Although my issue is resolved, what I have learned here is a scheme in which an exchange trick you into joining them by somehow controlling the price of specific coins. But when you bought such coins, an exchange will give you alibi and prevent you from withdrawing. As a result, you will be forced to convert the newly bought coins to other coins in which the exchange tell you to do so in order to make withdrawal. As a result, the exchange will get additional commissions out of the conversion. btctrade.im is one of such exchanges. Take my case as an example.

That's why btctrade.im not trustworthy and you should stay away from them.

I could not wait any longer so I decided to convert DOGE back to BTC. Then I made BTC withdrawal request. This time it took less than 10 minutes to get approved and I received BTC in about 30 minutes.

I did some research and discovered that someone else was having similar issue when trying to withdraw BCH from btctrade.im. Here is the link --> https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinAll/comments/8bol8q/beware_btctradeim_rbitcoin/
In fact, I did some research about them before I opened an account but there are not many information about this exchange. May be because their website was mainly designed for Chinese. There are also restriction on countries that can apply with them.

I was hoping to do DOGE arbitrage since the price at btctrade.im is lower compare to other exchanges. Too bad I was forced to buy and sell DOGE with them. If this is how they operate then I think we should stay away. I learned my lesson and I hope anyone who want to trade at btctrade.im get a chance to read this post before they make their decision.

@teddy, since I get my coin back already, the only thing left for me to concern is the DarkNet you mentioned. I hope they don't sell my information. Just out of my curiosity, what can the buyer do with such information?

@magneto, my withdrawal was about 187,000 DOGE (about 0.1 BTC). I initially thought about depositing 1 BTC to trade but later on changed my mind since it is not a well known exchange.

@all, thanks for your feedbacks. I finally got my coin back!

Thank you for the info. They just replied to my email stating that withdrawal of DOGE is under internet congestion and suggested me to convert DOGE to BTC and withdraw again. I would believe them if I hadn't just made a DOGE transfer between other exchanges about one hour ago and it took less than 10 minutes. In addition, I would have to pay additional commission to them to convert from DOGE to BTC. Also, BTC network fee is more expensive than DOGE's.

I replied back explaining my experience with my other DOGE transfer and asking them to check their system. I will see what kind of reply they will have for me after this.

I opened an account, submitted documents for verification and it took less than 24 hours to be verified. I can deposit and trade without any problem. But my withdraw transaction has been pending for about 24 hours despite what they mention on their website that the transaction will be approved within 30 minutes. Also their support never reply to me. Do not trade with btctrade.im!

FYI, I have just received the money today. Exactly 20 banking days since I requested for the withdrawal.

I agreed with @ARTHurt regarding the 20 banking days statement. CEX.IO use that statement to cover themselves just in case. I contacted my bank and they stated that usually it takes 2 - 7 banking days for SWIFT transfer. Below is the summary of how long it took for my three withdrawals with CEX.IO.

#1: 7 banking days
#2: 10 banking days
#3: 20 banking days

Judging from my experience the more times I withdraw from CEX.IO, the longer it takes for the money to arrive at my bank account. This does not take into account the fact that you may be asked to complete an extra AML/KYC form (like @moonoiz and someone else already mentioned in earlier posts) in which CEX.IO may use as a reason to delay your payment even further.

For experimental purpose, I tried to withdraw from another exchange during the same period and it took only 2 days.

Like @ARTHurt mentioned that this happened in the past, it is happening now and potentially happen again in the future. This does not taking into account the fact that you will have to deal with the support team that does not so responsive. I can't imagine what would happen if I don't post my case to social media. May be I still don't have the money by now.

For me, 20 banking days is too long. The faster the money arrive at my bank account, the more opportunities for me to make profit. Don't forget that cryptocurrencies exchanges open for 24/7 so, in fact, Sat and Sun also counts (not just banking days).

So think carefully when are using CEX.IO's services. If you don't mind having someone else keeping your money for up to 20 banking days (or may be even longer like 38 days like what @paraelement mentioned in his post here https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=318010.2380) then that's fine. If you choose to use their services, I hope you are not the lucky one.

Dear CEX.IO,

According to our discussion via ticket #342266, the Finance Team asked me to wait until 9 Oct 2017 to see if I will received the money. And I don't you will initiate the investigation process with the bank. I then wait. But somehow about 6 hours ago, my ticket was closed/resolved. Please note that you should not have done that since I have not confirmed that I received the money. I have been waiting for nearly a month (25 days or 19 banking days to be exact) for the payment. Still not received it and you just closed my ticket without asking me? What can I say here? Please don't do that again until I receive my money. I would suggest you start the investigation process now since I anticipate that I wouldn't received the money by 9 Oct 2017.

Dear CEX.IO,

According to our discussion via ticket #342266, the Finance Team asked me to wait until 9 Oct 2017 to see if I will received the money. And if I don't you will initiate the investigation process with the bank. I then wait. But somehow about 6 hours ago, my ticket was closed/resolved. Please note that you should not have done that since I have not confirmed that I received the money. I have been waiting for nearly a month (25 days or 19 banking days to be exact) for the payment. Still not received it and you just closed my ticket without asking me? What can I say here? Please don't do that again until I receive my money. I would suggest you start the investigation process now since I anticipate that I wouldn't received the money by 9 Oct 2017.

As of today (22 days since I requested for the withdrawal), I still have not received the money!

Dear CEX.IO,
Thank you for the information. I have checked my mail. The provided attachment only shows something like an internal record showing the date, my bank account no., my name and the amount of money. If you provide it to prove that you have already transfer the money to my account, I might believe that since I have already received money from the other withdrawal. But if you provide it for me to trace the money, I don't think I can use it since it is not an official transfer slip from a bank.

