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

[pugman]

Can you name a single exchange which offers anonymity ?

Shapeshift? Changelly? I haven't heard any big accusations for these exchanges(yet). Apparently poloniex broke their promise,as they said something else on December 27,2017^[1] and now they are saying something else.^[2]
[1] : https://poloniex.com/press-releases/2017.12.27-Notice-to-legacy-account-holders/
^[2] : https://bitcoinist.com/poloniex-breaks-promises-forces-kyc-legacy-account-holders/

[darklus123]

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.

exactly , I am actually one of those who doesnt even received the notification. Gladly I lost not that big amount probably around $20 in value. Maybe they did it so that the other traders will not have a choice but to provide the information since they can't withdraw their amount. I suggest people to just leave because for me what they have done is unethical and if they have done it once they can do it again and again

[gentlemand]

First time I've heard of the scrawl next to the selfie thing from Poloniex.

I have a verified non legacy account, though I'd like to see a definition of what legacy actually is, and I've never been frozen or asked to reverify. Because of that it makes me slightly paranoid. I don't want to blithely deposit a load and be asked to prove more than I already have as I don't have any more docs to offer.

They should include some sort of renewed status of everyone's verification. If there are any doubts I want to know them.

[entrepmind23]

It is like Bittrex-scenario all over again. They are implementing what Bittrex did in the past and this will definitely put most of the traders to other trading platform. Government policies are really making their way into these exchanges to hurt our anonymous trading life. I've been thinking if I will let them have my face but as things stand right now, there are other exchanges out there that don't require any verification at all. This will only limit the selection of trading pairs that I can play with but I'm totally fine with it.

Definitely! They should have informed the users ahead of time that they are going to implement such a thing because not every one would want to expose their identity and they may use this information for something else not in the trader or investor's favor. They didn't give a chance to the users to decide whether they wanted to continue to use the exchange or not. I've been trading with Poloniex for sometime but I pulled out all my funds there months ago so maybe that's the reason I didn't receive such an e-mail.

With what happened, I am sure that they will be able to accumulate some coins because not every one would verify especially those that only have small amount left there and this would result for them to seize the funds and maybe use it for their own benefit. I expect some centralized exchanges to do this in the future as well.

[pinkflower]

I cant see how all the complainants have not seen this coming. Poloniex was acquired by Circle. KYC/AML was coming and every unverified account had months to prepare their accounts for verification.

For the users who have their coins trapped in Poloniex. What are you doing? If you dont control the private keys then you are holding nothing but IOUs.

[AdolfinWolf]

I cant see how all the complainants have not seen this coming. Poloniex was acquired by Circle. KYC/AML was coming and every unverified account had months to prepare their accounts for verification.

For the users who have their coins trapped in Poloniex. What are you doing? If you dont control the private keys then you are holding nothing but IOUs.

Why don't you start by reading the thread before commenting this garbage?

Poloniex explicitely promised to NOT block withdrawals for unverified accounts, even after the forced verification process would have started.

I trusted them, since they're an extremely big company, and i don't see why they would  lie about such a thing, as it makes them look extremely untrustworthy.

For the users who have their coins trapped in Poloniex. What are you doing? If you dont control the private keys then you are holding nothing but IOUs.

I don't see how this argument makes theft of possibly hundreds of millions of dollars okay.

What are you doing?

Ironic coming from a guy who uses Binance for all his coins.. :/

[Thirdspace]

I have a verified non legacy account, though I'd like to see a definition of what legacy actually is, and I've never been frozen or asked to reverify.

If I'm not mistaken, a legacy account is an account created before the KYC standard verification is enforced
there was 3 levels of verification, the higher the level the higher the daily withdrawal limit
to step up a level, you need to provide additional personal data. Level 3 = fully verified, equivalent to KYC standard, I think
basic level 1 required just name & nationality/country and this becomes legacy now

[funsponge]

I cant see how all the complainants have not seen this coming. Poloniex was acquired by Circle. KYC/AML was coming and every unverified account had months to prepare their accounts for verification.

People aren't complaining about it being dropped in their laps we are complaining that they require this sort of verification in the first place. It's another loophole that we have to jump through which just seems unnecessary.

If you don't mind giving out your personal data then that's fine.

[gentlemand]

If I'm not mistaken, a legacy account is an account created before the KYC standard verification is enforced
there was 3 levels of verification, the higher the level the higher the daily withdrawal limit
to step up a level, you need to provide additional personal data. Level 3 = fully verified, equivalent to KYC standard, I think
basic level 1 required just name & nationality/country and this becomes legacy now

Ah. Thanks for clearing that up. I'm pretty sure I came along after verification was put in but the unverified could still do business. It would still be nice if they made it abundantly clear for everyone.

[Patatas]

I have a verified non legacy account, though I'd like to see a definition of what legacy actually is, and I've never been frozen or asked to reverify. Because of that it makes me slightly paranoid. I don't want to blithely deposit a load and be asked to prove more than I already have as I don't have any more docs to offer.

It all depends on your trade volume.Earlier, the document verification only applied for high volume legacy accounts but the recent updates have made it mandatory for every account created.

Shapeshift? Changelly? I haven't heard any big accusations for these exchanges(yet). Apparently poloniex broke their promise,as they said something else on December 27,2017^[1]

I wouldn't touch changelly with a 5 inch pole.They have had a very bad history of holding withdrawals for a long time.You know when I asked for the alternatives, I expect them to be as good as Polo in other terms as well.

[1Referee]

Earlier, the document verification only applied for high volume legacy accounts but the recent updates have made it mandatory for every account created.

