BitStamp KYC out of control

[somac.]

Hi all,

I've been a verified account holder of Bitstamp since 2013, I deposited a smallish sum with them today and before they would release the funds I got this message.

Dear ______,

we received your deposit transfer and instructed our payment department to further process it. Once funds are added to your Bitstamp account you will be notified by email.

As our compliance department requires some information regarding the nature of your relationship with Bitstamp, we would however kindly ask you to answer the following KYC (Know Your Customer) questionnaire:

1. What is your current occupation?
2. What is the purpose of your Bitstamp account? Describe in as much detail as possible how you are using your trading account.
3. Are you using your Bitstamp account in connection with any business/commercial related activities? If yes, please describe how?
4. Do you have an established relationship with any other bitcoin related service/exchange? If yes, which?
5. What is the source of the funds deposited to your Bitstamp account? Please provide any financial documentation which can confirm how the funds sent to your Bitstamp account are being acquired.
6. Which bank account(s) do you intend to use with your Bitstamp account for fiat deposits/withdrawals? Provide complete account number, account owner information, bank address and SWIFT/BIC codes.
7. What is the estimated amount you intend to deposit/withdraw to/from your Bitstamp account per month (in USD/BTC)?
8. Do you have or had a dual-citizenship? If yes, which second citizenship do/did you have?

In addition, we kindly ask you to provide an image of an additional ID document (international passport – double page) at your earliest convenience, which we require in order to be able to successfully conclude our KYC procedure.

If you have any questions in the meantime, please feel free to ask.

We look forward to your reply.

Is this fucking nuts or am I just crazy? Seems pretty damn overboard. I responded with the following

I am quite disgusted at what information you are requesting from me. I am a fully verified member and have been since 2013, you have a copy of my drivers licence that I provided when I was verified. My previous deposits have been accepted with no fuss and they have only ever come from 2 banks that I bank with. So I don't know why this is necessary.

1. Retail.
2. Investing in cyptocurrency.
3. No.
4. Established relationship? No, but after this list of demands and witholding of my money, I will now be going to another exchange after I have converted my funds to btc using your service. The exchange I go to will probably be Bitfinex, Kracken, or BTC-e.
5. Savings, built from my income in above occupation.
6. The same banks I have used in the past, these are ____ and the _____. Your transaction records should list the other details that you are asking of me.
7. This will be my last deposit, it is _____ .
8. No.

You already have a copy of my Drivers licence that should be all you require.

Luckily this seems to have worked and my money is no longer a hostage. Has this happened to other verified members when trying to deposit?

Also, does anyone know which exchanges are the best these days and don't ask for a bullshit amount of personal info?

[somac.]

Meant to put this in the exchanges section. Is a Mod able to move this?

[BitHodler]

Unfortunately for you and any other people, there is nothing you can do. I have been through the same hassle as I was already a verified with all my personal details.

I had had to re-verify myself with plenty of additional information they needed from me. The main annoyance for me was that they didn't accept my submitted passport scans.

I had to purchase a new all-in-one printer in order to hand them over the ultra high-res scans of my passport they apparently were so eagerly waiting for.

[somac.]

Sucks to hear Bitholder, it still seems unbelieveable to me though. When I open a bank account in my country all I have to do is provide a drivers licence and one other minor ID. That's it, no intrusive questions. This is Bitcoin for christs sake, freedom, privacy, and all that.

Man that is shit that you had to buy a better scaner for this stupidness. Bastards, I actually used to recommend them once, never again.

[LoyceV]

This is Bitcoin for christs sake, freedom, privacy, and all that.

Your privacy and freedom ends the moment you try to connect Bitcoin to fiat. If you stick to Bitcoin, and nobody can request anything.
I wouldn't be surprised if this is caused by regulation, meant to discourage people from using Bitcoin. But this is of course pure speculation from my part.

[pedrog]

Where do you live?

This is because of some regulation in your country, if it is not required by law you can dispute it, but I seriously doubt Bitstamp would bother customers if it wasn't required by law.

[magicverifysupport]

their kyc process is tough

[BitHodler]

Sucks to hear Bitholder, it still seems unbelieveable to me though. When I open a bank account in my country all I have to do is provide a drivers licence and one other minor ID. That's it, no intrusive questions. This is Bitcoin for christs sake, freedom, privacy, and all that.

Man that is shit that you had to buy a better scaner for this stupidness. Bastards, I actually used to recommend them once, never again.

Bitstamp is a reliable and trustworthy exchange, but the main point is the government that is forcing exchanges to go through all of this. It's basically them wanting to know who exactly is into Bitcoin. It's just another form of their hunger for control.

The only thing I blame Bitstamp for is that they didn't accept my passport scans for three times because of the (according to them) low resolution, which resulted in me spending €65 to deliver what they ask from me.

[Hazir]

I generally have no problem with KYC procedures. When they are reasonable and mild ones. Bitstamp's KYC is way too overboard, I even doubt they need that data.
It seems that they are collecting info for their internal database (they need to know your occupation and other exchanges you are using?) rather than needed to please KYC requirements.
How come that one exchange can have very liberal KYC, rules while other are asking about everything?

[hardtime]

Seems like the normal KYC laws that are disgustingly intrusive on the amount of personal information and details they want about you, which I'm not really a fan of but it stops the bad guys from using bitcoin for bad purposes, at the expense of the privacy of the good guys!

their kyc process is tough

I wouldn't say this is their KYC process, this is the process of anyone who has to operate within the confines of a government that wants to fully know what everyone is doing and would like to be the full controler of the currency used in their economy. (US) I know other currencies, such as Coinbase, Kraken, and others have this issue to and must go ahead and do the same stuff all the time.

Where do you live?

This is because of some regulation in your country, if it is not required by law you can dispute it, but I seriously doubt Bitstamp would bother customers if it wasn't required by law.

Going to be guessing the U.S based on the amount of information they want, and I don't think you can dispute it even if it's not required by law. You'd just have to go to another company that doesn't go further than the minimum KYC laws.

[pedrog]

Where do you live?

This is because of some regulation in your country, if it is not required by law you can dispute it, but I seriously doubt Bitstamp would bother customers if it wasn't required by law.

Going to be guessing the U.S based on the amount of information they want, and I don't think you can dispute it even if it's not required by law. You'd just have to go to another company that doesn't go further than the minimum KYC laws.

It's Australia.

There are laws regarding data collection, businesses cannot simply demand personal information from you and deny you service if you don't want to give said information, well, at least where I live, other countries other laws.

But no business wants to bother their clients unless it is strictly required, also KYC means more expenses.

[romantic1]

Someone said it stop the bad guys. But how ? The bad guys never answer they hacked ...

[stereotype]

Same thing happened to me last week. 7 of the questions are exactly the same as the OP. My ninth question, which really bothers me, was....

"what is the reason for accessing your Bitstamp account using IP addresses in Netherlands, Spain, France, Greece, Belgium, outside your country of residency."
The answer is simply because i was there. What other reason could it be, nefarious or otherwise? Ive yet to reply, so if anyones got any smart-arse answers, please post.

[gentlemand]

Ive yet to reply, so if anyones got any smart-arse answers, please post.

Explain to them the international nature of modern Jihad and they'll ease off.

I have a fully verified Bitstamp account that hasn't been used for years on end. I assume if I put a penny into it now they'd close my arse down. I don't think they'll ever be getting any more business from me because of stuff like this.