***Warning: Visited Poloniex' "Corporate Offices" ***These Are My Findings***

[Hypocritus]

I physically went to the Corporate Offices of Poloniex to get my FoldingCoin deposit unstuck, because you cannot communicate with anyone at Poloniex by email, phone, support ticket, etc....

TL:DR:
These are the real occupants of the "Poloniex Corporate Offices" at 1013 Centre Rd, Ste 403-A, Wilmington, DE 19805 :

American Incorporators Ltd.
https://www.ailcorp.com/

Registered Agents Legal Services, LLC
http://www.inclegal.com/

In other words:

Poloniex is not there. Poloniex was never there.
TL;DR END

I live in Washington, D.C., two and a half hours away for the Poloniex "Headquarters" in Wilmington DE.

Well, after months of experience with threatening to drive up there if my large-ish $3000+ value crypto deposits weren't released, only to have them shortly thereafter released without word, communication, nor suggestions of ways to avoid the issue in the future; the last time I was ignored, I drove up there.

[Hypocritus]

I came upon a formidable 4-double-story block of glass and steel. I approached the building with awe, reverence even. I entered the completely glass entrance doors with timidity. Once inside, I was surprised to find a small lobby, and a relatively short rectangled pathway leading to peripheral offices, all surrounding a system of just 2 elevators. There were few people in the little lobby, and there was some construction work going on. Yet I persisted in my star-struck, squirrelly nervousness. I would read the directory column, and step away, acting as if I had "legitimate" business in the building. As the minutes aggregated, I began to relax, little by little, as not one person seemed to take any interest in me, or to accuse me of being a trespasser.

(Backstory) You see, Poloniex doesn't answer little 'me'. Not my emails, not my phone calls, not my trouble tickets. My large FoldingCoin deposits would regularly get stuck, and I was at "their" benevolent mercy as to when it would be released, always without any form of notice or communication. And I know I'm not the only one. I've seen "countless" droves of people in their TrollBox, asking for help, almost like a horror movie, where the needs of too many people are pleaded to the ears of far too few.... And I've seen many others on Bitcointalk, Countertparty.io, Reddit, ...

I am elated to say, however, that I have now 4 weeks clean from the grasp of the "Poloniex Vice". Which is about where their personnel seems to stop.

Owner/CEO - Tristan D'Angosta
Vice - ........... (wait what?)

...But, back to before hindsight and weeks/months-worth of cultivated tribulation culminated in epiphany ...

[Hypocritus]

I searched the building, asking people where Poloniex was. No one I asked knew who Poloniex was. I'd tell them, "they're one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the US." I would get blank faces in return.

On the 3rd floor, I knew I had found the right office, a back-door with a whole-size glass window and an electronic security lock with a room caller-function. On the other side of the glass I could see what was a semi- spacious office with work- cubicles set up. I persisted in pestering the non-responsive caller function. Finally a young blond woman approached me from the hallway behind me.

"Oh, are you trying to get in...?" She asked, pulling out her key card as if she was about to swipe me in.
"Oh, no, I'm looking for Poloniex."
"..." (a blank + slightly-squinted face tried to appear)...
"Poloniex is one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the U.S., and their corporate offices are supposed to be here."
"..." (puzzled face). "No, I haven't heard of a Poloniex. This is Principle Financial," (speaking of the workspace which I was trying to violate).

I had seen Principle Financial's name on the building directory, and was hoping that somehow POLONIEX was an acronym whose first letter was from "Principle". No, no; it's not...

We conversed for a minute or two. She was very helpful. I told her I was going to try the top (4th) floor. Before we parted, she suggested that I try an office up there in that corner (she pointed in the direction) of the 4th floor, but told me that the office was a "legal agent's" office, yet that they perhaps had been contracted to represent Poloniex, as that was the entire focus of that type of business.

I paused at the thought of such a betrayal..., then thanked her for her helpful advice.

Up the little but pleasant elevator I went, and onto the 4th floor. I went to all corners and sides of that floor, scouring everything, before arriving at the corner that she had suggested.

[Hypocritus]

Summary: (to be expanded later)

I spoke to one of the few legal agents, who didn't know how to pronounce the "Poloniex" he represented, and asked me how to say it. (it's "Puh-LOW-nee-eks" using old-American phonetics).

He did give me the agency's card (see post #13 below or https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2142453.msg22339441#msg22339441), and schooled me as to how I could go about contacting Poloniex indirectly, through them.