Right now, my main concern is when the money will be deposited to my bank account. It has been three weeks!

I've been waiting for three whole weeks for a SWIFT withdrawal initiated on 11 Sep 2017. I tried withdraw from another exchange with larger amount and it took only two days! Since you have already read until this post, you can see that there are other people that have similar problems to me. If you think a withdrawal period of three weeks is acceptable, go ahead and use CEX.IO services. Otherwise, you know what to do.

Dear CEX.IO,

It has been three weeks and I still am waiting for the money from my withdrawal initiated on 11 Sep 2017 while I have already received the money from the other withdrawal (initiated on 15 Sep 2017). Thank you for that. I find it strange that the money from the 3rd withdrawal arrived at my bank account before the one initiated earlier. At least it arrived at my bank account despite the fact that it took two weeks for the transfer.

Please help to follow up with the remaining withdrawal request. It has been three whole weeks!

My ticket number is 342266.

Dear CEX.IO,

Seeing your post recently, I hope you could help me with my case.

I have initiated two fiat SWIFT withdrawals on 11 Sep 2017 and 15 Sep 2017. Both of them have been marked completed. It has been nearly three weeks for the first one and two weeks for the second but the money has not been deposited to my bank account. I have contacted my bank and they confirmed that the SWIFT transfer takes two to seven days. I also tried withdrew a larger amount of money via SWIFT from another exchange and it took only two days.

I asked the Compliance team about the status and when the money will be deposited to my bank account. Here's what they replied "To clarify actual status of your funds you should contact your bank. Once funds left our bank account, we have no information about their current status.". I find that the reply is not reasonable because:

1. In general, when you want to trace something, you would need to trace from the source not the destination. What the Compliance team told me is like asking me to trace my fund from the destination which is weird. What if the fund never leave the source in the first place? How can the destination bank trace the fund?

2. The Compliance team simply asked me to contact my bank without providing any support documents. How am I going to tell my bank that someone has already transferred the money to my bank account? It would be very difficult for the bank to believe me without any evidence.

3. Although, I think it is CEX.IO's responsibility to find out the status of my withdrawals (since you are one who provide services not me), I am willing to trace the funds by myself. Just give me documents showing that you have already transferred money to my bank account.

I too have an issue with my fiat withdrawal. It has been more than two weeks and I still have not received money for two of my SWIFT fiat withdrawals.

The Compliance team informed me today that they have already completed my two pending withdrawal transactions. I then replied back stating that I have already known that fact. Because, I have already received two confirmation emails notifying me that both transactions have been completed. What I need to know is the when the money will be deposited to my bank accounts since I have been waiting for more than two weeks.

The Compliance team then replied me back with "To clarify actual status of your funds you should contact your bank. Once funds left our bank account, we have no information about their current status." What kind of response is that?

I then replied to them with "In that case, please provide me with any related documents showing that you have transfer the money to my bank account? How am I suppose to contact my bank without any evidence? How would they believe me?" Still awaiting their reply.

I want to share an update on my case.

The Compliance team informed me today that they have already completed my two pending withdrawal transactions. I then replied back stating that I have already known that fact. Because, I have already received two confirmation emails notifying me that both transactions have been completed. What I need to know is the when the money will be deposited to my bank accounts since I have been waiting for more than two weeks.

The Compliance team then replied me back with "To clarify actual status of your funds you should contact your bank. Once funds left our bank account, we have no information about their current status." What kind of response is that?

I then replied to them with "In that case, please provide me with any related documents showing that you have transfer the money to my bank account? How am I suppose to contact my bank without any evidence? How would they believe me?" Still awaiting their reply.

It has been more than two weeks. Just now I checked my bank account, the money is not there.

FYI I'm in Asia. Also, all days in my post include Sat and Sun so you might need to deduct 2 if you are talking in terms of banking days. Below is an update on my situation.

I still haven't received the funds for my 2nd withdrawal. It's been 15 days now.

For my 3rd withdrawal, I decided to request for a cancellation on 25 September 2017. Since the transaction had been pending for 10 days since I initiated the request. Note again that my first two withdrawals was in pending state for less than 24 hours before the finance team reviewed and completed them. I was thinking of converting them back to BTC and withdraw BTC instead. Surprisingly, about 8 - 9 hours after I requested for a cancellation, the transaction was reviewed and completed. This means that the money has just been sent to the bank from their side. Judging from my 2nd withdrawal, I might need to wait for another 15 days or more. **Sigh**

In addition, I was requested to complete an additional AML/KYC form on 23 September 2017 and I sent a reply back to them on the same day asking about the support documents they are looking for. I haven't heard from them since then.

I have been trading with CEX.IO for about a month now. So far I have made three fiat withdrawal requests via SWIFT transfer.

1st request: Made on 29 August 2017. It was reviewed and completed by the finance team 24 hours later. Took 9 days and the money was credited to my bank account.

2nd request: Made on 11 September 2017. It was reviewed and completed by the finance team 24 hours later. It has been 11 days now and I still have not received the money. I have contacted the bank and they stated that there was no incoming deposit transaction. The bank also mentioned that normally SWIFT transfer usually takes 2 - 7 working days.

3rd request: Made on 15 September 2017. As of now (7 days after the request was made), it has not been reviewed and completed by the finance team. The status is still pending. As a result, I don't know when I will get the money. I have issued a ticket to support team but all I received was just they have escalated the issue to the concerned department.

CEX.IO's support is very slow in responding to a ticket. Not sure when I will receive my fund for the 2nd and 3rd withdrawals. Seems like the 1st withdrawal went through without a problem and within reasonable time just to make me believe that their service is reliable. Think carefully before you use CEX.IO services and be cautious especially when you want to use fiat withdrawal option.