R.I.P. Poloniex (new face-image requirements)

[seoincorporation]

It's not whether Poloniex themselves will use it for shady activities it's whether they can keep it safe. As we know from past events Bitcoin users who hold a substantial amount of coin can become targets of hackers. Exchanges in the past have been taken down and breached.

An exchange can be hacked for a non-inscribed user as well, which makes that even more preocuṕant, for if they hare hacked, the information stolen will contain an image or your face, as long as all your personal data, including, email, residence, formal ID, and so. Besides, now the hacker's target can be, in fact, the data itself. If you have a big amount they will be able to know even where you live.

The solution for OP problem is to change into some other exchange but it maybe a temporary solution because in other exchanges also will implement the same rules.So guys don't keep huge amount in any exchanges if you don't want to agree these rules because your account will be frozen until you done the verification process.

Of course, and I, in fact, as you can see at the image, I have zero in poloniex.
To me, the problem is about the shape the world is taking. We are into a surveillance nightmare, the facial recognition can say everyone where have you been (a train station? an airport?). I don't see why is necessary to share something so personal, linked to another kind of personal data with no fiscal value.
Besides, as I was talking, many exchanges have been hacked, and now the new target can be the information itself, for it worths money, people, a lot of money. Information is power.

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[AdolfinWolf]

I've looked a bit deeper in this, and i found the following statements they made.

On the date of the deadline, legacy accounts will be placed in a state where:

Trading and lending will be disabled; Open orders will be closed; Loans will have auto-renew switched off; Margin positions will be given an 8 week wind-down period where they can only be diminished or closed. After the 8 week wind-down period, they will be closed; Deposit addresses will be revoked. Any deposits sent to a revoked address will not be recoverable until the account is fully verified; Withdrawals will remain enabled at the daily withdrawal limits prior to the deadline. If at any point you verify your legacy account, full functionality will be restored and your daily withdrawal limit will be increased to $25K USD equivalent.

https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinMarkets/comments/8mizvf/dear_poloniex_you_specifically_said_you_wont_hold/


So, this turned out to be a lie. I though they were handling this entire KYC situation better than Bittrex, turns out i was wrong.

I still don't have any answer or clue as to what will happen to my funds after the 14 days, and now that i see the shit they already pulled off,

"The exact date for this deadline will be announced in Q1 2018." -- it wasn't.

"you will be given advance notice before this requirement goes into effect" -- we weren't, apart from the original press release.

"Withdrawals will remain enabled at the daily withdrawal limits prior to the deadline." -- they aren't.

I'm starting to get a bit worried.

If they're willing to lie about the above statements, it might actually become a pain in the ass to get my funds out, and if i don't, they'll just take them? This really doesn't seem right..

[Karartma1]

When Circle-Poloniex became official I simply left! I am not giving away my data so easily because I value my privacy more than anything else. You should have seen it coming

[The Sceptical Chymist]

My legacy account is now frozen as well, thanks to poloniex's new policies.

Whaaaat?  That's complete BS if that's the case, and I don't think they're even allowed to do that without some prior notification--but I'm not a lawyer.

I had to do this kind of KYC on Kraken a while back when I wanted to be able to deposit US dollars on their site and trade fiat/bitcoin, but without the fiat they didn't require any sort of identification at all.  Is that what's going on here, or is Polo requiring KYC from all customers?

If anyone isn't comfortable with giving them a pic, I'd say dump 'em.  Otherwise you're screwed, and I suspect this is going to be standard practice across exchanges before long.  It sucks, but I've been expecting this for a while now.  There is no way governments are going to allow anonymous transaction, whether it's fiat or crypto.

[AdolfinWolf]

My legacy account is now frozen as well, thanks to poloniex's new policies.

Whaaaat?  That's complete BS if that's the case, and I don't think they're even allowed to do that without some prior notification--but I'm not a lawyer.

I had to do this kind of KYC on Kraken a while back when I wanted to be able to deposit US dollars on their site and trade fiat/bitcoin, but without the fiat they didn't require any sort of identification at all.  Is that what's going on here, or is Polo requiring KYC from all customers?

If anyone isn't comfortable with giving them a pic, I'd say dump 'em.  Otherwise you're screwed, and I suspect this is going to be standard practice across exchanges before long.  It sucks, but I've been expecting this for a while now.  There is no way governments are going to allow anonymous transaction, whether it's fiat or crypto.

If i recall correctly, Bittrex did that exact same thing and i have yet to see anyone sue them for it. (Suddenly locking accounts because they're "Unverified" w/out giving any prior notice that is)

Meanwhile my money ( although it was more or less pocket change for me), half a year later, is still stuck on their platform.

[seoincorporation]

Meanwhile my money ( although it was more or less pocket change for me), half a year later, is still stuck on their platform.

So, in sort, they have kidnapped your money and they will free it only if you give them sensible information.
I can't see how some people agree with that!!

[stomachgrowls]

Meanwhile my money ( although it was more or less pocket change for me), half a year later, is still stuck on their platform.

So, in sort, they have kidnapped your money and they will free it only if you give them sensible information.
I can't see how some people agree with that!!

