BTC-e's Big Claim: Bitcoin Withdrawals to Begin Tomorrow

[alyssa85]

https://www.coindesk.com/btc-es-big-claim-bitcoin-withdrawals-begin-tomorrow/

BTC-e, the long-running and controversial bitcoin exchange targeted by US authorities last month, has claimed that users will be able to withdraw their funds beginning Saturday.

As previously reported, BTC-e – after its original domain had been seized by law enforcement following the arrest of a Russian national and the levying of a $110 million fine for money laundering violations – said it had secured "55 [percent] of the funds" originally held by the exchange, with the rest being confiscated. Yesterday, BTC-e renewed access through a new domain, allowing users to check their balances and communicate through the chat box.

In an update, the exchange said that users would be able to withdraw the portion of their funds still available – provided that they accept a deal which would see BTC-e issue a debt token aimed at making up for the confiscated funds.

The statement reads:

    "On September 2, 2017, it will be possible to withdraw 55% of the funds from the account...on the condition that our debt obligations are abandoned to the remaining 45% of funds in the form of tokens. More details about the conditions, the principle of calculation and the form of output will be available tomorrow."

[Kemarit]

This has remain to be seen. Actually I admired how BTC-e was able to or will able to pay its customers back in such a short time. Maybe their investors have really back them up so that the customers be refunded, specially those traders who's life saving what in their platform, or those individual has nothing to do with the laundered money or from the hacked. Its this really came into fruition then I think this will be one of the most satisfying for those who have lots of funds into BTC-e. Whatever percentage they will got is still good as compare to getting nothing at all. I'm sure trading will commence as well once they got their funds or their tokens. Let wait how this will end up.

[Slow death]

...

So far I do not understand how they managed to get rid of the money laundering accusations and how they got back to operating so fast.

this looks more like a "secret deal". like in American movies: when the FBI and CIA need to find many criminals they make deals with the small criminals to get them to the big criminals.

such as when someone goes fishing and uses the small fish on the hook to serve as bait to catch the big fish.

I do not want to scare people, but this is strange.

[Yuuto]

https://www.coindesk.com/btc-es-big-claim-bitcoin-withdrawals-begin-tomorrow/

BTC-e, the long-running and controversial bitcoin exchange targeted by US authorities last month, has claimed that users will be able to withdraw their funds beginning Saturday.

As previously reported, BTC-e – after its original domain had been seized by law enforcement following the arrest of a Russian national and the levying of a $110 million fine for money laundering violations – said it had secured "55 [percent] of the funds" originally held by the exchange, with the rest being confiscated. Yesterday, BTC-e renewed access through a new domain, allowing users to check their balances and communicate through the chat box.

In an update, the exchange said that users would be able to withdraw the portion of their funds still available – provided that they accept a deal which would see BTC-e issue a debt token aimed at making up for the confiscated funds.

The statement reads:

    "On September 2, 2017, it will be possible to withdraw 55% of the funds from the account...on the condition that our debt obligations are abandoned to the remaining 45% of funds in the form of tokens. More details about the conditions, the principle of calculation and the form of output will be available tomorrow."

If they redeem their promise then i have true respect for them. They are one of the few exchancges to ever be able to do this in such a short span of time, and reimburse their customers without any further questions asked.

However, it's not very clear to me if you decide that you want to have your money back now(you'll get 55%), will you essentially be forfeiting the rest of your funds which amounts to 45%(which is a lot), or will you just receive an IOU token like the BFX token? If the latter then what benefits will you get out of not claiming your balance right now?

Can anyone answer this, or is there not enough info from btc-e to answer this question?

[R2Pleasent]

https://www.coindesk.com/btc-es-big-claim-bitcoin-withdrawals-begin-tomorrow/

BTC-e, the long-running and controversial bitcoin exchange targeted by US authorities last month, has claimed that users will be able to withdraw their funds beginning Saturday.

