Bitfinex is dropping their US customers

[countryfree]

Good. I'm very happy with this decision. They're going the same way as Swiss banks. US customers bring too many problems. Most banks in most countries, and most financial institutions everywhere in the world, are just telling Americans to stay at home.
Sorry sir, we don't want to do business with you.
That's what you hear when you're an American abroad nowadays. If Trump would kill FATCA and the International taxation of US citizens instead of wrecking the deal with Iran, it could change.

You saying that it has a political motivation behind here not wanting US citizens because they bring more harm than good?

But If I'm a US citizen, I will take this news as another slap on the face because they will lose a lot of opportunity to do trading. The only recourse of action is to really take it somewhere else. Maybe Bitfinex is really afraid that they will be the next BTC-E, being targeted by US authorities so they make this moved to avoid problems. But I don't think this is fair to all US citizens who are trading legally and not doing any money laundering or any illegal acts.

There were also many Americans with a Swiss or Singaporean bank account who weren't cheating on their taxes. But nowadays, it's next to impossible to open a bank account in those countries if you're holding an American passport. Well, unless you have an introducer, and some very legit fully explainable import-export business. Bitfinex is only a small new element. Other exchanges, QuadrigaCX or Gatecoin also, block American users. I'm sorry if you're American, but most banks and exchanges just want to avoid trouble.

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[squatter]

There were also many Americans with a Swiss or Singaporean bank account who weren't cheating on their taxes. But nowadays, it's next to impossible to open a bank account in those countries if you're holding an American passport. Well, unless you have an introducer, and some very legit fully explainable import-export business. Bitfinex is only a small new element. Other exchanges, QuadrigaCX or Gatecoin also, block American users. I'm sorry if you're American, but most banks and exchanges just want to avoid trouble.

This is the nature of regulation. Those residing in other countries may not be experiencing it yet, but they will face similar restrictions, too, once governments begin passing regulations governing cryptocurrency exchanges. At the rate things are happening, we can expect this to happen in the major developed countries within the next couple years.

The reason this happens is that licensing and overall compliance costs are prohibitive for small companies and startups. As Bitcoin goes mainstream, there is much more potential venture capital backing these companies (like Coinbase, Gemini) to justify compliance.

That's the trade-off for these companies. They have much higher compliance costs, but they are competing for a larger share of a much larger pie as cryptocurrency continues to go mainstream.

[alyssa85]

People are crapping on the Americans - but the thing is Bitfinex is dodgy. Their mysterious hack for example. It's no wonder the American regulators started asking questions.

American traders can use GDAX or Gemini, while Bitfinex will attract the dodgier end of the spectrum. I'd be very surprised if their exchange was even operating in a few years time.

[countryfree]

People are crapping on the Americans - but the thing is Bitfinex is dodgy. Their mysterious hack for example. It's no wonder the American regulators started asking questions.

Wasn't aware of that. I thought Bitfinex was doing that from its own initiative. Do you have any link to this request from American regulators? I don't see Bitfinex as dodgy. No more than Poloniex or Kraken (I have coins at all 3).

[warningsigns]

People are crapping on the Americans - but the thing is Bitfinex is dodgy. Their mysterious hack for example. It's no wonder the American regulators started asking questions.

Wasn't aware of that. I thought Bitfinex was doing that from its own initiative. Do you have any link to this request from American regulators? I don't see Bitfinex as dodgy. No more than Poloniex or Kraken (I have coins at all 3).

All three seem to be poorly mismanaged exchanges. The common denominator is the countless complaints here and elsewhere on the world wide web about account access being denied or limited. I’m surprised you’re relaxed about keeping coins in these three exchanges. Storing coins in any exchange is too risky these days. Arbitrary and random account blockage are too scary for me to contemplate or experience. I don’t mind if they take their sweet time verifying an empty account but if they restrict access to coins stored on the account, that’s the painful bit. I would have sleepless nights worrying about those coins. Uncertainty is never a pleasant thing.

[RGBKey]

People are crapping on the Americans - but the thing is Bitfinex is dodgy. Their mysterious hack for example. It's no wonder the American regulators started asking questions.

Wasn't aware of that. I thought Bitfinex was doing that from its own initiative. Do you have any link to this request from American regulators? I don't see Bitfinex as dodgy. No more than Poloniex or Kraken (I have coins at all 3).

Poloniex is pretty dodgy. I've had deposits take waayyyyy too long to get in there, and withdraws that sometimes seem to take days for no reason. I've known people who had to contact support just to get their own coins released from their system when they were mysteriously locked up. I've stayed far away from them since.

[countryfree]

People are crapping on the Americans - but the thing is Bitfinex is dodgy. Their mysterious hack for example. It's no wonder the American regulators started asking questions.

