Bank account froze after selling btc (UK)

[Pab]

I never had that kind of experience because banks in my country  are able to suspend account if i will transfer money from sold bitcoin.It is against any kind of agreements against Constitution but banks don't care.After all people can open case in court . That   can take very long time i n a case of my country
You have some agreement with banks there are your bank T/C  you have some consumerist protection service .You need to write strong request to unfrozen your money if that will not help open case against bank

[1714663646]

1714663646

[BitcoinGirl.Club]

Is there anything else I can do to speed this up? I've read the hold is initially 7 days, followed by 30 and can be extended to 6 months. Obviously the bank cannot ask me for evidence(or anything else) due to the law but is there anything voluntary I can do? Really is a crazy system that you are kept in the dark.. While they also seem to investigate in the dark

My suggestion is, do not do anything that they have not asked. I did not have the exact same experience but once someone stole all the money that was in my bank.

One morning I got called from my bank and said if I spent these and that amounts to shop online or anywhere? I usually do purchase online but the amounts they said seemed to me that it was not me. I told them that it was not me. Then they cancelled my card, issued new card, I think they froze my account too (can not recall much). They said they will investigate and the entire thing will take 2 weeks to 6 weeks. After 3 to 4 weeks I guess, they returned the money to my bank even with some compensation and I got full access of my account.

Bank has protocols and they need to follow them in case of any accident or anything unusual happen to a customer. I think in your case they also have some set of protocols and they will follow it. It takes time but I believe eventually they will give you the access of the money.

[auntyjmary]

I believe the bank suspects a case of money laundry since most banks are not accustomed to how money transfer involving bitcoin are transacted. I think you need to go there in person and speak to the customer help desk. That is the best solution when an account is frozen till to unusual transactions.

[dantee1]

These kinds of over zealousness is not good for the banking system. Funny enough, the real people that does money laundering knows exactly how to go about it without being detected. Sometimes, they are even being assisted by the same banks. Who is fooling who?

This is one of the reasons I am rooting for Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies to take the main stage. Enough of some pot belly bureaucrats trying to control everyone else's resources.

[gentlemand]

Yes I wish I hadnt read that now. Do you know how he ended up with 5 accounts closed?  There was an update at the top stating but I couldn't find out what led 5 been closed?

Dunno. That all sounds very weird to me. I've seen plenty of moans about crypto-related account closures but there've never been any problems beyond that one account.

The standard trajectory of stories like this is the real story gradually emerges in other posts and it turns out the OP was milking trillions through countless accounts. Maybe that was the case there.

Personally I'd never trust any challenger bank to not fuck me hard. They all seem to have 'advanced systems' that detect fraud when you spend 30p via contactless on a visit to a toilet on Paignton seafront for a piss.

Most of them operate on the grace and favour of real banks so they'll do anything not to offend them.

[Jo1992]

Yes I wish I hadnt read that now. Do you know how he ended up with 5 accounts closed?  There was an update at the top stating but I couldn't find out what led 5 been closed?

Dunno. That all sounds very weird to me. I've seen plenty of moans about crypto-related account closures but there've never been any problems beyond that one account.

The standard trajectory of stories like this is the real story gradually emerges in other posts and it turns out the OP was milking trillions through countless accounts. Maybe that was the case there.

Personally I'd never trust any challenger bank to not fuck me hard. They all seem to have 'advanced systems' that detect fraud when you spend 30p via contactless on a visit to a toilet on Paignton seafront for a piss.

Most of them operate on the grace and favour of real banks so they'll do anything not to offend them.

Thanks for the reply. Wish I had trillions lol. Back to hodling for now. Price has dropped to much and I don't want to risk another bank where I keep money anyway.

Will stay away from these shitty 'new' banks in future.

Thanks

[franky1]

i think the majority of what gentlemand has said in this topic is correct

UK banks have not really had a problem with crypto currency itself (from my and others i knows exprience). the problems that have arrisen are due to:

1. the person that gave you £££ then called their bank and said they have been scammed(lie) in an attempt to get their funds back. this sort of action is rampant in other industries too. its usually called chargeback scamming

2. when moving funds from an individual(not business) and paying out to another individual in a short period repeatedly does raise a red flag. as does moving more than £1000. this is usually where business accounts offer more flexible utility. i know some may think that just moving money around is 'personal' but to banks larger amounts often and to random individuals is a business flag

UK banks dont freeze accounts simply because a transaction smells a bit bitcoiny. they freeze accounts due to pre set AML flag policy and for fraud/theft enquiries. thse policies they follow have existed even before bitcoin

you might find that if funds are to be sent back to originator, then its because the originator has done a chargeback scam on you, to get your btc. and then get the £££ after

[bitbunnny]

I believe the bank suspects a case of money laundry since most banks are not accustomed to how money transfer involving bitcoin are transacted. I think you need to go there in person and speak to the customer help desk. That is the best solution when an account is frozen till to unusual transactions.

This could be the case. Uk banks were not restricted to cryptocurrencies, as far as I know but due to suspicion to money laundering or maybe some shady previous cases the bank night froze the account . But I'm sure this could be solved with some explanations.

[Jo1992]

i  enquiries. thse policies they follow have existed even before bitcoin

you might find that if funds are to be sent back to originator, then its because the originator has done a chargeback scam on you, to get your btc. and then get the £££ after/quote]


Money has been moved out of that account to my savings so surely they won't go into negative to return it so what would happen next if that is the case? Hopefully it's not that

[audaciousbeing]

Has anyone ever had their bank account frozen after selling bitcoin? How was the process of getting it resolved? How long did it take? Any advice that I can speed the process up?

