MtGox and the Euro - is it resolved?

[geek-trader]

For the last week or so, MtGox has been in the process of changing banks for Euro transfers.  This has prevented any new Euro from entering the market.

Is this resolved?  When can we expect traders using Euro to be able to trade again?  (By that, I mean move Euro in and take BTC out)

Thanks

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[Stephen Gornick]

When can we expect traders using Euro to be able to trade again?

From the Mt. Gox Add Funds page:
 - https://mtgox.com/users/addFunds

Euro deposits are currently offline until Tuesday July 19th 2011 at 13:00. Deposits made this week will be processed until Friday morning. Any transfer received after Friday morning will be rejected by our bank.

A new EUR bank account will be announced on Tuesday 19th 2011 at 13:00.

If you have an urgent need of depositing funds, it is possible through our GBP account, however you will most likely lose on the currency exchange. Please check "GBP Deposit" in the menu.
You can also send an international wire to Japan as we have a EUR bank account here. Please confirm the fees with your bank first.

 

I don't know if this is 13:00 UTC or 13:00 JST.  [Update: or is it "11:30"?: https://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=29632.msg372624#msg372624 ]

Incidentally, Intersango has a BTC/EUR market and accepts SEPA deposits.
 - http://www.intersango.com
 - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Intersango

and though Bitmarket.eu doesn't escrow EUR funds, BTC/EUR trading occurs on:
 - http://bitmarket.eu
 - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/BitMarket.eu

[TurboK]

Does this affect deposits only, or withdraws as well?

[MagicalTux]

The new bank account is opened Tuesday at 11:30, and we should have the IBAN by 13:00. As soon as we have it, it will be posted online.

All withdraws so far will be processed Tuesday evening, or Wednesday in worst case.

[Piper67]

The new bank account is opened Tuesday at 11:30, and we should have the IBAN by 13:00. As soon as we have it, it will be posted online.

All withdraws so far will be processed Tuesday evening, or Wednesday in worst case.

Uh... 11:30 and 13:00 where???

[enmaku]

The new bank account is opened Tuesday at 11:30, and we should have the IBAN by 13:00. As soon as we have it, it will be posted online.

All withdraws so far will be processed Tuesday evening, or Wednesday in worst case.

Uh... 11:30 and 13:00 where???

Absolutely everything on this forum should be UTC unless otherwise specified. Sometimes people mess up and post local times, but it's usually safe to assumeUTC.  

[MagicalTux]

The new bank account is opened Tuesday at 11:30, and we should have the IBAN by 13:00. As soon as we have it, it will be posted online.

All withdraws so far will be processed Tuesday evening, or Wednesday in worst case.

Uh... 11:30 and 13:00 where???

In this case, French time (GMT+0200 I think).

[foo]

aaand MtGox misses yet another deadline:

Euro deposits are currently offline until Tuesday July 26th 2011 in worst case. The bank account should have been opened on Tueday July 19th, however the new bank needs approval from higher up due to the large amount of funds, and the nature of the business. They said they would have an answer by Thursday, which should allow them to open the bank account Friday, however if they don't make it, the next business day will be the next Tuesday (they are closed on monday).

tl;dr: A new EUR bank account will be announced on Tuesday 26th 2011 in worst case.

[ribuck]

It is with heavy hearts that we deliver some bad news. We just got off the phone with our newly assigned bank (SG) in France and it appears the branch we have assigned cannot authorize our account until they deliberate with their “Higher Ups”. This is due to the sheer amount of funds we expect to be processing, along with the fact that bitcoin is fringe and has ambiguity associated with it that banks don’t currently understand. We were fully expecting to announce to all that our European bank accounts are now up and ready to start processing funds, however we have been advised that we will not hear back from SG until Thursday July 21.

Euro transfers (both deposits and withdrawals) are effectively frozen, however we’re going to look at other means of enabling Euro transfers in the mean time. So please bear with us as we work to get this up and running as soon as possible.

Thank you for your continued patience, we hope to come back with some good news soon.

[Piper67]

It is with heavy hearts that we deliver some bad news. We just got off the phone with our newly assigned bank (SG) in France and it appears the branch we have assigned cannot authorize our account until they deliberate with their “Higher Ups”. This is due to the sheer amount of funds we expect to be processing, along with the fact that bitcoin is fringe and has ambiguity associated with it that banks don’t currently understand. We were fully expecting to announce to all that our European bank accounts are now up and ready to start processing funds, however we have been advised that we will not hear back from SG until Thursday July 21.

Euro transfers (both deposits and withdrawals) are effectively frozen, however we’re going to look at other means of enabling Euro transfers in the mean time. So please bear with us as we work to get this up and running as soon as possible.

