Bitfinex is dropping their US customers

[alyssa85]

https://www.bitfinex.com/posts/216

Service Changes for U.S. Customers

Bitfinex is making changes to the services we provide to U.S. individuals. These changes impact the verification process and trading of certain digital tokens for U.S. customers. Some changes are effective immediately, and others will be gradually implemented in the coming weeks.

Suspension of U.S. Individual Verification Requests

We regret to announce that, effective immediately, we will no longer be accepting verification requests for U.S. individuals.

We have for some time considered pulling away from the retail marketplace in the U.S., and now with a current backlog of verification requests and ongoing difficulties in providing USD deposit and withdrawals for U.S. individuals, we feel that the time has come to begin disengaging from U.S. retail customers.

Several factors have gone into this decision:

    While we have been able to normalize banking for some corporate customers and individuals in certain jurisdictions, compliant banking solutions for U.S. individuals remain elusive. We have been slowly and selectively inviting users in particular jurisdictions who meet set criteria to start using banking channels that have come online. This process is ongoing.
    A surprisingly small percentage of our revenues come from verified U.S. individual accounts while a dramatically outsized portion of our resources goes into servicing the needs of U.S. individuals, including support, legal and regulatory.
    We anticipate the regulatory landscape to become even more challenging in the future.
    Bitfinex is not based in the United States. Exchanges based in the U.S. are better positioned to properly service retail U.S. customers.

We are thankful to all of our loyal U.S. customers that have consistently traded with us but, unfortunately, we have an obligation to our whole customer base and to our shareholders to make rational resource allocation decisions.

Furthermore, over the next 90 days, we will be discontinuing services to our existing U.S. individual customers. We will be communicating further with affected users on timing and specifics. Our intention is to reduce disruption as much as possible for our U.S. customers.

We will continue to take advice and implement further changes as circumstances warrant.

Restrictions on U.S. Persons Trading Certain Digital Tokens

Pursuant to the recent report of investigation issued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Bitfinex is taking the proactive step of barring U.S. customers from trading certain digital tokens that may be deemed securities in the eyes of the SEC.

The restriction will generally apply to ERC20 tokens issued through "ICOs" and will go into effect at noon UTC on Wednesday, August 16, 2017. No trading of these tokens will be allowed for U.S. customers. At the time of this post, the tokens active on Bitfinex that will be subject to this restriction are EOS (EOS) and Santiment (SAN).

Once again, we regret any inconvenience this change in policy might create, but we believe this to be a prudent measure given the regulatory uncertainty surrounding such digital assets.

[2dogs]

Bitfinex can go to hell.

What am I supposed to do with my portfolio on Bitfinex?

[TryNinja]

Bitfinex can go to hell.

What am I supposed to do with my portfolio on Bitfinex?

Withdraw and stop using it? It's not like they are immediately locking every US customer from using their services and just stealing their funds.

Furthermore, over the next 90 days, we will be discontinuing services to our existing U.S. individual customers. We will be communicating further with affected users on timing and specifics. Our intention is to reduce disruption as much as possible for our U.S. customers.

[1Referee]

Bitfinex can go to hell.

What am I supposed to do with my portfolio on Bitfinex?

After everything that happened, Bitfinex isn't an exchange you should be storing any funds on in the first place. Not sure what your portfolio exactly consists of, but see this as a red flag signal to withdraw everything you have ASAP. It may not seem like a positive statement coming from Bitfinex, but if you look at it from a different perspective, they at least can't make any more US related victims if they happen to go nuts at some point (I definitely believe they will, the only question is when).

[Slow death]

They are leaving because of the regulations, poloniex has changed its terms of service I suppose it is for the same reason



"Bitfinex explained that “a surprisingly small percentage of our revenues come from verified U.S. individual accounts.” Meanwhile, “a dramatically outsized portion of our resources goes into servicing the needs of U.S. individuals, including support, legal and regulatory.” Citing that it has been able to “normalize banking for some corporate customers and individuals in certain jurisdictions,” Bitfinex admitted that “compliant banking solutions for U.S. individuals remain elusive.” "

[MAbtc]

They are leaving because of the regulations, poloniex has changed its terms of service I suppose it is for the same reason


"Bitfinex explained that “a surprisingly small percentage of our revenues come from verified U.S. individual accounts.” Meanwhile, “a dramatically outsized portion of our resources goes into servicing the needs of U.S. individuals, including support, legal and regulatory.” Citing that it has been able to “normalize banking for some corporate customers and individuals in certain jurisdictions,” Bitfinex admitted that “compliant banking solutions for U.S. individuals remain elusive.” "

The restrictions on US customers trading ERC20/ICO tokens could definitely be linked to the SEC decision linked in their blog post. However, I think withdrawing entirely from the United States market is a much bigger story that has to do with Bitfinex lacking any licensing in the US and the recent action against the BTC-e exchange. I think that's also why they are openly stating that US customers are a tiny portion of their business (probably not true), as a feeble attempt to cover their ass regarding future claims about them operating as an MSB.

Unfortunately for them, pulling out of the US market at this point does not repair the past several years of operating unlicensed.