This legacy account thing is nothing more than a way to trap in people thinking they enjoy a bit more freedom, where after that they are put in the same category as the rest. In the end governments don't really care about what your account is, they just want to know who or what you are, and whether or not you end up paying your due taxes. Every exchange that somewhat differentiated between regular and legacy accounts have put it to waste as easily as it was implemented.

I wonder how long it will take for governments to ease in one main verification level for everyone, whithout anything below or above it. Regulations become stricter the larger this market grows, which means that governments become more paranoid and control hungry. I strongly believe that it is just a matter of time. We haven't seen the worst yet.

[Patatas]

Earlier, the document verification only applied for high volume legacy accounts but the recent updates have made it mandatory for every account created.

This legacy account thing is nothing more than a way to trap in people thinking they enjoy a bit more freedom, where after that they are put in the same category as the rest. In the end governments don't really care about what your account is, they just want to know who or what you are, and whether or not you end up paying your due taxes. Every exchange that somewhat differentiated between regular and legacy accounts have put it to waste as easily as it was implemented.

I doubt that really makes sense for my scenario.I don't live in a country where Poloniex or the US government laws are considered relevant.So even if they have my information like my documents, the most that they could do is ban my account.Either way, I'm not interested in sharing any of my confidential stuff with a US based service so I guess it's time to say bye to Poloniex and look for other alternatives.

[maydna]

I hope that after poloniex applied this, their service to their member will be better because they force us to verified the account so we must obey to them IF we still want to trade in their sites. but if you are not satisfied with their services, you can use the other exchanges and I think many of exchanges still don't use this verification for their member.

[Nicol3]

As I have observed, there are a lot of people in this forum not comfortable with the idea of face recognition to verify their account in Poloniex and I think everyone will agree to that. They did sign up on Poloniex in the first place because of the thought of being anonymous but since they are requiring this, it may also lead to more accounts withdrawn from this site.

[pinkflower]

I cant see how all the complainants have not seen this coming. Poloniex was acquired by Circle. KYC/AML was coming and every unverified account had months to prepare their accounts for verification.

For the users who have their coins trapped in Poloniex. What are you doing? If you dont control the private keys then you are holding nothing but IOUs.

Why don't you start by reading the thread before commenting this garbage?

Poloniex explicitely promised to NOT block withdrawals for unverified accounts, even after the forced verification process would have started.

I trusted them, since they're an extremely big company, and i don't see why they would  lie about such a thing, as it makes them look extremely untrustworthy.

For the users who have their coins trapped in Poloniex. What are you doing? If you dont control the private keys then you are holding nothing but IOUs.

I don't see how this argument makes theft of possibly hundreds of millions of dollars okay.

What are you doing?

Ironic coming from a guy who uses Binance for all his coins.. :/

Theres the problem. You "trusted" them, and now you're mad at anyone who tries to post asking you why you trusted them to start with.

I use Binance, Poloniex and all other exchanges but I never store my coins there to avoid something that happened to you.

[seoincorporation]

exactly , I am actually one of those who doesnt even received the notification. Gladly I lost not that big amount probably around $20 in value. Maybe they did it so that the other traders will not have a choice but to provide the information since they can't withdraw their amount. I suggest people to just leave because for me what they have done is unethical and if they have done it once they can do it again and again

Yes, and also, your $20 plus the other people's $20 can make a significant kidnaped amount!!! So where is all this money going? Are they just keeping it if you don't accept the new policies? How can it be any legal?
I think all users with some money need to ask for their funds to be returned. I just can't understand how a big company as poloniex can broke the rules nicely and keep what probably is a big number of other's money.

[eternalgloom]

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

Oh it's the same for verifying your Neteller account. Just had to do that the other day.
First you upload a copy of your government issued ID card and then you have to install an app to take a photo to match it with your ID.

Had to try it 4 or 5 times before it even recognized it, such a waste of time.

[Mahanton]

Earlier, the document verification only applied for high volume legacy accounts but the recent updates have made it mandatory for every account created.

This legacy account thing is nothing more than a way to trap in people thinking they enjoy a bit more freedom, where after that they are put in the same category as the rest. In the end governments don't really care about what your account is, they just want to know who or what you are, and whether or not you end up paying your due taxes. Every exchange that somewhat differentiated between regular and legacy accounts have put it to waste as easily as it was implemented.

I doubt that really makes sense for my scenario.I don't live in a country where Poloniex or the US government laws are considered relevant.So even if they have my information like my documents, the most that they could do is ban my account.Either way, I'm not interested in sharing any of my confidential stuff with a US based service so I guess it's time to say bye to Poloniex and look for other alternatives.

True, why would force up ourselves to go with the flow if we can able to find up other alternatives yet there are lots of options in the market which theres no need on sticking up with Poloniex even if we do know that our personal information would really be at risk.If you do know the danger why would continue? Right. This kind of such changes would really make polo even more go down, bittrex made it but i dont know why polo fucked up with this one.

[olubams]

This is the height of it all that Poloniex is implementing but nothing can be done because as we are here complaining of this amount of absurdity, other are already scanning their faces, fingers for them having covered by the veil of profit making and deceive to believe that since I have nothing to hide, there is nothing to be secretive about. Poloniex knows this and that is why they will.continue pushing and claim they are doing it for the security of users. The best way is just to avoid such sites and focus on other who can accommodate the amount of information I'm willing to share.

[Lehbane]

Now KYC is showing up everywhere I predict they lost half of their user on the day they required for the detail verification and request some ID pictures, since everyone here like to become anonymous.