As previously reported, BTC-e – after its original domain had been seized by law enforcement following the arrest of a Russian national and the levying of a $110 million fine for money laundering violations – said it had secured "55 [percent] of the funds" originally held by the exchange, with the rest being confiscated. Yesterday, BTC-e renewed access through a new domain, allowing users to check their balances and communicate through the chat box.

In an update, the exchange said that users would be able to withdraw the portion of their funds still available – provided that they accept a deal which would see BTC-e issue a debt token aimed at making up for the confiscated funds.

The statement reads:

    "On September 2, 2017, it will be possible to withdraw 55% of the funds from the account...on the condition that our debt obligations are abandoned to the remaining 45% of funds in the form of tokens. More details about the conditions, the principle of calculation and the form of output will be available tomorrow."

If they redeem their promise then i have true respect for them. They are one of the few exchancges to ever be able to do this in such a short span of time, and reimburse their customers without any further questions asked.

However, it's not very clear to me if you decide that you want to have your money back now(you'll get 55%), will you essentially be forfeiting the rest of your funds which amounts to 45%(which is a lot), or will you just receive an IOU token like the BFX token? If the latter then what benefits will you get out of not claiming your balance right now?

Can anyone answer this, or is there not enough info from btc-e to answer this question?

If you withdraw early, then you forfeit the 45% token issue.  You are taking an assured cashout now, with no verification required, at the cost of your claim to the remaining 45% debt.

...

So far I do not understand how they managed to get rid of the money laundering accusations and how they got back to operating so fast.

this looks more like a "secret deal". like in American movies: when the FBI and CIA need to find many criminals they make deals with the small criminals to get them to the big criminals.

such as when someone goes fishing and uses the small fish on the hook to serve as bait to catch the big fish.

I do not want to scare people, but this is strange.

Here's a few reasons why this is unlikely to be a honeypot or "secret deal" as you call it.  BTC-e is opening withdrawals for users who wish to withdraw their 55% account value and forfeit their 45% debt token.  Anyone withdrawing early gets 55% of their account value in crypto.  No verification required.  So essentially they'll be firing out millions of dollars in crypto in the next few days without getting any information in return.  No ID documents, no information at all really.

The FBI isn't going to forfeit millions of dollars in assets for no reason.  Obviously they could just not send out those withdrawals, but that would destroy the trust they have built in the community.  If they don't actually process the withdrawals in the coming days, then they are essentially defaulting on their debt, under terms they created unnecessarily.  No one expected them to create an early withdrawal system.  It was a recent surprise announcement.

[alyssa85]

Looks like the refund site is up:

https://twitter.com/btcecom/status/904064838619373568

https://btc-e.nz/refund

You have to log in with your old password, they will make you reset it (and re-verify your email)

[audaciousbeing]

...

So far I do not understand how they managed to get rid of the money laundering accusations and how they got back to operating so fast.

this looks more like a "secret deal". like in American movies: when the FBI and CIA need to find many criminals they make deals with the small criminals to get them to the big criminals.

such as when someone goes fishing and uses the small fish on the hook to serve as bait to catch the big fish.

I do not want to scare people, but this is strange.

I dont think its in anyone's place to understand how they are getting back so fast as what matter most is the fact that they are paying even after a lot of doubt has been cast on this ever happening even myself. The next is to know how that will happen and what will the customers give in return to the have access to their funds. Several things I see happening as a result of this:
1. A further reduction in the price of bitcoin because of the glut that would be happening and

2. A surge in mixing activities due to the untrustworthy nature of the coin coming out from BTC-e because of the anonymity can no longer be guaranteed.

[lite]

Looks like the refund site is up:

https://twitter.com/btcecom/status/904064838619373568

https://btc-e.nz/refund

You have to log in with your old password, they will make you reset it (and re-verify your email)

Yeah, the refund system is up, but if one request for refund now they would have to forget about the 45% of their money. better wait till september 15, then request for the refund/withdrawal. then you'd be getting 55% refund/withdrawal and 45% IOU tokens.

[shield132]

Did anyone got refund from this website? I was going to use BTC-E and it's great I didn't finalize that decision or I would be without my coins.
There were much people using BTC-E, hope someone will confirm how situation will go, will they receive money or not.

lite
Why will people receive 45% IOU tokens on or after 15 September?

