Coinbase banned Germany & Luxembourg

[countryfree]

Coinbase? Who needs coinbase? Why would anyone in Germany use an american exchange when they can a german one like bitcoin.de?
I doubt coinbase had many customers in Germany, or a single one in Luxembourg, a country which is smaller than L.A. county.

[wintermeasures]

Hey,

I am logged into my account Coinbase to buy Bitcoins.

I get the following message:

Sorry! Buy & Sell not available in Germany

We are not able to Provide exchanging bitcoin in your region yet. Consider Contacting your local government. Learn More>

It seems to be also affected Luxembourg alongside Germany.
The rest of Europe (32) are not affected.

Since Localbitcoin is banned in Germany, seems probably because the German "local government" there which prohibit.

Does anyone have any info, is on what legal basis prohibited here?

It also happened in my country, I come from Indonesia and Coinbase also does not provide buy and sell here. I think not because the German block the service from Coinbase, it's just that I have found no bitcoin buy services in your country. Thank you

[CoinArtist]

Nobody is banning anything in Germany.

With bitcoin.de there's at least one completely regulated exchange in Germany where users can even connect their account to an official German bank, albeit a small one. Additionally, people have already pointed out that Bitstamp is licensed in 28 EU member states through Luxembourg, thereby making it entirely regulated in Germany as well.

This is just a Coinbase move who apparently didn't have a license to operate in Germany in the first place.

[onleines]

That's fantastic. As a German I have the choice between Bitcoin.de and Bitstamp. Otherwise no other alternatives?

I would not discuss the advantages and disadvantages of these two suppliers. But I would like to choose where I buy my Bitcoins and not let me dictate this from my government.

What's next?

Can I as a merchant accepting bitcoin? or the user must then identify?
Did my order and my bitcoin address in combination with my identity reported to the government, NSA, FBI, KGB and so on?

[mobnepal]

Coinbase also doesn't support Nepal buy and sell feature i think this is due to the complicated foreign currency law we have here. But there is no any written statement about bitcoin or crypto currency in our federal law. So it is quite confusing why they even don't allow us to exchange, i can understand they can't allow deposit and withdraw of fiat for countries with rules like here but not giving access to trade is completely bullshit.

However i really don't like how they keep banning accounts and asking lots of documents, so this all limitation they have isn't effecting me. 

[n2004al]

I think that Coinbase has banned itself because for sure had made nothing to comply with the law and the regulation of bitcoin there. It is normal because Coinbase don't care to work like it needed. They go only in that countries in which don't needed regulation or work to do to adapt.

[wadili89]

for me nothing new here as coinbase never worked for me from the day one i get the same error so its not shocking as other then my country it is also not working in germany probably they did not get much of the business from germany or they are following the local law

[eternalgloom]

I accidentily noticed this when using a vpn that is located in Germany, luckily it's not banned in Belgium.
But I guess German people still have other options besides Coinbase, Bitstamp for example.

And I do hope this doesn't mean it's going to be much more difficult to buy Bitcoins in other European countries in the near future.

[ObscureBean]

This is maybe a little off topic but it looks like Coinbase is getting stricter with rules. Did you guys know that it is a violation of their ToS to sell the coins in your Coinbase account on LocalBitcoins?? I'd been doing that the past maybe 6 or 7 months and never knew it was illegal. A couple of days ago I received a warning email from them saying that I was in violation of their ToS, that it is illegal to sell BTC from my Coinbase wallet on Craigslist, eBay, LocalBitcoins etc  

[rphk]

probably there may be new rule set by government and some modification on law or finance . I hope they may allow this bitcoin as legal after several days /month .

[birr]

This is maybe a little off topic but it looks like Coinbase is getting stricter with rules. Did you guys know that it is a violation of their ToS to sell the coins in your Coinbase account on LocalBitcoins?? I'd been doing that the past maybe 6 or 7 months and never knew it was illegal. A couple of days ago I received a warning email from them saying that I was in violation of their ToS, that it is illegal to sell BTC from my Coinbase wallet on Craigslist, eBay, LocalBitcoins etc  

When you sold on localbitcoins, did you send coins to the buyer directly from your Coinbase wallet?

[pedrog]

This is maybe a little off topic but it looks like Coinbase is getting stricter with rules. Did you guys know that it is a violation of their ToS to sell the coins in your Coinbase account on LocalBitcoins?? I'd been doing that the past maybe 6 or 7 months and never knew it was illegal. A couple of days ago I received a warning email from them saying that I was in violation of their ToS, that it is illegal to sell BTC from my Coinbase wallet on Craigslist, eBay, LocalBitcoins etc  

Yes, it's like that from the beginning, also you cannot gamble with coins bought at Coinbase, if you do so, your account will be terminated.

You need to obfuscate your activity from Coinbase.