[Clement Kaliyar]

So what happens to the US users will they be allowed to withdraw their coins,since they have taken this decision all of a sudden they did not even give the users the opportunity to withdraw before they implement these rules,since we have many exchanges this is not a big deal but my problem is they have to inform the users beforehand before implementing something like this.

[illinest]

So what happens to the US users will they be allowed to withdraw their coins,since they have taken this decision all of a sudden they did not even give the users the opportunity to withdraw before they implement these rules,since we have many exchanges this is not a big deal but my problem is they have to inform the users beforehand before implementing something like this.

Presumably, yes, US users can withdraw all coins held on the exchange. They said they will be discontinuing services to such customers over the next 90 days. That suggests to me that US customers can withdraw normally for the next 90 days (possibly more). Usually after that, in similar cases, you would need to contact support, but you could still withdraw your funds after that point.

Officially, they are stopping US customers from verifying immediately. They are stopping US customers from trading ERC20 tokens in 5 days. And sometime over the next 90 days, all services will be stopped for US customers.

[alyssa85]

So what happens to the US users will they be allowed to withdraw their coins,since they have taken this decision all of a sudden they did not even give the users the opportunity to withdraw before they implement these rules,since we have many exchanges this is not a big deal but my problem is they have to inform the users beforehand before implementing something like this.

You've got 90 days to get your funds out of Bitfinex, and if I was you I wouldn't wait, I'd move the money out now.

Remember you won't be able to get fiat out, because they've lost the ability to move dollars. So you'll either have to buy bitcoin, or buy an alt, and then move those coins out asap.

Also - note that the fees for withdrawing bitcoin are rather high on bitfinex: 0.004btc - at a bitcoin price of $3500 that is $14.

So maybe try using bitcoincash or litecoin to move money. Here are the list of withdrawal fees:

https://www.bitfinex.com/fees

But don't wait, start moving your coins now.

[manchester93]

Not surprising after what's happened to BTC-e. The problem is that Bitfinex has already been processing USD for US customers for years. There is a KYC process in place, but there is the matter of licensing...

With this new "ethfinex" thing, it certainly seems like they are trying to distract from their banking problems...

[xypos]

https://www.bitfinex.com/posts/216

Service Changes for U.S. Customers

Bitfinex is making changes to the services we provide to U.S. individuals. These changes impact the verification process and trading of certain digital tokens for U.S. customers. Some changes are effective immediately, and others will be gradually implemented in the coming weeks.

Suspension of U.S. Individual Verification Requests

We regret to announce that, effective immediately, we will no longer be accepting verification requests for U.S. individuals.

We have for some time considered pulling away from the retail marketplace in the U.S., and now with a current backlog of verification requests and ongoing difficulties in providing USD deposit and withdrawals for U.S. individuals, we feel that the time has come to begin disengaging from U.S. retail customers.

Several factors have gone into this decision:

    While we have been able to normalize banking for some corporate customers and individuals in certain jurisdictions, compliant banking solutions for U.S. individuals remain elusive. We have been slowly and selectively inviting users in particular jurisdictions who meet set criteria to start using banking channels that have come online. This process is ongoing.
    A surprisingly small percentage of our revenues come from verified U.S. individual accounts while a dramatically outsized portion of our resources goes into servicing the needs of U.S. individuals, including support, legal and regulatory.
    We anticipate the regulatory landscape to become even more challenging in the future.
    Bitfinex is not based in the United States. Exchanges based in the U.S. are better positioned to properly service retail U.S. customers.

We are thankful to all of our loyal U.S. customers that have consistently traded with us but, unfortunately, we have an obligation to our whole customer base and to our shareholders to make rational resource allocation decisions.

Furthermore, over the next 90 days, we will be discontinuing services to our existing U.S. individual customers. We will be communicating further with affected users on timing and specifics. Our intention is to reduce disruption as much as possible for our U.S. customers.

We will continue to take advice and implement further changes as circumstances warrant.

Restrictions on U.S. Persons Trading Certain Digital Tokens

Pursuant to the recent report of investigation issued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Bitfinex is taking the proactive step of barring U.S. customers from trading certain digital tokens that may be deemed securities in the eyes of the SEC.

The restriction will generally apply to ERC20 tokens issued through "ICOs" and will go into effect at noon UTC on Wednesday, August 16, 2017. No trading of these tokens will be allowed for U.S. customers. At the time of this post, the tokens active on Bitfinex that will be subject to this restriction are EOS (EOS) and Santiment (SAN).

Once again, we regret any inconvenience this change in policy might create, but we believe this to be a prudent measure given the regulatory uncertainty surrounding such digital assets.

Seems like that they are scared by the fact that BTC-e basically got brutally taken down by the US government, and they want to vaoid the US government as much as they can because they know that even with their KYC standards it might not be enough.

And plus as they said the effort and money put into handling US side of things is just too large.

Most of Bitfinex's users aren't even US citizens, meaning that discontinuing US users will lessen their profit, just not by a very large margin at all.

Just use some other exchange if you're in US and still want to trade. Most of them are still open for US, but some ban specific states.

