Bitfinex froze my $ 100,000. Ticket [# 153437]. December 8, 2021
In order to end this trouble as quickly as possible and inform about the actions of the Bitfinex exchange, it was decided to make public coverage of the process. The experience of other people shows that the process can be incredibly long. The exchange likes to delay these "checks" for purposes that are not very clear to me.
For myself and people who find themselves in similar situations, I created a telegram group. Now there are five Russians and one Vietnamese.
https://t.me/+TiwoU_eye0djOWMyOn December 8, 2021, I discovered that my fully verified Level 4 Bitfinex account was frozen for withdrawal.
USDT and other crypto withdrawals were stuck at the processing stage. An attempt to withdraw USD to a bank account was unsuccessful. The exchange reported that the banking channel to Russia has been closed since November, but I can send funds to a bank account in other countries. I still cannot get an answer whether it makes sense for me to open an account in another country and try to withdraw funds there.
Through support, I found out that the account is being checking by the compliance service. The next day, I received a request from Inquiry Bitfinex to provide various information.
The letter did not contain any justifications with references to laws, but I have to obey, since the exchange blackmails by blocking funds. I still haven't even been told what specific account functions are blocked. Trade and exchange of funds are available. Bank wire for withdrawal of funds is in question.
Inquiry said their users must update their KYC information from time to time in order to comply with international anti-money laundering and terrorist financing policies. (Note that as recently as September, I already renewed it by submitting my new passport.)
Bitfinex demanded from me:
- reasons for money transfers to and from my account;
- explain my activities and goals;
- explain and provide proof of the sources of funds deposited on the exchange;
- a description of the destination to which I send funds from the exchange;
- have I made other accounts on the exchange.
Other information may be requested.
A little bit about yourself. I am as much a cryptocurrency speculator as, apparently, most of the clients of cryptocurrency exchanges. I use about a dozen crypto exchanges and transfer funds between them, usually in the form of USDT TRC20.
What could have triggered compliance attention? Probably 6 simultaneous requests for withdrawals in the amount of about 30% of the balance. Although in the past my transfer activity was sometimes quite high.
I am not against answering the questions of the exchange Inquiry service, but of course I am worried that, judging by the reviews of other such unfortunate people, the exchange is delaying this process for many months. In addition, it turned out that 95% of all my funds were stuck on Bitfinex.
For example, I went through a similar verification procedure by the Tinkoff bank, which was apparently alarmed by my transfers between crypto-exchange. And that check took whole, attention…. TWO DAYS!
In general, on the same day, December 9, I provided the first piece of information.
After 23 minutes, I received another clarifying request from the Inquiry:
- screenshots of accounts of other exchanges;
- screenshots of bank transfers;
- in which online shops did I pay with crypto.
Two hours later, I sent them the information that is available to me online. And by the evening of the next day, copies of bank documents proving the origin and the entire path of the initial funds deposited on the exchange.
A day later, I made an excel export of all 150 transfers with the exchange over the past year. 80% of them were confirmed by screenshots or downloaded records of transfers from other exchanges and wallet addresses of other exchanges. I also sent this set of documents to the Inquiry.
Not all exchanges keep a complete history of transfers, which complicates matters. For example, the Bityard exchange provides data for only 90 days and refuses to meet me halfway despite the situation.
At the moment, no more letters have been received from the Bitfinex. All my questions are ignored. Such as: the legal justification for their actions, what exactly is my account limited and what are the verification times. I suppose when 95% of all funds are suddenly blocked, anyone will be interested to know the answers.
This post in russian:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5377605.0The same post was published on the Bitfinex subreddit.
UPD:
Good news. I received a letter stating that the withdrawal by bank wire not to Russia is available to me. The problem is that I have no accounts in non-Russian banks.
It remains to be seen when crypto transfers will be unblocked.
UPD2: Verification completed. The withdrawal of funds is unlocked. I will continue to work on this exchange. We agreed that I would only make transactions between trusted persons. These are banks and large exchanges.
As a result, what can I say. The check took two weeks. It may have been speeded up by the publicity on Bitcointalk and Reddit.
I remain on this exchange, because there was no strong delay in the process. People report 9 months. Perhaps they could not confirm the origin of the large amounts deposited on the exchange.
What exactly was the problem with my account, the exchange does not report.
What did they check. Proof of the origin of main founds deposited on the exchange.
They were also interested in transactions for depositing and withdrawing bitcoins. Including very old transactions from 2017, 2018. On them, I was able to give information only in words.
It turns out that there are no problems, inputs and outputs should be between trusted parties, i.e. banks and major exchanges. Transactions of buying and selling cryptocurrency, which are started or withdrawn from the exchange, must be logged by yourself, if the history is not stored by the second side. And be ready to prove the origin of the funds being deposited.
