Beware of Bittrex blocking withdrawals for "security" reasons

[h311m4n]

So a friend of mine was trying to withdraw a certain amount of coins from Bittrex (around 1 BTC) and was faced with the need to now become verified on Bittrex to withdraw anything above 0.025BTC (accounts created prior to the 1st of August have a limit of 0.025BTC, newer accounts have 0 (lol)).

I don't know how many of you use Bittrex, if this is old news and just a copycat of another topic, but I felt like it needed to be put out there.

This is what they state:

"Due to the large number of leaked username and password databases, we are making changes to withdrawals to limit the damage of unauthorized access to your account.  This is not a substitute to having strong and unique passwords, protecting your email account, and having 2 factor authentication on your Bittrex account.  Bittrex strongly encourages you to have 2 factor authentication.  "

Ok, I'm all for security, but if people dealing cryptos are stupid enough to put qwertz1234 as their password and not enable 2FA, it's their own fault for being stupid.

Then comes the fun part (all from their support section):
-----------
"Withdraw Limits

1. If your password has been changed, you cannot make a withdrawal for 24 hours
2. If your account does not have 2FA, you are limited to withdrawing up to 1 BTC (or equivalent) per day ==> wtf, I had 2FA enabled forever yet my limit is 0.025? So with less security you have a bigger limit. Wow. Much sence. Very secure.

3. Please check below to see what limit your account falls under.
Unverified Accounts created before 08/01/17: 0.025 BTC (or equivalent) per day ==> Hey, I mister miseeks, look at meee
Unverified Accounts created on or after 08/01/17: 0 BTC (or equivalent) per day
Basic Accounts: 3 BTC (or equivalent) per day with two-factor enabled. ==> I'm fine with that
Enhanced Accounts: 100 (or equivalent) BTC per day with two-factor enabled"

-----------

So I go ahead and enter some bogus name and address in their basic validation form. Hey, you can't blame a guy for trying: no official document is required for a basic account and nothing on their page states you have to input correct information (or I missed it). I click on the apply button and it says "verifying public records" or some other shit. Obviously, their results turn up empty. But oh wow, I can't even re-apply for a basic account with "correct" information. The only thing you can do from there is get an enhanced account where you need to take a selfie of yourself etc. Which is exactly what I, and any person involved into cryptos, don't want. I don't know the people at Bittrex.

Trying not to cringe...

Now, ok, I probably fucked myself I guess. But still, this poses a number of questions:

1. For one, I have never received notification from Bittrex that at some point in time, I would have to upgrade my account or be limited to 0.025 BTC a day
2. What public records are they looking up to check your info? What if I'm not in the public records they query? Imagine you have 2-3 BTCs on there that you can no longer withdraw
3. What happens if you unintentionally misspell your name or address?
4. Even if I get verified, take a nice smiling picture of myself and send over all my info, what guarantee do I have they won't use my information for other purposes? I tell you: not a single one! I don't know the people at Bittrex, and if a company I deal with starts to just change their T&C like that, stopping me from having access to my funds, you sure as fuck can't trust them.

I already knew you couldn't trust exchanges, but I thought this should be pointed out (again). Everyone should leave Bittrex (or any exchange for that matter) and stash their coins in their own wallets at home.

I know some or a lot of you will go ahead and say "big deal, just get verified and be done with it". Fuck no! This is not what the cryptos where made for. And at the very least, Bittrex should have communicated, which they haven't, and they should have made their due diligence and let people withdraw their fund before implementing all this BS. I'm sorry but this looks like a hostage situation or a play to identify everyone. Call me paranoid if you want, but their leverage is very simple and efficient: either you give them all your info or say bye bye to your coins and deal with the pain of withdrawing small amounts every day, for which you will of course pay the fees every time :-).

Lucky me, I only have like 0.06 BTC on Bittrex. I have opened a support ticket on their support page, no reply in 24 hours...

[1715676038]

1715676038

[BitcoinHodler]

this is bullshit. they just disabled all accounts without verifications to force you to submit your documents with them. and the bullshit part is that they never gave any prior warning about this.

when you change the rules of your business you should warn people who have been using your service prior to the chance so they can stop using your service if they don't like the change not push it down their throat!

i currently have about 3BTC stuck there and i had a legacy account (with 2000BTC daily limit which was reduced to ~1250BTC daily limit after price rise) and they changed my account to "basic" from legacy out of nowhere and without warning!

[dreamer81]

I have absolutely no problems with bittrex.. So far they are almost the best exchange.. the best is of course kraken.

Poloniex still need to solve my withdrawal issue since 103 days now.

[h311m4n]

I have absolutely no problems with bittrex.. So far they are almost the best exchange.. the best is of course kraken.

Poloniex still need to solve my withdrawal issue since 103 days now.

