Bitcoin Forum

I'll remember June 6th. Exactly 6 months ago.

That day, Poloniex stole 1,800 BTC from its customers (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5151636), and I was one of them.
We got about a tenth back, and then nothing.

The company acknowledged it did wrong, and promised we would all get all our money back, but we're still waiting.

And yet, many things have changed.
Poloniex has moved twice, first to the Carribbean, then to the Seychelles.

The company has been split. Part of it will be renamed Polo Digital Assets for US customers, and it's still owned by Circle, while another part, the part which deals with non-US customers has been bought by Justin Sun, which then bought Tron Network’s Biggest Non-Custodial Exchange. That new company will give service under the name of PoloniDex (if I've understood it right).

I don't know who is that Justin Sun guy, but if he's honest, the first thing on his agenda should be to correct Poloniex's image problem, which is down the hole since the company stole its customers.

Mr Sun, do you hear me?

You ain't getting shit.

Don't know how it was before but right now poloniex is officially owned by a scammer and that scammer is busy with delisting some shitcoin because its dev called Justin "a scammer."

See the picture?

You have been pwned.

I know very well what happened to me, but I'm not complaining about my case anymore (my previous topic had that goal), what's wrong here, is that Poloniex keeps on going like nothing happened.

And things do not look like they will get any better for customers with that Chinese guy in charge.

Thanks for the reminder. I was completely fooled when he initially denied being involved in the Poloniex buyout. I missed the subsequent headline: Despite Denials, Tron Founder Confirms Investment in Poloniex Crypto Exchange (https://www.coindesk.com/despite-denials-tron-founder-confirms-investment-in-poloniex-crypto-exchange)

He's obviously trying to distance himself from their managerial decisions. He tweeted this a few days ago (https://twitter.com/justinsuntron/status/1202866799470972928):

It doesn't sound like appealing to him will go very far.

Sorry to hear that.  I remember the thread you linked to, but I didn't read it closely at the time and just skimmed through it now.  Unbelievable.

I never liked Poloniex as an exchange, but I didn't realize how shady they were and probably still are, though it sounds like the US-based version is a little less shady....?

Yeah, I'm sure you're right.  This guy Justin Sun sounds like a complete tool, and that's putting it mildly.  It just furthers my belief that most bigwigs in crypto are dishonest charlatans.  It's almost disheartening to contemplate.

i wouldn't say that. it was actually under circle's ownership that poloniex screwed margin lenders out of that 1800 BTC.

at this point, poloniex has effectively shut down in the USA. the USA entity is still owned by circle, but trading ended and they are in withdrawal-only mode: https://poloniexus.circle.com/


he's all about marketing. everything he does is disingenuous. poloniex listed TRX right when this deal happened---now it's obvious why. he bought it as a platform to pump his coin.

I think this problem is quite difficult. You know, Tron has a very large community and they totally trust Justin Sun's activities. But his acquisition of part of the Poloniex exchange does not mean that he will intend to return all of that bitcoin to the user. they will have a trick to prolong the situation because they know that we are from different countries and have no right to sue them. it is better that you do not hope anymore and give it up to relax the soul.

I'm quite surprised with this.
Because, if it's no longer Circle, nor Justin Sun, who is running Poloniex?

Now, from what I've read about Justin Sun, he's far from being a humble investor...

Really great decision for me to withdraw my bitcoin from that exchange a long time ago. Didn't expect that this scenario will happen in Polo. Never had any problem with them before. But when they changed hands, so many complaints have risen.  I hope they will not be in the verge of extinction here.
We don't know for sure who is really managing now Polo. But here is the latest article regarding Polo -
 
https://bitcoinist.com/poloniex-wallets-gutted-after-circle-acquisition/

Circle is out of the picture entirely. Justin Sun's "Asian investment group" is running Poloniex now. All former obligations -- like the outstanding debt to bitcoin lenders -- falls on Polo Digital Assets, the Seychelles company. Although I don't think they actually consider it a debt or itemize it on their balance sheet that way. They've already written it off, I'm sure.

Justin Sun is probably not being forthright -- same as when he initially denied involvement. For all we know, he is the majority shareholder. We have no idea what the shareholder stakes in the new company really are.

Thanks for posting this. I have a few bucks of GRIN in my poloniex account. I thought it was a OK exchange, and I am too lazy to discover how to make a proper grin wallet. Just moving it to bittrex.



Well, Circle always gave me the impression poloniex was at least a bit reliable. Sad to discover that it is not.