[Denker]

That's fantastic. As a German I have the choice between Bitcoin.de and Bitstamp. Otherwise no other alternatives?

I would not discuss the advantages and disadvantages of these two suppliers. But I would like to choose where I buy my Bitcoins and not let me dictate this from my government.

What's next?

Can I as a merchant accepting bitcoin? or the user must then identify?
Did my order and my bitcoin address in combination with my identity reported to the government, NSA, FBI, KGB and so on?

You can use Kraken, BTC-e and Finex as well.However without being regulated and out of jurisdiction you take all the risk yourself, using them, if they should run with your funds one day.
So you have much more exchanges you can choose from with different risk potentials.
And you can meet and trade from person to person at any time wherever you want in Germany without getting in trouble.
Things are not so bad as you think.
Berlin and Hannover also are cities with several Bitcoin startups and stores, companies accepting it.

[onleines]

it is a violation of their ToS to sell the coins in your Coinbase account on LocalBitcoins??

Yes, it's like that from the beginning, also you cannot gamble with coins bought at Coinbase, if you do so, your account will be terminated.

Why did they do this? Rules from the governments or from the coinbase shareholders?

Coinbase give me rules what i can do with my bitcoins?
Than we can separate bitcoins in dark bitcoins, infected with porn, gambling, and in white bitcoins?

Good times for mixing services ;-)

[pedrog]

it is a violation of their ToS to sell the coins in your Coinbase account on LocalBitcoins??

Yes, it's like that from the beginning, also you cannot gamble with coins bought at Coinbase, if you do so, your account will be terminated.

Why did they do this? Rules from the governments or from the coinbase shareholders?

Coinbase give me rules what i can do with my bitcoins?
Than we can separate bitcoins in dark bitcoins, infected with porn, gambling, and in white bitcoins?

Good times for mixing services ;-)

Regulatory compliance of course.

No company wants to make it difficult for their costumers to be their costumers, also they would save a shitload of money if they didn't have to monitor users' activity.

[ObscureBean]

This is maybe a little off topic but it looks like Coinbase is getting stricter with rules. Did you guys know that it is a violation of their ToS to sell the coins in your Coinbase account on LocalBitcoins?? I'd been doing that the past maybe 6 or 7 months and never knew it was illegal. A couple of days ago I received a warning email from them saying that I was in violation of their ToS, that it is illegal to sell BTC from my Coinbase wallet on Craigslist, eBay, LocalBitcoins etc  

When you sold on localbitcoins, did you send coins to the buyer directly from your Coinbase wallet?

You can't send Bitcoins to the buyer directly, it has to go through LocalBitcoins. You have to deposit the BTC into your LocalBitcoins wallet and when you sell, the amount is locked into escrow until you confirm the buyer has made payment. LocalBitcoins then takes a small fee from that amount before pushing it over to the buyer's account.

Regulatory compliance of course.

Yea and it's a good thing because it means Bitcoin is being taken seriously. This is the only way if we want to go mainstream someday.

[asriloni]

This is maybe a little off topic but it looks like Coinbase is getting stricter with rules. Did you guys know that it is a violation of their ToS to sell the coins in your Coinbase account on LocalBitcoins?? I'd been doing that the past maybe 6 or 7 months and never knew it was illegal. A couple of days ago I received a warning email from them saying that I was in violation of their ToS, that it is illegal to sell BTC from my Coinbase wallet on Craigslist, eBay, LocalBitcoins etc  

Yes, it's like that from the beginning, also you cannot gamble with coins bought at Coinbase, if you do so, your account will be terminated.

You need to obfuscate your activity from Coinbase.

I guess coinbase obeying the USA rules and consider it as part of their rules,it's normal if they're having office on USA and want to keep their business running,since USA really prohibit any form of online gambling,so does with coinbase,can't do anything and just can obey the rules

[MAA658]

I Hope Coinbase Open To Buy/Sell Bitcoin In Around Of The World, So Everyone Can Buy/Sell Bitcoin Without Need To The Exchanger 

[hermanhs09]

I Hope Coinbase Open To Buy/Sell Bitcoin In Around Of The World, So Everyone Can Buy/Sell Bitcoin Without Need To The Exchanger 

What the hell?
I get that you are newbie,but you are so naive?
You dont think that something is wrong that Coinbase just got banned in 3 different countries? lol,i would stay out of it.

[mayax]

I Hope Coinbase Open To Buy/Sell Bitcoin In Around Of The World, So Everyone Can Buy/Sell Bitcoin Without Need To The Exchanger 

What the hell?
I get that you are newbie,but you are so naive?
You dont think that something is wrong that Coinbase just got banned in 3 different countries? lol,i would stay out of it.

Coinbase was not banned. The issue is that ALL the exchangers including Coinbase MUST have a financial license in EU. Coinbase has licenses only in USA. Germany is not joking when it's about finances and that's why Coinbase removed this country from their list.