Why can exchanges freeze account.

[Oshosondy]

I have been wondering of people telling me exchanges can freeze accounts, that makes me very afraid to use exchanges to trade,  a friend of mine told me hitbtc freezed his account. That makes me here to ask the reason why exchanges can freeze account.

Why are exchanges freezing accounts?
What can I do to make them not freeze my account?
What are the best exchanges to use?

I like no kyc exchanges, please do not advice me to use any kyc exchange. I prefer exchanges that do not demand for kyc or the ones that makes kyc not mandatory?

[harizen]

Why are exchanges freezing accounts?
What can I do to make them not freeze my account?
What are the best exchanges to use?

1. Violation of terms, red-flagged accounts, suspicious activity, hitting the alarm, etc.

2. Read and follow Terms of Service. Make a habit too of reading the FAQ section.

3. Since you have mentioned, at least with no KYC, Binance should be your best choice. KYC is not necessary for Standard Accounts. However, to increase your account limit, you need to comply to their KYC.

As for the case you have shared, HitBTC exchange don't have a good approval rating here in the community. There are reports of closing and freezing accounts without a clear reason. We don't know the reason why your friend's account got frozen there but for a safe side, stay away on that exchange.

[target]

Exchanges can freeze accounts because they can. Whether its because of the user doing a suspicious activity or not the decentralized exchanges can do it if they wanna do it. It can be an advantage if the funds come from hackers wallet then it can be flagged and frozen so it all up to the exchange. Your friend will just have to clarify issues to them if his account is frozen. If you want the safest which you wouldn't need the KYC there are DEX out there like Bisq.

[sheenshane]

Freezing your account from exchange might the reason is your account is under investigation by them and you might violate the Term of Condition as stated by harizen above. The main reason for freezing accounts is the KYC thing and most centralized exchanges do this stuff.

I remember before even Binance was frozen all their costumers' accounts due to hacked happen.

I suggest if you want to trade and choose good exchange. Make it sure you have been read the Term and condition and avoid those violations stated there.
And make it sure you are fully verified with the KYC thing before you deposit, if you don't want KYC, use decentralized exchange but I won't go in decentralized because of low liquidity which means low chances of having profit.

[Darker45]

Why are exchanges freezing accounts?

Probably because they have observed suspicious activity/activities. At least that's what they say. And then you would suddenly wonder why your own monotonous account itself was frozen when nothing unusual happened to it for years. And so I would say they sometimes, or perhaps regularly, freeze accounts for the sake of nothing or probably to require them to undergo KYC.

What can I do to make them not freeze my account?

First and foremost, exchanges are weird animals. Having said that, they could make you not able to not freeze your account. How many users complained of exchanges keeping their accounts locked despite them fully acquiescing to all their demands?

What are the best exchanges to use?

I like no kyc exchanges, please do not advice me to use any kyc exchange. I prefer exchanges that do not demand for kyc or the ones that makes kyc not mandatory?

I'd say it is generally safer to use top exchanges. But it is never a guarantee that their best is good enough.

KYC/AML is legally required from exchanges but many are providing a certain limit to non-KYC accounts. Binance, KuCoin, BitFinex, LiveCoin, and so on are providing their services even to non-verified accounts.

But, again, be very careful as your account may suddenly hit an unknown trigger and, despite staying on your non-verified limit, KYC may be required out of the blue. So you better brace yourself for that.

[michellee]

I have been wondering of people telling me exchanges can freeze accounts, that makes me very afraid to use exchanges to trade,  a friend of mine told me hitbtc freezed his account. That makes me here to ask the reason why exchanges can freeze account.

Why are exchanges freezing accounts?
What can I do to make them not freeze my account?
What are the best exchanges to use?

I like no kyc exchanges, please do not advice me to use any kyc exchange. I prefer exchanges that do not demand for kyc or the ones that makes kyc not mandatory?

The exchanges can freeze accounts of every member, especially if the members break their rule, and the members can not do anything because they make a mistake. You must follow the rule from the exchanges, so you can avoid freezing your account and don't try to make a suspicious activity while you trade. If you don't like kyc, then maybe you can use binance as in that exchange, you can skip the kyc verification, but you will get limitations in the withdrawal of your money. You can be able to withdraw for 2 btc daily with non-kyc, and you should accept the rule.

[TheUltraElite]

I have been wondering of people telling me exchanges can freeze accounts, that makes me very afraid to use exchanges to trade,  a friend of mine told me hitbtc freezed his account.

That friend of yours probably did not tell you what part of the TOS they were breaking in the first place. And you didnt bother to ask because, hey they are your friends right?

Why are exchanges freezing accounts?

Mostly money laundering. I will not be impartial to hitbtc here, even though they have scam accusations. This can happen on any popular or less popular exchange.

What can I do to make them not freeze my account?

Do not launder money or break their TOS.

What are the best exchanges to use?

That is a topic for another thread.