OK so sold around 5k worth via local bitcoins, various buyers. Few days ago my bank was frozen. Got zero help or answers or even questions from the bank. So I've done some googling and come to the conclusion that a SAR has been submitted due to sudden increase in money. Never really used this account and did so to separate it from salary for when tax season comes around in easy for me to know what is what. (probably not wise in hindsight)

So from my googling what the bank is calling "account specialist" is actually the nca deciding if I'm dodgy Dave or not and whether to investigate further. Nothing to hide so no worries there. Initially frustrated I requested my official complaint raised and have since had a response (again no info or help) but armed with the new information about SAR and the fact that legally cannot tell me anything I've replied with screenshots of my transactions of sales in hope it assists and speeds things along as they will then know where and why.

Is there anything else I can do to speed this up? I've read the hold is initially 7 days, followed by 30 and can be extended to 6 months. Obviously the bank cannot ask me for evidence(or anything else) due to the law but is there anything voluntary I can do? Really is a crazy system that you are kept in the dark.. While they also seem to investigate in the dark

The bank have done what they would do as per the regulation they have to comply with. Also, you need to know they the bank did not freeze your account because of bitcoin sale but because of the frequency in which the money came in. There are unwritten rules that the bank do on accounts in that there is a trend analysis on it. It could also be for security purpose that an account that was idle at some point all of a sudden came flooding with series of transactions to them, it could be that the account has been compromised.

The way out is just to visit a branch and have a one on one discussion with the customer care for you to really know the reason why there is an embargo on your account and how to go about resolving it.

[vladimirhf]

I believe the bank suspects a case of money laundry since most banks are not accustomed to how money transfer involving bitcoin are transacted. I think you need to go there in person and speak to the customer help desk. That is the best solution when an account is frozen till to unusual transactions.

I'm not sure about that. In Brazil banks close exchanges accounts for no reason, they need to go to court to keep using it. and usually they win cause there is no real reason. banks certainly fear a bank run for crypto, they know that sooner or later it will happen.

[gentlemand]

The way out is just to visit a branch and have a one on one discussion with the customer care for you to really know the reason why there is an embargo on your account and how to go about resolving it.

This bank doesn't have any branches. It's one of several that have popped up the UK that are purely web and app based which is why I wouldn't want to get embroiled in any proper ball ache with them. I have a Revolut card. I don't think I'd ever use them for anything vital because they're the same.

Bricks and mortar banks are doing their very best to dispose of physical custom too but there are still outlets where you could go and toss your cookies in person. It may not achieve much.

[cheezcarls]

It was highly expected that these banks aren't really friendly about selling cryptocurrencies using our bank accounts. Well for me, I don't do that because I know for the fact that most of these banks are not in favor of Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies and adopting blockchain technology.

In the Philippines, there are centralized Bitcoin apps that lets us buy and sell Bitcoin without the need of banks. Although that banks are just one option for us to withdraw our cryptocurrencies, it's just that it is not a good idea for us to do some selling while using our bank accounts.

It was a lesson learned for you.

[Coyster]

In my country cases such as this happens frequently, and it's not only common to cryptocurrency transactions, when an account is suddenly credited with a large amount of money, the financial commission usually begins to investigate on such funds and most times while investigations are ongoing the accounts are usually frozen.

So probably the amount of bitcoin you converted to your currency is one that raised suspicion in the banks and the regulatory body for financial control.
So you'll need to clear yourself, as long as cryptocurrency is a legal business in your country(which I think it is), so i believe in no time your account would be unfrozen.

[fulled]

I think the reason is the bank is suspicious with your sudden activity, you should come to the bank and talk with some high ranked officer in that bank to explain from where your money come, i think your account can be unfrozen if you explain it honestly

[mindrust]

If you are going to buy sell crypto, set up a business bank account, start a company first.

All they care about is taxes. Bitcoin is a commodity. The more you buy and sell, the more you profit. The more you make profits, you need to pay more taxes.

You are not slipping away.

If you don't want to deal with this bank and tax shit, setup your own system and use tethers instead of USD. (They'll still come after you when you start doing big trades)

[gentlemand]

If you are going to buy sell crypto, set up a business bank account, start a company first.

All they care about is taxes. Bitcoin is a commodity. The more you buy and sell, the more you profit. The more you make profits, you need to pay more taxes.

Not in the UK. Not even Coinbase could hang on to their banking.

It would be a bleedin' miracle if any bank gave you any type of account if you mentioned crypto, let alone a business account. I've seen countless threads where people tried to do it right with trying to open a business account and were told to go away.

I don't know how big volume British Localbitcoins traders operate. I assume they have a ton of burner accounts or patsies they run money through. There's no way banks will let you run as a proper operation.

[rdluffy]

Depends of you bank, your country and the manager of your account
Here in Brazil exchanges have a lot of problems with bank accounts, they don't want to offer services to exchanges because it's a huge amount of money and transactions and they are afraid it's laudering money
But I didn't know any person who have froze account, just exchanges

[DoublerHunter]

I suspect that due to the big trade they were suspected your account as a money laundering, Op should give what name of that bank so that anyone here knows and must be aware of those issues. In this scenario, OP probably needs to submit KYC because that was compromised an account. I hope you can get unfroze and sorted for you as soon as possible. You must read this article because aside from frozen account there is also being sentenced because of fraudulent. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/localbitcoins-trader-bitcoin-maven-sentenced-003510369.html

[Jo1992]

Guys I'm not operating as a trader i wasn't buying and selling. I had btc. The price went up and I'm at a point in life where I needed cash. So I sold. That simple.

Anyway they have closed my account and returned money to source. No explanation. No clue to what source. The bank is Monzo sure I've said the name already but if not. Avoid!!