Decision would vary and it depends on people decision if he would risk out his own identity for the sake of that amount inside of the locked account.If we do talk about 10-20 BTC then i might i do it but with lesser amount it would really be a dumb decision for you to made to risk it out.Its our choice if we comply and now they are gradually becoming om strict when it comes to compliance and ive been wondering on how many exchange will definitely go with this rule.

[funsponge]

My legacy account is now frozen as well, thanks to poloniex's new policies.

Whaaaat?  That's complete BS if that's the case, and I don't think they're even allowed to do that without some prior notification--but I'm not a lawyer.

I had to do this kind of KYC on Kraken a while back when I wanted to be able to deposit US dollars on their site and trade fiat/bitcoin, but without the fiat they didn't require any sort of identification at all.  Is that what's going on here, or is Polo requiring KYC from all customers?

If anyone isn't comfortable with giving them a pic, I'd say dump 'em.  Otherwise you're screwed, and I suspect this is going to be standard practice across exchanges before long.  It sucks, but I've been expecting this for a while now.  There is no way governments are going to allow anonymous transaction, whether it's fiat or crypto.

P2P exchanges are the only ways around this although I suspect government to issue restrictions or law changes to prevent this from happening so that they can monitor who is buying and selling Bitcoin. Sad times we live in that we have to provide several pieces of information even for trading with an anonymous currency.

I don't like that exchanges have been targeted in the past by hackers and now much more of our information will be available to be used for no good if obtained by the hackers.

[posi]

Meanwhile my money ( although it was more or less pocket change for me), half a year later, is still stuck on their platform.

So, in sort, they have kidnapped your money and they will free it only if you give them sensible information.
I can't see how some people agree with that!!

Well, have said it and I will repeat again. I never like the exchange from the begining and I wonder the trading platform they offer on there that trigger many cryptonier.

[Seetheummerallyeah]

Meanwhile my money ( although it was more or less pocket change for me), half a year later, is still stuck on their platform.

So, in sort, they have kidnapped your money and they will free it only if you give them sensible information.
I can't see how some people agree with that!!

I had strong feeling that something like this is coming in poloniex after their acquisition because every registered business need to report to their respected government if they want to deal with fiat and this might be their first step to introduce easy crypto purchase through credit cards in future.

Most of the exchanges are now implementing KYC policy even kucoin like pretty small exchange now have verification LOL.

You can't run off with selling bitcoin without reporting to tax authorities in near future, even localbitcoins now require you to verify your account to create ad...

I don't agree with these changes and I definitely won't be using Poloniex after this, but it's wrong to say they kidnapped your coins.

They gave ample warning that KYC was going to happen and I received emails from them all the way back in December 2017 stating that they were going to implement mandatory KYC in the near future. At that point I simply withdrew all my funds and never used Poloniex again.

[DarkStar_]

I don't agree with these changes and I definitely won't be using Poloniex after this, but it's wrong to say they kidnapped your coins.

They gave ample warning that KYC was going to happen and I received emails from them all the way back in December 2017 stating that they were going to implement mandatory KYC in the near future. At that point I simply withdrew all my funds and never used Poloniex again.

I never got an email. They also stated, as mentioned above:

On the date of the deadline, legacy accounts will be placed in a state where:

Trading and lending will be disabled; Open orders will be closed; Loans will have auto-renew switched off; Margin positions will be given an 8 week wind-down period where they can only be diminished or closed. After the 8 week wind-down period, they will be closed; Deposit addresses will be revoked. Any deposits sent to a revoked address will not be recoverable until the account is fully verified; Withdrawals will remain enabled at the daily withdrawal limits prior to the deadline. If at any point you verify your legacy account, full functionality will be restored and your daily withdrawal limit will be increased to $25K USD equivalent.

They 'kidnapped' our coins by not notifying us of a deadline, and blocked withdraws for legacy accounts.

[darklus123]

Some days ago, I received an email entitled: "Pononiex Account Alert: verification needed"

In the email, they sent me some instructions regarding the new restrictions they're implementing their service. They give me 7 days to send to them both a governmental ID (my passport, for instance) and a photo of my own face along with a paper with the date wrote in it. There is no option if you want to use Poloniex, for in the mean site you will find this:


Given the recent information leaks scandals, it is awesome they ask for a personal photo of your face. Ok, due to recent regulations, the user real name has to be shared, for the law is taking this way. But a pick? What's the point of sharing with them my ugly face? Why is so urgent to them?

Anyway, this is crystal clear to me: RIP, Poloniex. I will no longer use their services, as long as other exchangers continue offering anonymity.

It really sucks. I should have withdrawn my invested coin on poloniex. This new rule of them really cause me problem which is in the end I have to give up my coins since I don't have a valid ID yet because of the certain process here in my country.  Glad that still you receive the warning earlier, which didn't happen in my case since I did not noticed it.