I like no kyc exchanges, please do not advice me to use any kyc exchange. I prefer exchanges that do not demand for kyc or the ones that makes kyc not mandatory?

Every CEX will ask for KYC one day or another. Small cap traders whose daily traded volume is <1BTC should not worry about it.

DEXes dont ask for KYC but they are more risky to use in terms of getting hacked or seizure by authorities.

[gentlemand]

I like no kyc exchanges, please do not advice me to use any kyc exchange. I prefer exchanges that do not demand for kyc or the ones that makes kyc not mandatory?

Then you're going to get screwed at some point. I would never use an exchange with optional KYC unless I'd done that KYC because if you use it a lot the chances of your funds being frozen are much, much higher than somewhere you've already cleared yourself with.

There are properly decentralised options where freezing can't happen but there aren't many options. That's what you need to investigate.

[figmentofmyass]

I would never use an exchange with optional KYC unless I'd done that KYC because if you use it a lot the chances of your funds being frozen are much, much higher than somewhere you've already cleared yourself with.

how do you know? what are the chances? for a lot of people, not giving up KYC documents is worth the risk. that's how i feel myself. i still use unverified accounts for the majority of my trading.

I like no kyc exchanges, please do not advice me to use any kyc exchange. I prefer exchanges that do not demand for kyc or the ones that makes kyc not mandatory?

i suggest binance or kucoin. as with any centralized exchange, there is a non-zero chance of having KYC sprung on you. complaints about this at binance and kucoin are relatively few and far between.

[joniboini]

You can try Uniswap or Binance DEX if you want, but remember that you can't use atomic swap there, so you'd stuck with either ERC or BEP tokens for trading. Not to mention the slippage and fees might be higher than you thought. If you're dealing with large volumes, maybe your trading could be affected. Binance or Kucoin, or even Bithumb Global can be a good option for no-KYC option if you need bigger volumes.

[bL4nkcode]

Aside from mentioned above, some exchange freeze an account due to selective scamming and suspicious asking KYC docs, once you deposit large amount they will tell you that your account has suspicious activity even there's not and will ask lots of documents not just your ID for KYC unfreeze your account. So beware of those new and unfamiliar exchanges.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

I like no kyc exchanges, please do not advice me to use any kyc exchange. I prefer exchanges that do not demand for kyc or the ones that makes kyc not mandatory?

Here's the thing: the no-KYC exchanges that are left are likely ones that exist in countries where they're not regulated, which means they can essentially do whatever they want.  Yobit comes to mind immediately, but I'm sure there are others.  And if you have an exchange that makes its own rules and isn't accountable to anyone, they can freeze your account for whatever reason they like.  The KYC exchanges which are regulated can't get away with anything they want to, and they'd have to have a valid reason to freeze your funds.

Usually I read complaints about gambling sites freezing accounts and not exchanges, but I know the latter do it as well.  I've never used hitbtc (never even heard of it, either) but my guess is that they're unregulated. 

I like no kyc exchanges, please do not advice me to use any kyc exchange. I prefer exchanges that do not demand for kyc or the ones that makes kyc not mandatory?

Then you're going to get screwed at some point.

I agree, because I don't think there are many non-KYC exchanges out there with solid reputations that you could trust not to freeze your account for some arbitrary reason.  So OP, just watch out if you're going to go that route.  Don't keep a lot of funds on an exchange for long, and I'd probably advise that you trade in small amounts--and read their rules, too.  You don't want to end up breaking one of them and run into a problem that no one can help you with.

[figmentofmyass]

I like no kyc exchanges, please do not advice me to use any kyc exchange. I prefer exchanges that do not demand for kyc or the ones that makes kyc not mandatory?

Here's the thing: the no-KYC exchanges that are left are likely ones that exist in countries where they're not regulated, which means they can essentially do whatever they want.  Yobit comes to mind immediately, but I'm sure there are others.

that's why the seychelles is so popular. binance is there. so is bitmex, poloniex, and other well known brands that offer unverified trading. there is a world of difference between them and selective scammers like hitbtc and yobit. in the wild west there are plenty of scammers about, but reputation and branding mean a lot. binance is not at all interested in being lumped in with the likes of hitbtc and yobit.

keep in mind, when people complain about frozen accounts and confiscated coins, we're in no position to judge what actually happened. if someone deposits OFAC sanctioned coins, or coins linked to an exchange hack, or withdraws directly from a DNM etc they are never gonna be up front about it, and we can't blame a centralized exchange for having terms that block those deposits. we can only take an overview and judge by the numbers whether an exchange is likely to be engaging in selective scamming and fraud.

And if you have an exchange that makes its own rules and isn't accountable to anyone, they can freeze your account for whatever reason they like.  The KYC exchanges which are regulated can't get away with anything they want to, and they'd have to have a valid reason to freeze your funds.

that's nanny state reasoning tbh. exchanges like bitstamp and paxos freeze huge sums of money for months at a time without communicating with their clients. we just take their word for it that their AML/KYC related reasons are "valid".

i trust bitstamp like a trust a bank robber. i would never deposit coins with those scumbags.

