Being a novice like many in this day and age with Bitcoin and Krakens non-user friendly interface. Our plan was to deposit 0,5 XBT from a Bread wallet to my partner’s bitcoin deposit address in her Kraken account.
My partner and I read through the FAQ that Kraken provides on how to send XBT from a wallet to a Kraken deposit account. In their FAQ, they did not state that you have to be aware “Bitcoin Cash” deposit address is done the exact same way as to generate a “Bitcoin” deposit address.
As you may know, not many trading platforms trade in Bitcoin Cash, it is even seen as an attack on Bitcoin because it can cause confusion. Kraken’s website is very plain and their list with currencies not in alphabetical order. Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash are not even listed following each other. One is listed at the top and one on the bottom. We, unfortunately, generated a “Bitcoin Cash” deposit address instead of a Bitcoin deposit address. There was no explicit warning to make sure you wanted to trade in “BCH” instead of “XBT”.
I mistakenly transferred o,5 XBT from my Breadwallet to my partners Kraken BCH Deposit account. Once the transfer stated “complete” in my bread wallet, we did not see the funds in her Kraken account. We contacted Kraken and bread wallet support immediately. Kraken could see that it transferred to a BCH address and knew how to transfer it back to my wallet but they chose not to.
Breadwallet’s support was very helpful, clearly stating what we should do to resolve this issue but I cannot say the same of Kraken support. When their response eventually came through, we were absolutely shocked with the generic reply saying that it was not their policy to help us. Due to a “short of development staff and battling an old engine” they think they have a claim to not retrieve misplaced bitcoins. A coin that is becoming the most valuable form of currency. No one in their right mind will just let this slide. We feel that we were misguided by their website and that the FAQ and their UI are not clear enough to prevent future mistakes an opinion they openly shared with us in the email chain. We kept on bringing solutions to Kraken’s table, even offering a full review of their FAQ and UI in return of the o,5 XBT. They, however, have not returned our emails. We have still not received an answer from one of their managers, which they said they would provide.
We know for a fact that they could give us a private key for my specific BCH deposit account which then we can easily place in the Bread wallet that will put the bitcoin back into the wallet it was sent from.
We feel that Kraken is another trading platform that cannot be trusted and hides behind ill policies that do not help their clients. If trading platforms such as Kraken do not step up their game in acknowledging that novice users are becoming the majority of traders, people will lose faith in the future of cryptocurrency trading.
We're asking that you share this message to avoid future loss of bitcoins. Also, if anyone has more extensive knowledge on how to retrieve our bitcoin, that will be highly appreciated.
Heavy stuff - I was also Kraken Client and I feel with you.
I'd recommend to post here for better visibility
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=290799.0