[Hatcher]

Yeah, the way they handled this was totally wrong. I was able to get my funds out before the end of Q1, but when I saw that my legacy account was still working without any further restrictions, I figured that they were postponing these actions and it was ok to redeposit for the time being. At least they would give a notice if they were going to force KYC later and you would still be able to withdraw $2k a day for couple weeks like they outlined in their original post, right? Wrong. If you had that line of thinking, you would've gotten completely fucked by this, as your coins would indeed be kidnapped. As mentioned above, the  "get it done in 14 days" message is incredibly unsettling as we aren't told what will happen if we can't submit the documents by then.

All in all, a very unprofessional shitshow.

[audaciousbeing]

Some days ago, I received an email entitled: "Pononiex Account Alert: verification needed"

In the email, they sent me some instructions regarding the new restrictions they're implementing their service. They give me 7 days to send to them both a governmental ID (my passport, for instance) and a photo of my own face along with a paper with the date wrote in it. There is no option if you want to use Poloniex, for in the mean site you will find this:


Given the recent information leaks scandals, it is awesome they ask for a personal photo of your face. Ok, due to recent regulations, the user real name has to be shared, for the law is taking this way. But a pick? What's the point of sharing with them my ugly face? Why is so urgent to them?

Anyway, this is crystal clear to me: RIP, Poloniex. I will no longer use their services, as long as other exchangers continue offering anonymity.

This is KYC taken too far on a serious note. I really don't have issues with KYC but to the point of face recognition, the next thing this people would ask for would be to do a live recording of your house address and the landed document to show you are really living there after that, they ask for DNA results to confirm the relationship between you and your next of kin after they must have ask for his own details as well.

And the worse of it is the duration you are allowed to provide the details and disable of withdrawal to force you to do it if you want your fund back. That is the more reason why one needs to keep majority of his fund outside the exchange sites because any time without notification, they come with new policy which not Ok by you, there is no choice than to comply because of the money involved. This move should be totally condemned by all believers of crypto-currency of the need for some decent anonymity.

[funsponge]

Meanwhile my money ( although it was more or less pocket change for me), half a year later, is still stuck on their platform.

So, in sort, they have kidnapped your money and they will free it only if you give them sensible information.
I can't see how some people agree with that!!

Well, have said it and I will repeat again. I never like the exchange from the begining and I wonder the trading platform they offer on there that trigger many cryptonier.

I'm not sure why you didn't like them when they first started at as they were pretty popular for a reason. It's only since they have started going the route that all exchanges will eventually go down that they've become a ball ache to deal with. It's good to know that they aren't preventing withdrawals.

[Zicadis]

Anyway, this is crystal clear to me: RIP, Poloniex. I will no longer use their services, as long as other exchangers continue offering anonymity.

You do not use skrill? Have you seen the procedures for verification a skrill account? you would probably be shocked if you did skrill account verification. they ask the person to download an application and this application will scan your face and confirm if it matches your ID. besides they ask for many other things. is a very stressful process. probably many exchange will follow the example of poloniex, this is the end of anonymity the end of altcoins that are anonymous as monero

this will probably be redirecting traffic towards decentralized exchanges if verification procedures continue becoming this complex...

and just how safe are these app verification services as I know they are third party companies doing deligated to work on their behalf ??

I hope users are given some time to move funds away from the exchange if they do not want to continue using their services.

[seoincorporation]

I hope users are given some time to move funds away from the exchange if they do not want to continue using their services.

Of course. As long as users allow this kind of over asking for information, they will continue going on with this. If we just move the funds to another one, then probably they will need to reconsider what are they doing, but it is unlikely going to happen.

I've read many people didn't even receive the email, so they've just lost their funds? How can it be legal? If the law change, it can't be retroactive, so you must be able to say "I don't agree", to retire your money and to leave the exchange. This is going too far.

[TianaStam]

OK, now you have an opportunity to switch to another exchanger where any private information needn't, but what you gonna do if such practice will be usual? I guess in coming year it is going to be so. I just wander do they guarantee the safety of our information?

[Patatas]

Anyway, this is crystal clear to me: RIP, Poloniex. I will no longer use their services, as long as other exchangers continue offering anonymity.

Can you name a single exchange which offers anonymity ? I mean after significant amount of trades most of these exchanges tend to ask for documents for verification.Poloniex is just the start, soon you will have the exchanges which are heavily regulated by the government policies.Having said that, my account is also locked out of trades on Poloniex. I'm not sure should I verify my identity or find a better reliable service.

[Oceat]

Anyway, this is crystal clear to me: RIP, Poloniex. I will no longer use their services, as long as other exchangers continue offering anonymity.

Can you name a single exchange which offers anonymity ? I mean after significant amount of trades most of these exchanges tend to ask for documents for verification.Poloniex is just the start, soon you will have the exchanges which are heavily regulated by the government policies.Having said that, my account is also locked out of trades on Poloniex. I'm not sure should I verify my identity or find a better reliable service.

I think most of the exchanges or maybe everyone and it must be some kind of protocol to every exchanges if they really requires some personal information to their clients. I haven't used Poloniex yet, but in Binance they do have a limits for a non verified users to allow them to withdraw Bitcoin. I hope my account won't get locked out if i am going to be inactive but i don't put any crypto to any exchanges because i always secure them to a hardware wallet.