He also told me, "this is going outside of the bounds of what I am supposed to be telling you, but you aren't the first one who has come looking for Poloniex".

He also kept implying that there have been others who were looking for Poloniex, with nowhere else to turn... He seemed to exude genuine understanding with every moment of the conversation.

He said that they have communication sessions with Poloniex, and that enough complaint submissions had more chance of make a change.

Complaints can be submitted regarding Tristan D'Angosta's virtual company (Poloniex) here:

info@ailcorp.com

ailcorp.com is the legal representative of Tristan D'Angosta's virtual Delaware Headquartered company Poloniex.

[Hypocritus]

Conclusion:

Like a physical company-model of the Internet, Poloniex is declaring (and routing) it's presence through an Agent located in that office, Suite 403-A of 1013 Centre Rd, Wilmington, DE 19805.

However, unlike the principle of the Internet (connectivity),

1) your phone calls are not being received there (as undoubtedly you already know if you have tried calling the Corporate Offices of Poloniex to speak to a real person within the last two to three months, which has undoubtedly failed)
2) your tokens are not being held, traded or "anything"ed there.
3) your interests are not being deliberated by responsible Poloniex business executives over expansive, room-filling tables there.
4) your problems are in "no form" being addressed by expert Account Support Specialists there.
5) their "Network Operations Center" is definitely not there.

Despite the beautiful, functional online interface, I cannot recommend Poloniex, as he or they do not have 1) time, nor 2) presence for their customers. "Tristan" is making a confirmed $100+ million dollars a year, but he cannot afford quarter-decent Customer Support.

[Hypocritus]

In hindsight, it seems that for help to ever come, you must plant the Poloniex Magic Beans. After learning how to plant their Magic Beans -- which takes effort -- you can hope for your issues to be eventually addressed, but probably without notification, contact, email. You just check, and your $4000+ worth deposit might be released within maybe a week.... But trust me when I say that Poloniex observes all Holidays and Weekends)

*For Polo's Magic Beans (mentioned above):

1a) You must go through the unfair but necessary effort of registering a new account with a new service, The Poloniex Support Service.
1b) That account must have the same email address-username of the Polo account you are having problems with. You "cannot" hope for help by using a "linked" account.

2a) You have to open a Support Ticket (Duh).
2b) But , again, you had better NOT do it from one of your "linked" accounts. They will ignore you until you ... well ... Duh.

3) After filling out the Support Ticket, you'll problem might be resolved within one business week. But they likely won't even say anything to you. You'll check your deposit status, and suddenly find that it is now available, without any form of communication from Poloniex that it is available.

Why don't people plant the magic Polo beans to get the needed Support response? Because of the apparent difficulty of the path, which is juggling double the amount of accounts with usernames, passwords, Two-Factor Authentications. etc.., quadrupling the amount of effort to address a problem.

However, that is very little compared to the distress you will go through if you don't plant them. In that case, you will then have to wade through the Pit of Poloniex $Hell, as you lose trading opportunities at (1 / Speed of Poloniex Customer Support). Now the speed of Poloniex Customer Support is approximately:

1/c

(No, that isn't a truncated Bitcoin address. That is one (1) divided by ( / ) the speed of light (c)...)

[Hypocritus]

For anyone that believes the threat level I am posing, it would be good for you to spread the word. This thread is buried deep in bitcointalk. (Bitcoin Forum > Economy > Marketplace > Service discussion > Exchanges )

I orig. posted it higher up the ladder, but one of the moderators decided to move it to it's present remote location.

(You would think that such a post might be really important given all of the exchanges that really did disappear with millions of people's crypto)

[The Sceptical Chymist]

Wait a minute.   A lot of corporations are incorporated in Delaware,  but in name only,  meaning they don't have any offices or anything actually in Delaware other than a filing cabinet full of papers.  That's a common thing because of Delaware's lower tax rate. 

I wonder where polo actually has all their trading stuff.  I'm pretty sure it isn't in DE.  Sorry to hear about your experiences with their shitty customer service. 

[Hypocritus]

Wait a minute.   A lot of corporations are incorporated in Delaware,  but in name only,  meaning they don't have any offices or anything actually in Delaware other than a filing cabinet full of papers.  That's a common thing because of Delaware's lower tax rate. 

I wonder where polo actually has all their trading stuff.  I'm pretty sure it isn't in DE.  Sorry to hear about your experiences with their shitty customer service. 