Wasn't aware of that. I thought Bitfinex was doing that from its own initiative. Do you have any link to this request from American regulators? I don't see Bitfinex as dodgy. No more than Poloniex or Kraken (I have coins at all 3).

All three seem to be poorly mismanaged exchanges. The common denominator is the countless complaints here and elsewhere on the world wide web about account access being denied or limited. I’m surprised you’re relaxed about keeping coins in these three exchanges. Storing coins in any exchange is too risky these days. Arbitrary and random account blockage are too scary for me to contemplate or experience. I don’t mind if they take their sweet time verifying an empty account but if they restrict access to coins stored on the account, that’s the painful bit. I would have sleepless nights worrying about those coins. Uncertainty is never a pleasant thing.

I'm not storing my coins. All are on orders, or on loans, and I've never had any trouble with any exchange so far. On Poloniex, when I look at my trade history, it's more than 100 pages, without any trouble. Well, I remember their server went down a few times, but I know those things happen. I've also bought many cars at copart.com which many, many people say it's dodgy, but most of the time, everything has been fine for me. There's risk in every business, and I guess you shall not be afraid of some people complaining on the web. You just need to test a service for a while a first. My first time at an exchange, I go with $100. I'm doing a few trades, get my coins back, and if everything went fine, I invest some more. Note also that I'm using 3 exchanges (well, Bitstamp also), I don't put all my eggs in the same basket...

[richardsNY]

I'm not storing my coins. All are on orders, or on loans, and I've never had any trouble with any exchange so far. On Poloniex, when I look at my trade history, it's more than 100 pages, without any trouble. Well, I remember their server went down a few times, but I know those things happen.

It's different per person. I see loads of complaints about Bittrex come through in the last weeks, all from people claiming that Bittrex is a thief, etc. I use Bittrex too, and never have I encountered even 1 single issue. The only thing that I don't like about Bittrex is that they don't allow you to create a new deposit address manually, but that's something you have to accept when making use of them. It's impossible to please everyone as exchange/service. Other than that, I do agree with alyssa85, Bitfinex is an exchange that can't be trusted anymore after their hack drama -- from there I find it very difficult to swallow that people are still making use of such an exchange.

[sylance]

I'm not storing my coins. All are on orders, or on loans, and I've never had any trouble with any exchange so far. On Poloniex, when I look at my trade history, it's more than 100 pages, without any trouble. Well, I remember their server went down a few times, but I know those things happen. I've also bought many cars at copart.com which many, many people say it's dodgy, but most of the time, everything has been fine for me. There's risk in every business, and I guess you shall not be afraid of some people complaining on the web. You just need to test a service for a while a first. My first time at an exchange, I go with $100. I'm doing a few trades, get my coins back, and if everything went fine, I invest some more. Note also that I'm using 3 exchanges (well, Bitstamp also), I don't put all my eggs in the same basket...

I've had nothing but good experiences on Poloniex, and I also realize that no service is perfect so it's not the (now aging) outages that concern me.  What concerns me about Poloniex is their total lack of communication around the outages.  If they would have simply recognized the outage, communicate status updates, and even go further to provide updates on upgrading their support group... then I'd feel more comfortable keeping my coin there.  There's also the fact that after 5-months I've yet to have my account verified; that tells me they either don't care or running on the bare minimum staff.

[countryfree]

I'm not storing my coins. All are on orders, or on loans, and I've never had any trouble with any exchange so far. On Poloniex, when I look at my trade history, it's more than 100 pages, without any trouble. Well, I remember their server went down a few times, but I know those things happen. I've also bought many cars at copart.com which many, many people say it's dodgy, but most of the time, everything has been fine for me. There's risk in every business, and I guess you shall not be afraid of some people complaining on the web. You just need to test a service for a while a first. My first time at an exchange, I go with $100. I'm doing a few trades, get my coins back, and if everything went fine, I invest some more. Note also that I'm using 3 exchanges (well, Bitstamp also), I don't put all my eggs in the same basket...

I've had nothing but good experiences on Poloniex, and I also realize that no service is perfect so it's not the (now aging) outages that concern me.  What concerns me about Poloniex is their total lack of communication around the outages.  If they would have simply recognized the outage, communicate status updates, and even go further to provide updates on upgrading their support group... then I'd feel more comfortable keeping my coin there.  There's also the fact that after 5-months I've yet to have my account verified; that tells me they either don't care or running on the bare minimum staff.

You may stay forever with an unverified account. I agree the daily withdrawal limit can be a problem, but it isn't if you're a long term investor.

@richardsNY
I don't think about the Bitfinex hack anymore. It happened more than a year ago.