observed, there are a lot of people in this forum not comfortable with the idea of face recognition to verify their account in Poloniex and I think everyone will agree to that. They did sign up on Poloniex in the first place because of the thought of being anonymous but since they are requiring this, it may also lead to more accounts withdrawn from this site.

Theres the problem. You "trusted" them, and now you're mad at anyone who tries to post asking you why you trusted them to start with.

I use Binance, Poloniex and all other exchanges but I never store my coins there to avoid something that happened to you.

Yes, and also, your $20 plus the other people's $20 can make a significant kidnaped amount!!! So where is all this money going? Are they just keeping it if you don't accept the new policies? How can it be any legal?
I think all users with some money need to ask for their funds to be returned. I just can't understand how a big company as poloniex can broke the rules nicely and keep what probably is a big number of other's money.

Oh it's the same for verifying your Neteller account. Just had to do that the other day.
First you upload a copy of your government issued ID card and then you have to install an app to take a photo to match it with your ID.

Had to try it 4 or 5 times before it even recognized it, such a waste of time.

True, why would force up ourselves to go with the flow if we can able to find up other alternatives yet there are lots of options in the market which theres no need on sticking up with Poloniex even if we do know that our personal information would really be at risk.If you do know the danger why would continue? Right. This kind of such changes would really make polo even more go down, bittrex made it but i dont know why polo fucked up with this one.

This is the height of it all that Poloniex is implementing but nothing can be done because as we are here complaining of this amount of absurdity, other are already scanning their faces, fingers for them having covered by the veil of profit making and deceive to believe that since I have nothing to hide, there is nothing to be secretive about. Poloniex knows this and that is why they will.continue pushing and claim they are doing it for the security of users. The best way is just to avoid such sites and focus on other who can accommodate the amount of information I'm willing to share.

Now KYC is showing up everywhere I predict they lost half of their user on the day they required for the detail verification and request some ID pictures, since everyone here like to become anonymous.

I just couldn't say it better, mate.
That's the true issue. To have nothing to hide doesn't mean we need to share everything. If every user has said NO  to the new poloniex policies (including the money kidnap) maybe they will stop and reconsider. but, as long as users allow this...

All of the centralized exchange will getting a stricter regulation soon. I believe it is the time for decentralized exchanges to rise. Decentralized exchanges are fitted with cryptocurrencies nature whereas anonymity and privacy are valuable.

I think this highly depends on where the business is registered. Afaik only US exchanges are affected. Binance still allows for >2 BTC a day w/o verification, and it seems like you'll soon also be able to trade with fiat on their platform.

See https://cointelegraph.com/news/exclusive-world-s-top-crypto-exchange-binance-sets-up-bank-account-in-malta, a pretty interesting read.