Thanks for the sentiment. Yes, according to delaware.gov, 66%+ of publicly traded companies make their "legal" home there.

But it is very misleading to the majority of the population of the U.S. crypto-traders -- especially to those who are wondering if a service can be trusted -- to time and time again make declarations of validity and implied trust with statements like, "We're a U.S -based cryptocurrency exchange, [operating from] Wilmington, Delaware [so you can trust us]."

Um, no, you can't:

https://www.bbb.org/delaware/business-reviews/foreign-currency-exchange-broker/poloniex-inc-in-wilmington-de-92004252

Defend Poloniex with devil's advocate all you want. I sure did. I loved them. And again, And ... I kind of did, again. Then finally, Tristan D'Angosta's [persistent lack of] Customer Support, and cold neglect broke me. He makes well over $100 Million dollars a year. He can afford good Customer Support, right now. But he doesn't do it.

[yefi]

Defend Poloniex with devil's advocate all you want. I sure did. I loved them. And again, And ... I kind of did, again. Then finally, Tristan D'Angosta's [persistent lack of] Customer Support, and cold neglect broke me. He makes well over $100 Million dollars a year. He can afford good Customer Support, right now. But he doesn't do it.

I loved the platform too and made a sweet penny there, but I'd warn anyone away from them now. How a company this successful could so completely neglect its users boggles my mind.

[LeGaulois]

Delaware is a famous state if you need a virtual office with a virtual address and as a bonus you get a low taxes. For me Delaware=Taxs optimizations... I am surprised the guy told you many things that he was not supposed to. It would be nice if you can update this topic to keep us informed about this "Treasure hunt" and more impotant if you get your coins back

[hello_good_sir]

Okay, wasn't bothered to read over the whole thing but essentially you are saying that poloniex's physical address listed on their site isn't occupied by anyone related to them at all? Or am i missing something here?

If i'm right, do you have pictures of the said building being occupied by whatever companies that you pointed out in OP?

This could be a major finding if it turned out to be true, as poloniex is in constant struggle to process deposits and withdrawals. Their customer support is almost non-existent if something goes wrong.

[Hypocritus]

Okay, wasn't bothered to read over the whole thing but essentially you are saying that poloniex's physical address listed on their site isn't occupied by anyone related to them at all? Or am i missing something here?

If i'm right, do you have pictures of the said building being occupied by whatever companies that you pointed out in OP?

This could be a major finding if it turned out to be true, as poloniex is in constant struggle to process deposits and withdrawals. Their customer support is almost non-existent if something goes wrong.

That is almost correct. Poloniex is not the company many have thought they were dealing with. Poloniex, Inc., has no physical presence, except for their "legal" representative, a Delaware business/legal agent, located at that address. Essentially, they are by law allowed to represent Poloniex (receive legal matters such as letters from lawyers, lawsuits, etc...). They do not, however, have any knowledge of what Poloniex really does, how to do it,
 and much less, how to support anything related to the actual business of Poloniex, which is cryptocurrency exchange and the support of at least tens of thousands of people's real investments



That is who really resides that the "Corporate Offices" of Poloniex in Wilmington, DE. A Registered Agent, who literally knows nothing about cryptocurrency. They didn't even know how to pronounce "Poloniex". I know how to because I have called the "Corporate Offices of Poloniex" many times, and heard the exuberantly cheerful, recorded voice -- who promises to send you to help, but never takes you there -- pronounce it. See the Google Maps entry below with it's associate "Contact info". That is the phone number (bottom left).




I really wouldn't be writing all of this -- it's not in my nature, knowing my own human, errant self -- except that Poloniex has scared the +!$# out of me, not once, not twice, but several times, and not responded to me for the last 3 months.

Have I received my funds? Yes, And I go in detail in post number 6 about Poloniex's "magic secret" to getting help. At least it has always, finally, worked for me. However, I am happy to say that I have been Poloniex-free for the last two months. I miss his great trading interface. But I need control over my assets, security, customer service, and real peace-of-mind even more.


If you still need convincing about the danger of Polo, read these:

https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinMarkets/comments/6foeqy/exchange_issues_megathread_poloniex/

https://www.cryptocompare.com/exchanges/poloniex/reviews

https://www.bbb.org/delaware/business-reviews/foreign-currency-exchange-broker/poloniex-inc-in-wilmington-de-92004252

https://www.coinstaker.com/poloniex-may-known-trouble-horizon/

[yefi]

Have I received my funds? Yes, And I go in detail in post number 6 about Poloniex's "magic secret" to getting help. At least it has always, finally, worked for me.