[squatter]

Seems like that they are scared by the fact that BTC-e basically got brutally taken down by the US government, and they want to vaoid the US government as much as they can because they know that even with their KYC standards it might not be enough.

And plus as they said the effort and money put into handling US side of things is just too large.

Most of Bitfinex's users aren't even US citizens, meaning that discontinuing US users will lessen their profit, just not by a very large margin at all.

Just use some other exchange if you're in US and still want to trade. Most of them are still open for US, but some ban specific states.

I suspect more of the exchange's customers are US citizens than the exchange would like to admit. When they came back online last year, they made users indicate whether they resided in the US or not. I'm sure many clicked no. Apparently there were no repercussions based on IP address or anything like that. Based on the BTC-e indictment, the fact that they admit having US customers at all (without proper MSB licensing) may be a problem...

[crazyivan]

Well, I do see this as a bad think neither for US people not for the rest of us. If a service acts like that as is afraid of being taken down, this usually means they have something to hide or they re involved in some illegal shit. Why would I use that kind of service? Crypto s NOT about scamming people and doing market manipulation.

So I d say, fuck you Bitfinex. I m from Europe and your ban does not apply to me (yet) but you will not see a single satoshi from me.

[romani245]

Well, I do see this as a bad think neither for US people not for the rest of us. If a service acts like that as is afraid of being taken down, this usually means they have something to hide or they re involved in some illegal shit. Why would I use that kind of service? Crypto s NOT about scamming people and doing market manipulation.

So I d say, fuck you Bitfinex. I m from Europe and your ban does not apply to me (yet) but you will not see a single satoshi from me.

Yes, I would be very careful of them. I'd get my coins out now (if I still had any there). They have been showing red flags for a long time (starting with the hack which they still can't figure out, to their inability to process fiat). It's been so long now (5 months) since they could process payouts to customers that it's pretty reasonable to start questioning their solvency.

[bitjoin]

Excellent decision by finex its too risky to deal with USA who can shut you down at anytime they feel like it.  It happened with poker before and im surprised exchanges have even been dealing with the US up to now anyway.  This sucks for my fellow US crypto friends so i hope you find other solutions.

[romani245]

Excellent decision by finex its too risky to deal with USA who can shut you down at anytime they feel like it.  It happened with poker before and im surprised exchanges have even been dealing with the US up to now anyway.  This sucks for my fellow US crypto friends so i hope you find other solutions.

Exchanges continue to serve US residents because it's such a huge market. That's why Pokerstars did it, flouting the law the whole time. Bitfinex might say that verified US users are small part of their customer base (I don't even believe that). Unverified US customers definitely form a big part of their base. They are just trying to cover their ass.

[bitjoin]

Excellent decision by finex its too risky to deal with USA who can shut you down at anytime they feel like it.  It happened with poker before and im surprised exchanges have even been dealing with the US up to now anyway.  This sucks for my fellow US crypto friends so i hope you find other solutions.

Exchanges continue to serve US residents because it's such a huge market. That's why Pokerstars did it, flouting the law the whole time. Bitfinex might say that verified US users are small part of their customer base (I don't even believe that). Unverified US customers definitely form a big part of their base. They are just trying to cover their ass.

Pokerstars doesn't serve the US anymore and years ago they said a similar thing that they didn't need the US customers to continue as the majourity of their revenue came from ROW.  Maybe it is in some way covering their assess. I know pokerstars has done well since then. You have to ask yourself would you serve the US if you were an exchange?

[LeGaulois]

A fair decision for them. Honestly, in the same shoes, we would take the same decision. If they spend too many resources/effort to serve US customers while the revenues generated is very small then the company has no use to continue it (economically speaking). Be sure they are going to restrict more, or all ICO very soon

[mk4]

Bitfinex can go to hell.

What am I supposed to do with my portfolio on Bitfinex?

Maybe.. withdraw your portfolio? You're talking as if Bitfinex ran away with your cryptocurrencies. Make it a habit of reading the actual article(s) instead of just reading the headlines and react immediately. I really expect alot more from a legendary member.

"Furthermore, over the next 90 days, we will be discontinuing services to our existing U.S. individual customers"

Well, I do see this as a bad think neither for US people not for the rest of us. If a service acts like that as is afraid of being taken down, this usually means they have something to hide or they re involved in some illegal shit. Why would I use that kind of service? Crypto s NOT about scamming people and doing market manipulation.

So I d say, fuck you Bitfinex. I m from Europe and your ban does not apply to me (yet) but you will not see a single satoshi from me.

I wouldn't jump into conclusions that fast. Don't forget that the US government can pull off random reasons just to shut down businesses, not to mention we're talking about cryptocurrencies here. Which they might see as competition or a threat to their fiat. Also, maybe they're gonna disallow US citizens because of the same reason why ICOs are not allowed in the US?

[Samarkand]

What is stopping any US citizen from simply opening up a new BFX account?
It is not necessary to verify your account at all if you deposit and withdraw only
in cryptos.

I see the reasoning behind their decision, but I think practically you can
still continue to use their exchange, if you want to do it.