[mobnepal]

Why will people receive 45% IOU tokens on or after 15 September?

I think this is because most of their fund got blocked by FBI when one of the owner got caught few weeks ago.
They are following footsteps of bitfinex, after getting hacked bitfinex have also offered IOU tokens and started late crowdfunding to compensate those losses. Don't know what is btc-e's further plan though...

[lite]

lite
Why will people receive 45% IOU tokens on or after 15 September?

They'll be launching a new site on that date or before, everything will be transferred to a new site(all user information etc..). on the new site one can withdraw 55% and have 45% of their money as IOU tokens. if one withdraws now they'd have to give up 45% of their money. more information is available here (https://btc-e.nz/news/3) and (https://btc-e.nz/refund).

[alyssa85]

Looks like the refund site is up:

https://twitter.com/btcecom/status/904064838619373568

https://btc-e.nz/refund

You have to log in with your old password, they will make you reset it (and re-verify your email)

Yeah, the refund system is up, but if one request for refund now they would have to forget about the 45% of their money. better wait till september 15, then request for the refund/withdrawal. then you'd be getting 55% refund/withdrawal and 45% IOU tokens.

I guess it depends on whether you believe the IOU tokens will be worth anything.

[左]

Happy to get at least something back..but it isn't the ideal situation.
Are the IOU tokens meant to be traded on their own market or is it literally a static token to be able to make your claims at a later stage.

[illinest]

Happy to get at least something back..but it isn't the ideal situation.
Are the IOU tokens meant to be traded on their own market or is it literally a static token to be able to make your claims at a later stage.

If you go to their .nz site and click the "token" tab, you can see what they intend to do. The tokens seem to be tradable only against their liquid counterpart -- so, USD/USD token, BTC/BTC token, NMC/NMC token, etc. This also suggests that they intend to offer fiat markets. That further suggests that fiat holders who do not take the refund option will not have their funds converted to coins.

[magneto]

Has anyone actually received anything from them yet? I haven't actually heard anyone getting a successful cashout.

55% is actually a pretty good percentage considering the fact that the US government was on it. When liberty reserve got shut down nobody got a cent, and even after a few years now still no user have gotten anything back.

Also, how long do I have to wait for me to get a full refund instead of just 55%? If i cashout now will i get the IOU token as well?

[xypos]

Happy to get at least something back..but it isn't the ideal situation.
Are the IOU tokens meant to be traded on their own market or is it literally a static token to be able to make your claims at a later stage.

Yeah, 55% isn't a bad percentage at all. The odds were much lower when btc-e got shut down initially.

I think that IOU tokens will be able to be traded on btc-e, with either fiat or bitcoin depending on the type of IOU you hold. Essentially something like the bitfinex BFX tokens when bitfinex was hacked and robbed of a lot of bitcoin. Not sure where the money is going to come from for the repaymento of IOU tokens and when they will be fully redeemed but i assume that they will come from exchange fees that btc-e makes, just like the bitfinex hack(though i'm not 100% certain so correct me if i'm wrong).

[1Referee]

Has anyone actually received anything from them yet? I haven't actually heard anyone getting a successful cashout.

People have been receiving everything as they were promised, except for the BCC's that they were due initially - hours ago BTC-E has started to send out BCC, so that after all is a very positive sign. It shows that this exchange isn't interested in running away with people's funds, which makes me even more confident about my decision to not cash out.

55% is actually a pretty good percentage considering the fact that the US government was on it. When liberty reserve got shut down nobody got a cent, and even after a few years now still no user have gotten anything back.

55% is always better than when you realize that everyone could have been walking out empty handed, but for a lot people it's thousands and thousands in funds they have 'locked' in BTC-E, which makes it an easy option for them to stay. If I decided to accept the 55% and thus discard the other 45%, it would mean that I basically say goodbye to ~$15,000, and that's obviously not something I am going to do. Imagine how things must be for people with hundreds of thousands of funds in there.