So long polo..
I have seen so many once great exchanges like this go.. It's sad..

I guess I'd better change the address on my profile page now, which is a polo deposit addy to one of my accounts, and has been there for years...
I'll let em keep my .009 BTM in there..

Hmm... Strange.
I don't quite understand, except that gives another reason to avoid Poloniex.
If the new owner(s) is (are) straightforward, especially after what happened, they should reveal themselves, publishing their bios, with pics and Instagram accounts.
If they're hiding, and The Seychelles are well known for this, it will be easier than ever to steal money again from their customers.

I thought Mr. Sun denied all involvement in its sale at the time. Looks like that was a lie which is nicely consistent with his MO.

The recent stuff around Digibyte signals that they're going to head further into questionable behaviour. I wonder how many hundreds of millions it will have burnt by the time it finally dies.

it is a downward spiral for this exchange that were surprisingly number one at some point. as it has been losing popularity and volume and as the result revenue, they don't have any means of paying anything to their users that got screwed over by their platform. Poloniex has been past their expiration date for a long time now.

from one scam exchange to another (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=trust;u=96390) ;D

As if exiting the US market and moving to the Seychelles didn't make that clear. :P

I hadn't heard about the Digibyte scandal (https://bitcoinist.com/poloniex-axes-digibyte-after-founder-criticized-tron/). It comes off very unprofessional to say the least, and confirms my suspicions that Sun is far more intimately involved in Poloniex's management than he lets on. You don't need to dig very far to see that Poloniex is obviously being used to prop up TRX.

Don't you need a decent exchange to do that? Give it a few more months and it'll be less than nowhere.

It's also a double stain on Circle's already laughable rep. Spend hundreds of millions, run it down, sell it to a lying prick who'll do whatever he wants with it. They have a teensy bit of duty towards the thousands of customers who may be hanging on but that appears to not have crossed their mind for a second.

poloniex isn't that dead. remember, they are one of the only 10 "real volume" exchanges, according to bitwise. https://twitter.com/BitwiseInvest/status/1109114665240616962

among those 10 exchanges, they have the second biggest BTC/USDT market after binance. and their BTC/USDC market is actually marginally bigger than binance.

it's a shell of its former self in terms of total market share, but it's still one of the top exchanges. even after dumping USA traders they are still doing as much volume as bitstamp.

Basically, the original management is being shredded into pieces and taken over by the scammers. They're still one of the best exchanges out there but after the entire Justin scam and bad news around, I stopped using them. I'd say go to a lawyer but it is too late for that. It's funny how these exchanges steal money and continue to operate normally.

I wonder how much Justin Sun paid for Bittrex. It's even more interesting considering he had trouble finding money to pay for Bittorrent (the last installment at least).

This is why I keep on writing about them. I just can't believe there are still plenty of people using that exchange. People are nuts or just ignorant. Maybe both.

Circle have just gotten rid of their OTC service and it's been acquired by Kraken. I would've thought it was the only thing they've ever actually made money with.

https://blog.kraken.com/post/3355/kraken-otc-acquires-circle-trade/

Looks like good times are ahead. They're going to miss the boat doubly this time.

i hope so. this could be a contrarian signal similar to their exit from the bitcoin exchange sector in 2016, right before the last bubble.

with circle exiting the market, the november difficulty drop being the biggest since december 2018, and everybody and their grandma predicting $3k-$5ks, the contrarian in me is getting bullish!

Yes, I can't understand what's Circle has been doing.
Those guys are the worst investors I know.

Once upon a time I had a few meetings with TV companies regarding scriptwriting. They told me that if I got one thing made that would earn me a five year window where it didn't really matter what shit I came out with. Having one thing made was enough to separate me from the contemptible hordes until I categorically proved I was absolutely goddamn useless and that was a fluke.

I get the same feeling with VC land but the time scales are much more stretched out. It seems you can burn untold billions for decades and no one will show you the door because whatever tiny flicker of early promise you demonstrated was enough to get you through the door.

In Circle's case I'm struggling to think what they've got left that might end up hitting the jackpot. I guess it's USDC so that'll be next to go. Then they'll auction their intellectual rights on here and it'll sell for 0.0000001 BSV.

I think they just want to leave the cryptocurrency business altogether. Regulations are getting harsher and harsher, first in the US, but internationally too, with all the FATF nonsense, and lately in the EU with the AMLD5.

But the people who do stick it out will lord over the markets in an unassailable manner. It's their lack of vision that I find most bizarre. That's what VCs should be all about. That's why they exist.