Yeah well they dropped in my esteem...communication is key. When you start stabbing your client in the back by imposing new rules without prior notice, it's bad for everyone.

Poloniex have been having issues for some time now, your support requests never get answered any longer. Basic withdrawal is still 2000USD/daily though. I removed most of my funds from there recently as well because I'm pretty sure the same thing will happen on there at some point.

[bit-freedom]

this is bullshit. they just disabled all accounts without verifications to force you to submit your documents with them. and the bullshit part is that they never gave any prior warning about this.

when you change the rules of your business you should warn people who have been using your service prior to the chance so they can stop using your service if they don't like the change not push it down their throat!

i currently have about 3BTC stuck there and i had a legacy account (with 2000BTC daily limit which was reduced to ~1250BTC daily limit after price rise) and they changed my account to "basic" from legacy out of nowhere and without warning!

I agree with your view, Bittrex should give notice to existing accounts to withdraw funds before the new rules start. With such incident happening, I wonder whether other exchanges will follow.

[amacar2]

I stopped using polo after support issues they are still struggling to solve.

I have started using bittrex as an alternative and now they are disabling accounts without prior notice in the name of investigation 

We need decentralized exchange platform where we can trade freely and anonymously.

[perazdera]

I did not have any problem with Bittrex for now. I verified via SMS and I think I now have 3 BTC withdrawing per day.

[cryptoolk]

I stopped using polo after support issues they are still struggling to solve.

I have started using bittrex as an alternative and now they are disabling accounts without prior notice in the name of investigation 

We need decentralized exchange platform where we can trade freely and anonymously.

yes i agree with you dont you try etherdelta it is the best option i think we have. polo also sucks to me.then i move to bittrex so far good to me but i saw lot of post telling that disabling accounts and not responding to tickets what is going on in the bittrex ?

is there any  decentralized BTC exchange?

[Zakhal]

I have always verified my account with every exchange I use. Just to be sure. Never had issues with exchanges.

[CRYPTOCR33P]

I always withdraw in Kraken and never had any problems

[grapevin]

interesting.
thanks for the information.
i'm not that happy that they did this!
what about just withdrawing $150 usd per day. annoying yes but at least you get something out.
also what about doing the basic verification?
use something like hushed on your phone.
that would help a bit.

[h311m4n]

interesting.
thanks for the information.
i'm not that happy that they did this!
what about just withdrawing $150 usd per day. annoying yes but at least you get something out.
also what about doing the basic verification?
use something like hushed on your phone.
that would help a bit.

Yes a basic verification would be enough as it raises your limit to 3 BTC a day provided you have 2FA enabled.

The problem is that their basic verification requires information like name, address etc. and they then check "public records" in an automated process.

As I said, I put in bogus info in the form as nothing stated it needed to be correct and your password number is optional. The problem is, if that check fails, you can't reapply for a basic account. The only option you're left with is getting and enhanced account where you need to provide a selfie and other official documents.

The whole thing is completely ridiculous. Even if I put in my true name and address, I have no idea if they would find me in their "public records".

you could of course just withdraw the 0.025BTC limit every day but this is far from ideal for those who have large amounts on there.

[IAmLucas]

but if people dealing cryptos are stupid enough to put qwertz1234 as their password and not enable 2FA,

Shit... Changes password.

[tomkat]

interesting.
thanks for the information.
i'm not that happy that they did this!
what about just withdrawing $150 usd per day. annoying yes but at least you get something out.
also what about doing the basic verification?
use something like hushed on your phone.
that would help a bit.

The whole thing is completely ridiculous. Even if I put in my true name and address, I have no idea if they would find me in their "public records".

Yes, it is ridiculous - and you're right that they won't find you even when provided with true information - tested 

Is there anyone who passed the search in "public records"?

[ZaoXhou]

Time to stop using bittrex, already stopped using poloniex as well.
I guess we really need some good decentralized exchanges soon.

[Kunlejoe0]

We need decentralized bitcoin exchange! I had a feeling of something going on with bitttrex some few weeks ago and I have been acting on that urge. I am clear as far as bitttrex is concern. None of my coin is on that exchange.

[cdb1690]

I have never verified any account on any exchange and I don't plan to. To be honest Bittrex new withdrawal rules caught me by surprise as well (I just found out about it few days ago). Although if I remember correctly, they actually had communicated in past that their plan is to gradually get rid of non-verified accounts altogether. Luckily I haven't kept much tokens where and with recent altcoin dip and bitcoin price rally, I'm able to withdraw them much quicker (and cheaper) than I originally thought.

[SensiG]

In next year we will have decentralized exchange SAFEX so don't worry just be patient

https://safex.io/

[BlackFawkes]

That's why we need a decentralized exchange. Waiting for SAFEX to be launched.

[vit05]

Is there any official aswer about what is going on?