[stomachgrowls]

Why are exchanges freezing accounts?
What can I do to make them not freeze my account?
What are the best exchanges to use?

I like no kyc exchanges, please do not advice me to use any kyc exchange. I prefer exchanges that do not demand for kyc or the ones that makes kyc not mandatory?

-Once you do violate their Terms and conditions or you do make such fraudulent activity then you would really face up such issue.
-Trade normally and just follow platform rules then you're good.
-Best exchange to use? Binance all the way.

Your friend had used HitBtc which had been known into this community due to its shady stuff and ridiculous high fees.So i wont recommend on using up that platform.
In binance you can have 2BTC limit per day on a unverified account which i do believe its already sufficient for most users.

[Darker45]

-Once you do violate their Terms and conditions or you do make such fraudulent activity then you would really face up such issue.

Freezing of accounts does not only follow violations of the exchange's TOS or fraudulent activities. Sometimes it is done out of mere suspicion or probably out of nothing at all that it makes the user wonder how in the world his/her usual activities became suddenly suspicious that they warrant such drastic measure.
  

-Trade normally and just follow platform rules then you're good.

Again, not a guarantee.

-Best exchange to use? Binance all the way.

Let OP be informed that while Binance has relatively lesser complaints than the likes of YoBit or HitBTC, they also have records of suddenly requiring KYC from certain users who are making transactions well within their non-verified limits.

[sunsilk]

-Best exchange to use? Binance all the way.

Let OP be informed that while Binance has relatively lesser complaints than the likes of YoBit or HitBTC, they also have records of suddenly requiring KYC from certain users who are making transactions well within their non-verified limits.

I can also say that Binance is the best so far that I have used. The friend of OP that used hitbtc isn't the only person that experienced that freezing of funds on that exchange. Most experiences that I've read which has been shared were bad experiences on the said exchange.

Some incidents also have reported in other exchanges that even there's no suspicious thing the user is doing, an exchange can do whatever they want. But once a staff from the exchange validates the reason, the user denies the reason that's brought to him.

[condoras]

I have used (and still use some of them) almost all the exchangers that come/ gone/ stay over the years. You name it.
Yes, I faced issues like late or "missing" and "unconfirmed" deposits/ withdrawals but none of them froze my coins. So if you follow their rules, which is almost the same in all of them, then you will not have a problem.

Idk though why a lot of people say that Binance is the best. How an exchanger can be the best when it doesn't let you trade the whole amount of your coins and I'm not referring to tokens either the limitation of an order. The only ones that have this "great" rule are Binance and Hitbtc...

As for where they are based on papers (Seychelles or any other "tax heaven") that don't make them untouchable. For sure it makes them richer and easier to "move" and "do things"...

[Ridwan Fauzi]

I like no kyc exchanges, please do not advice me to use any kyc exchange. I prefer exchanges that do not demand for kyc or the ones that makes kyc not mandatory?

You can use Binance and OKEx exchange, they are reputable exchange so far. Also, you don't need to give your personal identity as long as your withdraw amount is less then 100 btc per day.

As for the exchange can freeze the user's asset you can read their term service before create an account. Each exchanges will have different rule or different authority to do that.

[Findingnemo]

I have been wondering of people telling me exchanges can freeze accounts, that makes me very afraid to use exchanges to trade,  a friend of mine told me hitbtc freezed his account. That makes me here to ask the reason why exchanges can freeze account.

Why are exchanges freezing accounts?
What can I do to make them not freeze my account?
What are the best exchanges to use?

I like no kyc exchanges, please do not advice me to use any kyc exchange. I prefer exchanges that do not demand for kyc or the ones that makes kyc not mandatory?

Almost you need to pass KYC to use centralized exchanges and it is the only way if you want to trade your cryptos for fiat and vice versa.For trading cryptos there are decentralized exchanges where the trading volume is really low compared to the centralized exchanges and also fee could be a lot.

So if you want to be a trader then you should be ready to do KYC at any time.And the reason for freezing accounts on exchanges are like receiving funds from blacklisted addresses, or what they doubt you involved in any shady activity or money laundering.

[Kupid002]

Almost you need to pass KYC to use centralized exchanges and it is the only way if you want to trade your cryptos for fiat and vice versa.For trading cryptos there are decentralized exchanges where the trading volume is really low compared to the centralized exchanges and also fee could be a lot.

So if you want to be a trader then you should be ready to do KYC at any time.And the reason for freezing accounts on exchanges are like receiving funds from blacklisted addresses, or what they doubt you involved in any shady activity or money laundering.

yeah right , you need to always prepare and ready to make aKYC  in case you emergency need it there are centralised exchange that you can use even without a KYC but there are daily withdrawal limit . Example of that exchange is binance and kucoin you can use that exchange without a problem if its only for small funds .