Thank you for your continued patience, we hope to come back with some good news soon.

Man, how is it even possible that an operation dealing with hundreds of thousands of dollars a day drops the ball like this? MtGox should have accounts in SEVERAL European banks, as well as US, Canadian, Australian, Japanese, Hong Kong... please, guys, time to raise the bar of professionalism a bit.

[ribuck]

Man, how is it even possible...

Piper67, how many overseas bank accounts have you tried to open? It's incredibly difficult nowadays if you have an uncommon business model. I spent 6 months trying to get a US bank account for my business. I ended up opening accounts at three different US banks. Each account was closed by the bank before it was fully operational, with no explanation other than that they didn't want my business, even though I gave them all the paperwork and documents that they requested.

Banks are terribly risk-averse. They don't make much of their profit from retail banking anymore, so it's not worth their while to accept anything other than boring run-of-the-mill businesses. For any other business, I guess they are worried about the risk of getting too much grief from their regulators.

[Piper67]

Man, how is it even possible...

Piper67, how many overseas bank accounts have you tried to open? It's incredibly difficult nowadays if you have an uncommon business model. I spent 6 months trying to get a US bank account for my business. I ended up opening accounts at three different US banks. Each account was closed by the bank before it was fully operational, with no explanation other than that they didn't want my business, even though I gave them all the paperwork and documents that they requested.

Banks are terribly risk-averse. They don't make much of their profit from retail banking anymore, so it's not worth their while to accept anything other than boring run-of-the-mill businesses. For any other business, I guess they are worried about the risk of getting too much grief from their regulators.

True, my point is that when their first European bank account was closed, they should have tried opening up several others, instead of putting all their eggs in one basket. They should have several functioning accounts anyway, just for redundancy.

As for opening an account in the US, I'm not there and I was able to open one in six days. Yes, they ask for paperwork, and yes, I understand they're risk averse. All I'm saying is that an exchange that handles millions of dollars a month in transactions should be thinking several levels deep, not just on the surface.

At any rate, Tradehill just announced they're accepting Euro transfers. I'm not sure what their contingency plans are if that account gets frozen, but for the time being at least it seems Europe will be able to start trading again soon.

[Stephen Gornick]

A few more days, at best.

Euro Transfers Temporarily Frozen

Adam posted this on Jul-19 20:13

It is with heavy hearts that we deliver some bad news. We just got off the phone with our newly assigned bank (SG) in France and it appears the branch we have assigned cannot authorize our account until they deliberate with their “Higher Ups”. This is due to the sheer amount of funds we expect to be processing, along with the fact that bitcoin is fringe and has ambiguity associated with it that banks don’t currently understand. We were fully expecting to announce to all that our European bank accounts are now up and ready to start processing funds, however we have been advised that we will not hear back from SG until Thursday July 21.

Euro transfers (both deposits and withdrawals) are effectively frozen, however we’re going to look at other means of enabling Euro transfers in the mean time. So please bear with us as we work to get this up and running as soon as possible.

Thank you for your continued patience, we hope to come back with some good news soon.

 - http://mtgox.zendesk.com/entries/20287558-euro-transfers-temporarily-frozen

[kiba]

A few more days, at best.

Euro Transfers Temporarily Frozen

Adam posted this on Jul-19 20:13

It is with heavy hearts that we deliver some bad news. We just got off the phone with our newly assigned bank (SG) in France and it appears the branch we have assigned cannot authorize our account until they deliberate with their “Higher Ups”. This is due to the sheer amount of funds we expect to be processing, along with the fact that bitcoin is fringe and has ambiguity associated with it that banks don’t currently understand. We were fully expecting to announce to all that our European bank accounts are now up and ready to start processing funds, however we have been advised that we will not hear back from SG until Thursday July 21.

Euro transfers (both deposits and withdrawals) are effectively frozen, however we’re going to look at other means of enabling Euro transfers in the mean time. So please bear with us as we work to get this up and running as soon as possible.

Thank you for your continued patience, we hope to come back with some good news soon.

 - http://mtgox.zendesk.com/entries/20287558-euro-transfers-temporarily-frozen

This is some serious business we're talking about. It's pathetic that they're going to....turn down...opportunities.

[repentance]

Man, how is it even possible that an operation dealing with hundreds of thousands of dollars a day drops the ball like this? MtGox should have accounts in SEVERAL European banks, as well as US, Canadian, Australian, Japanese, Hong Kong... please, guys, time to raise the bar of professionalism a bit.

Ideally, they should have at least two bank accounts in each location to avoid co-mingling depositor funds with their operating funds and their local currency reserves. 

[jed]

They have a bank in the UK that takes SEPA. Just use that.

[nmat]

Or use tradehill