They haven't responded to me in well over a month, and I fulfill all criteria. My issue isn't deposit based, however.

[1Referee]

Have I received my funds? Yes, And I go in detail in post number 6 about Poloniex's "magic secret" to getting help. At least it has always, finally, worked for me.

They haven't responded to me in well over a month, and I fulfill all criteria. My issue isn't deposit based, however.

That shouldn't matter. People waiting for a response regarding a deposit not showing up, cash out requests being stuck for weeks, verifications not being looked into, etc, everything points at Poloniex simply not giving a damn anymore about their customers. It might be because the owners have full pockets due to the massive previous volumes they were generating, or they are facing serious legal issues in the background that people here aren't aware of. Poloniex has always been a top exchange, but they for whatever reason got messed up big time - this definitely isn't an exchange I would people advice to join.

[gentlemand]

Err, so what? That's what most companies do.

Bitstamp, one of the biggest and most legit exchanges, was registered to a small post box on an industrial estate in England for several years. They registered where it's most convenient regulation and cost wise. And this has been known about Poloniex from minute one.

[MAbtc]

Err, so what? That's what most companies do.

Bitstamp, one of the biggest and most legit exchanges, was registered to a small post box on an industrial estate in England for several years. They registered where it's most convenient regulation and cost wise. And this has been known about Poloniex from minute one.

Yeah, I think most people recognize that. And they are okay with it until deposits and withdrawals stop being processed for masses of customers. Then you start having people trying to camp out in front of the corporate offices MT Gox-style. If exchange operators didn't learn early on, they knew by 2014 to follow MT Gox and administer the company through virtual offices.

The bigger issue that the OP is hinting at is that nobody knows who the fuck runs Poloniex. Literally, all people have is a (likely fake) name for the owner. Anonymous Reddit accounts have said that their corporate office are outside of Boston, MA, but again... nobody can confirm anything about these people. No faces, no LinkedIns.

At least with MT Gox, there was Mark Karpeles. The guy did prison time over it and is still on the hook. You think Tristan D'Agosta will do prison time if Poloniex exit scams? I don't think the guys exists....

[yefi]

That shouldn't matter. People waiting for a response regarding a deposit not showing up, cash out requests being stuck for weeks, verifications not being looked into, etc, everything points at Poloniex simply not giving a damn anymore about their customers. It might be because the owners have full pockets due to the massive previous volumes they were generating, or they are facing serious legal issues in the background that people here aren't aware of. Poloniex has always been a top exchange, but they for whatever reason got messed up big time - this definitely isn't an exchange I would people advice to join.

Yeah, I think it's got to be a clusterfuck behind the scenes. Either legal issues as you mention, or they're trying to conceal losses from hacks.

[Slow death]

I read and I was shocked, OP you were very brave. you must report the police authorities, I believe that with this information there may be some investigation and punish if any culprit. they can not continue to harm people

If they have created a company that provides certain services (in the exchange case) they must be responsible persons, they should not ignore their customers

[marky89]

That shouldn't matter. People waiting for a response regarding a deposit not showing up, cash out requests being stuck for weeks, verifications not being looked into, etc, everything points at Poloniex simply not giving a damn anymore about their customers. It might be because the owners have full pockets due to the massive previous volumes they were generating, or they are facing serious legal issues in the background that people here aren't aware of. Poloniex has always been a top exchange, but they for whatever reason got messed up big time - this definitely isn't an exchange I would people advice to join.

Yeah, I think it's got to be a clusterfuck behind the scenes. Either legal issues as you mention, or they're trying to conceal losses from hacks.

I don't think "legal issues" could explain things, unless this were a situation like Bitstamp, where we have seen many examples of people's accounts being disabled for AML/KYC and law enforcement concerns. Those cases clearly all follow a similar protocol and there is a clear (if unfair) explanation for account disabling and termination.

In this case, we're just seeing radio silence for 3-4 months on some peoples' stuck transactions. Compared to 1-2 weeks with Bitstamp. There are scant reports of accounts being disabled and no reports of similar law enforcement concerns. Just stuck transactions everywhere you look. It's just like Cryptsy. I hate to say it, but this is exactly what Cryptsy looked like when their problems began in earnest.