Bitstamp :( warnings and rejoinders.

[1Referee]

Man! If Bitstamp shut down it would be a major upset in the bitcoin world. I remember back when I first heard of bitcoin it Bitstamp was the only place where you could get it easily.
Coinbase wasnt even in the same discussion or the scene back then.
And as far as the Korean money angle is considered, I don't think funneling that money to and from between US-Korea would be much of a trouble.
It is being done for decades in other sectors already.

And yes, it seems as if US with its insane crypto policies is trying to not only be the leading voice in the sector, it is perhaps trying to be the only voice.
That kind of centralization is bad for Bitcoin and its users.

Bitstamp will not be shut down. Don't listen to wildwest conspiracy theories. It's obvious that the people here exchanging walls of text have a motive to continuously hammer on Bitstamp.

Most of the people I know use Bitstamp since 2013/2014 and they haven't faced a single problem depositing/withdrawing fiat. The thing you can blame Bitstamp for is that they recently have started asking all sorts of silly questions, which is likely coming from one of their banking partners to make sure their bank accounts aren't being used while at the same time breaking existing laws the bank itself is subject to.

[Zarok665]

@1Referee: This stuff all over the internet from countless people is not a "conspiracy theory", it is exactly what is happening.

For years before all this happened I had an opinion quite like you, that Bitstamp was supportive of people in Crypto, no problems depositing or withdrawing, although these were small amounts. Continue using it if you like but I feel it's wrong if I don't at least warn people.

By this time the average user won't suspect anything. So if his account grows naturally with prices, he doesn't know that when it reaches X amount his funds on Bitstamp will be frozen entirely.

They ask crazy questions which 99% of people can't answer with full paper trail because that's the nature of crypto. There is a point where it becomes unreasonable, they know it and they're using it as a "legal" excuse to hold people's money hostage.

The most ironic thing about Bitstamp is that they ask for more transparency than financial firms ask for from billionaires in the traditional financial system, but they won't even tell you where their actual office is located. The UK and Luxembourg addresses are mailboxes for business registration purposes only, it's not actually where they operate. They won't give a simple address, but we are expected to give up more information than any government authority keeps on us?

It would also help greatly if Bitstamp actually responded to customers' responses to the KYC/AML questions. Most of the time what they do is copy/paste the KYC/AML questionnaire, freeze the account, then ignore the customer. Even if the customer CAN answer the questions completely, how can the funds be unfrozen if nobody is there to respond. Like I said before either Bitstamp and/or its employees is actively stealing funds from people, or they do not have the staff or infrastructure to handle running KYC checks. What is so unique to Bitstamp? Kraken can do it. The rest can do it within reasonable time. You're lucky if you even get a response from these hidden KYC agents nowadays. It's the most disgusting practise to hold customers' funds hostage and simply wait for them to go away. That's basically what they are doing at the moment.

@tvbcof: I think the Korean firm is too recent to yet change things. It's still operating the same, at the moment anyway.

If we believe Bitstamp and it's because of demands placed on them by banks in the fiat system, then it may be for intelligence purposes, but more than likely, in my opinion, the traditional banking system has now seen Bitcoin/Crypto as a threat and will not easily deal with it, effectively choking off its oxygen supply. Even Coinbase now has been shitcanned by Barclays bank. The "best behaved". They know that if Bitcoin seriously takes off, huge parts of their business will remain redundant. But that's another topic.

[malevolent]

Bitstamp will not be shut down. Don't listen to wildwest conspiracy theories. It's obvious that the people here exchanging walls of text have a motive to continuously hammer on Bitstamp.

Most of the people I know use Bitstamp since 2013/2014 and they haven't faced a single problem depositing/withdrawing fiat. The thing you can blame Bitstamp for is that they recently have started asking all sorts of silly questions, which is likely coming from one of their banking partners to make sure their bank accounts aren't being used while at the same time breaking existing laws the bank itself is subject to.

Recently? They have been asking these sort of questions for almost six years now, if there's no full paper trail or clear blockchain evidence where your funds come from Bitstamp may hold your money hostage. A lot of people don't really use their coins much or use them mostly for speculation so they might not be facing these kind of problems.

[gentlemand]

If we believe Bitstamp and it's because of demands placed on them by banks in the fiat system, then it may be for intelligence purposes, but more than likely, in my opinion, the traditional banking system has now seen Bitcoin/Crypto as a threat and will not easily deal with it, effectively choking off its oxygen supply. Even Coinbase now has been shitcanned by Barclays bank. The "best behaved". They know that if Bitcoin seriously takes off, huge parts of their business will remain redundant. But that's another topic.

I think it's more Bitstamp than their banks. Their entire business depends on banks so they will be absolutely desperate to prove that they're well behaved little boys.

If a bank grunts at them they can point to the two thousand pages of questions and documents from each customer plus the photographs of their urethras and colons that they forced them into taking.

I'll guess this is all preemptive on their part.

I don't care if it's crypto and therefore scary, if I can run a few million dollars through a stock trading company with nothing other than 1 piece of ID and 1 proof of address, plus they will have an office I can burn down if they attempt to fuck me, then no way will a bunch of creeps in hiding get any more than that out of me.

[Zarok665]

If a bank grunts at them they can point to the two thousand pages of questions and documents from each customer plus the photographs of their urethras and colons that they forced them into taking.

Even though I'm being buttfucked by Bitstamp at the moment I managed a cathartic laugh at that. Lol.

I don't care if it's crypto and therefore scary, if I can run a few million dollars through a stock trading company with nothing other than 1 piece of ID and 1 proof of address, plus they will have an office I can burn down if they attempt to fuck me, then no way will a bunch of creeps in hiding get any more than that out of me.

EXACTLY. [*If I had a few million dollars] I could do the same, just ID and proof of address. And indeed, crucially, if they at any point even attempt to fuck me, a stockbroker has a physical address that you can go to where you can seek answers accompanied by law enforcement if need be, plus a very serious regulator, often FDIC or equivalent coverage for deposits. The fact that no one knows where Bitstamp is hiding, with all your most sensitive personal information, is hypocritical, cowardly and downright disturbing.

My hunch is that they know if they revealed their location, they would probably not be safe. I don't think any bunch of people would, who freeze tens/hundreds of millions of dollars of assets belonging to other people. If they were operating legally, and customers weren't being robbed, I don't think there would be any need to hide behind empty mailboxes as registered addresses. Bitstamp is clearly avoiding the shitstorm that would come their way if their true location was found. They also have the funds to move so even if one location was found then it would be like a game of cat and mouse.


EDIT: It seems a few of these are being made public every week:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitstamp/comments/cxhh7c/usd_deposit_hold_at_bitstamp_and_withdrawal_fees/

As they become more strict, Bitstamp is in danger of its customers turning against them if they do this to enough people. Soon it will develop a reputation for holding funds hostage and when that becomes common knowledge, no one will want to risk any kind of deposit there.

[Zero2Onemillion]

Bitstamp Holding my Wire Transfer because they need source of Crypto
I've wired $16000 on the 26th of September, and bitstamp is not crediting my account till this day because they need proof that i am the owner of bitcoin i had sent to them as well. The proof of bitcoin is hard to provide because i bought it through a friend and just gave him cash. We didn't work with receipts and he doesn't own an OTC business or so.



I provided an official purchase agreement where he (my friend , the seller) and I both signed and sent it to Bitstamp, but still no answer.



I am very worried and stressed because that was all my money and now I am just being left in the dark, regardless of calling them every single day to ask. Their answer remains: wait until we reply..