bitinstant and other services that do OFAC checks

[franky1]

sorry i dont have legal waffle and testimonials, guidelines or laws to quote, but this thread does concern legal issues with withdrawing funds and a easy way to ensure you are not frozen out due to other people.

although i use my personal details as i have nothing to hide. It has been highlighted that OFAC checks are hurting innocent people by freezing their funds because they use PO Boxes etc linked to criminals who also use the same PO Boxes or mailing services.

so i suggest even if your trades are all legal and you just don't want to for instance, be stalked by strangers on the internet trying to steal your laptop to get to your coins, thus using anonymous address.

Do a OFAC check to make sure that the mailing service that you decide to use is not linked to criminal activity. and to check that your name is not similar to any known criminals.
http://sdnsearch.ofac.treas.gov/

you don't want your funds frozen because of other peoples actions which you are not physically involved in. so do the check first.

[1715164627]

1715164627

[Yankee (BitInstant)]

It has been highlighted that OFAC checks are hurting innocent people by freezing their funds because they use PO Boxes etc linked to criminals who also use the same PO Boxes or mailing services.

BitInstant does not or will never freeze anyone's funds.

We simply do the check to see if your name is on the goverment blacklist, if it is we will deny the transfer.

However at no point will your privacy be hindered or funds banned!

[Gareth Nelson]

While charlie is right that we will never freeze anyone's funds it's still good advice to do a check on yourself just to be sure you won't have issues from us or other places that require OFAC. Of course you can also just try and do a transaction with us and you won't even get a quote if we can't allow the transaction.

[franky1]

much appreciated for the reply bitinstant. the post was more aimed at stuff like dwolla which has been noted to freeze funds in other threads with the OFAC excuse. But atleast your customers can remain confident with the bitinstant service.

[BlackHeartFund]

Bitinstant is kicking ass. Great customer service, responding to these concerns to quickly.

Glad to see a that they are stepping up to the plate and becoming a public face for bitcoin. Can't wait until the cards come out. I really hope they have a great legal team and banking connections... which they certainly seem to.

They're certainly the BTC company to watch at the moment, along with BFL obviously.