Also, how long do I have to wait for me to get a full refund instead of just 55%? If i cashout now will i get the IOU token as well?

Obviously, you will not get the tokens if you cash out now. The point is that you will never know whether or not you'll be able to gain back 100% - the important factor will be the market value of these tokens. It will be a tradable asset alongside other crypto currencies. It may get pumped hard, it may get dumped hard, it may remain stagnant for a while - only time will tell.

[magneto]

Has anyone actually received anything from them yet? I haven't actually heard anyone getting a successful cashout.

People have been receiving everything as they were promised, except for the BCC's that they were due initially - hours ago BTC-E has started to send out BCC, so that after all is a very positive sign. It shows that this exchange isn't interested in running away with people's funds, which makes me even more confident about my decision to not cash out.

55% is actually a pretty good percentage considering the fact that the US government was on it. When liberty reserve got shut down nobody got a cent, and even after a few years now still no user have gotten anything back.

55% is always better than when you realize that everyone could have been walking out empty handed, but for a lot people it's thousands and thousands in funds they have 'locked' in BTC-E, which makes it an easy option for them to stay. If I decided to accept the 55% and thus discard the other 45%, it would mean that I basically say goodbye to ~$15,000, and that's obviously not something I am going to do. Imagine how things must be for people with hundreds of thousands of funds in there.

Also, how long do I have to wait for me to get a full refund instead of just 55%? If i cashout now will i get the IOU token as well?

Obviously, you will not get the tokens if you cash out now. The point is that you will never know whether or not you'll be able to gain back 100% - the important factor will be the market value of these tokens. It will be a tradable asset alongside other crypto currencies. It may get pumped hard, it may get dumped hard, it may remain stagnant for a while - only time will tell.

Thanks for the response.

Still a bit confused though. Say i choose to wait a bit, will i be able to get the 55% in immediately available cash, as well as the 45% in IOUs or will i just receive 100% of my funds in the form of BTC-e IOUs? Is there like a date for when you are able to get the IOUs?

Also, ouch. $15k is a lot of money, and i understand that it is quite a dilemma for anyone that has major funds in btc-e. Thankfully i don't have a lot and i just want to get a clear picture of what is going on, but i'm likely to just claim the 55% since i don't have a lot anyways.

[1Referee]

Still a bit confused though. Say i choose to wait a bit, will i be able to get the 55% in immediately available cash, as well as the 45% in IOUs or will i just receive 100% of my funds in the form of BTC-e IOUs? Is there like a date for when you are able to get the IOUs?

If you wait, you will get 55% in crypto funds, and the other 45% will be tokens - basically the same as what people have received by cashing out now, but you as "bonus" will get the 45% in tokens. Once BTC-E is back online, you'll be able to cash out your 55% at start, and just keep waiting for the other 45% in tokens to increase in value, or to dump them directly and cash out these funds as well. I personally will cash out my 55% directly at the time they relaunch, where I then just keep waiting for how the token market will be performing price wise. Regarding the date, let's say that the chances are high that everything will be up and running before the end of this month.

[romani245]

Still a bit confused though. Say i choose to wait a bit, will i be able to get the 55% in immediately available cash, as well as the 45% in IOUs or will i just receive 100% of my funds in the form of BTC-e IOUs? Is there like a date for when you are able to get the IOUs?

If you wait, you will get 55% in crypto funds, and the other 45% will be tokens - basically the same as what people have received by cashing out now, but you as "bonus" will get the 45% in tokens. Once BTC-E is back online, you'll be able to cash out your 55% at start, and just keep waiting for the other 45% in tokens to increase in value, or to dump them directly and cash out these funds as well. I personally will cash out my 55% directly at the time they relaunch, where I then just keep waiting for how the token market will be performing price wise. Regarding the date, let's say that the chances are high that everything will be up and running before the end of this month.

There is one problem with that. We don't know the terms for withdrawals. This much is clear: no verification for 55% now. The most we know is that they have said on Russian forums that "small" withdrawals will be possible without verification. Otherwise, fork your passport, utility bill, etc. over to these people (and maybe the FBI)........