inactivity fee

[Ronny29]

What happens to your money if you leave it on the exchange and forget about it? Will they write off the money for inactivity?

[scottsanderman12]

At the end of 2017, he used an account, but after dump in 2018 decided to go on hold and take a break. Came back a couple of years later and found an empty balance. Got every penny back on exmo.com

[Ronny29]

At the end of 2017, he used an account, but after dump in 2018 decided to go on hold and take a break. Came back a couple of years later and found an empty balance. Got every penny back on exmo.com

Were you originally aware that you would be charged for inactivity?

[stompix]

What happens to your money if you leave it on the exchange and forget about it?

Depends from exchange to exchange
I remember how people were surprised and angry at Latoken announcing they will charge a 5$ per month for inactive accounts but so few of them knew a lot more exchanges do so, like bitfinex or cryptocom.

So read the terms and services of your exchange before you start using it if you're concerned about it.
Or far better, don't leave any funds on an exchange at all.

At the end of 2017, he used an account, but after dump in 2018 decided to go on hold

Hold by keeping your funds on an exchange, that's the worse thing one can do, when the price finally goes up you might find out the exchange is no longer there!

[scottsanderman12]

At the end of 2017, he used an account, but after dump in 2018 decided to go on hold and take a break. Came back a couple of years later and found an empty balance. Got every penny back on exmo.com

Were you originally aware that you would be charged for inactivity?

Yeah, I knew that. But I forgot, as usual)

[NeuroticFish]

What happens to your money if you leave it on the exchange and forget about it? Will they write off the money for inactivity?

It somewhat depends on the exchange. I remember that back in 2017 there were Bitcoin card providers with inactivity fee.
On an exchange it should be written in the ToS or the fees schedule, but, since the ToS usually allows them change anything they want, you can easily end up later with the funds taken even if at start such thing was not possible/written.
Also an exchange can get hacked; or can have bugs; or a software or database change may cause their software "forget" about your money. The money will not be lost, it remains in exchange's wallets. But for you it's lost/taken.
As you should know: not your keys, not your coins. Money is not supposed to be held at exchanges. Especially if you plan to get inactive, withdraw your coins into your own wallet.

[bakasabo]

I remember how people were surprised and angry at Latoken announcing they will charge a 5$ per month for inactive accounts but so few of them knew a lot more exchanges do so, like bitfinex or cryptocom.

I'm still surprised about such a decision by exchanges. Why these inactivity fee is even collected? You "do not need to feed" cryptocurrency and charge fees for that. I dont believe that much maintenance must be made for crypto that simply is held on the account, or you need to hire a specialist for that. In general I see it like "bytes of data about every user and his balance". 1 hdd or ssd would be enough to keep all that data.

Or they compare themselves to bank, that charges monthly account fee? If the answer is yes, then they should give same quality service, support and funds protection (in case they got hacked, they must repay holders all the funds lost, like banks after being bankrupt repay users funds, after regulator sells banks assets).

[NeuroticFish]

1 hdd or ssd would be enough to keep all that data.

Actually you are wrong. A proper exchange will have multiple mirrors and backups of their data and will probably use cloud services for their operations. And since the data stays "live" 24/7, the price is bigger than for simple data storage. (Of course, this doesn't excuse them for being greedy.)

[stompix]

In general I see it like "bytes of data about every user and his balance". 1 hdd or ssd would be enough to keep all that data.

That's how you see it, exchanges see it as a line in the table that is not producing a dime, unlike the animals that need feed, this is more like a shelf in a store that stays empty. Besides, when you're running a business you will see a lot of things differently from clients, they have found a source of income that they can charge to somebody who is using them as cold storage, looking from this angle is morally right, isn't it, they still provide a service? 

If the answer is yes, then they should give same quality service, support and funds protection (in case they got hacked, they must repay holders all the funds lost, like banks after being bankrupt repay users funds, after regulator sells banks assets).

Hihi, yeah, let's get real, the moment they will start providing "quality" services is the moment they will charge you two times more even for active accounts.
Exchanges are a money-grabbing machine, they don't care for anything else, they know their business model is threatened from all sides they just want to make as much as they can as soon as possible and their customers seem to get along with it.

A proper exchange will have multiple mirrors and backups of their data

Unlike Binance 

[boyptc]

AFAIK, there's no dormancy policy for most exchanges but just to be sure. You should check it. But there's no assurance that their policy would stay for dormant accounts.

But if it's a very long time of inactivity they might give you a notice and if you have no response, it's on them what will be action taken. Are you planning to leave your funds in exchange? you should keep it easy on a dedicated wallet.

[NeuroticFish]

Unlike Binance 

Touché. I didn't expect them handle this in such and amateurish way.
On the other hand, having your own cloud/data center is an expensive endeavor.
But proper RAID, maybe replication too, should be something absolutely normal, else 2 simultaneous bad hardware events may make user data no longer "safu".
As others replied to that tweet, CZ should hire a specialist. It would not cost that much...

Aside from "inactivity fee", beware that few exchange have terms which close user account after several years of inactivity. For example, PayPal do it after 3 years of inactivity (because you don't login or received payment in 3 years).

This is a good point. At least PP is spamming the users in case of inactivity and funds still there. The corresponding e-mail should be still used/read to avoid surprises.
Still, best is to withdraw and be your own bank.

[Upgrade00]

What happens to your money if you leave it on the exchange and forget about it?

• The exchange can get hacked and you lose your funds,
• The exchange can do an exit scam and you lose your funds,
• The currency you are holding could get delisted and go to zero,
• The exchange could close down your account and you lose your funds,
• You could lose access to your log in details and lose your funds.

Best to store your funds in a non custodian wallet, which does not operate on terms and conditions.

[UserU]

On an exchange it should be written in the ToS or the fees schedule, but, since the ToS usually allows them change anything they want, you can easily end up later with the funds taken even if at start such thing was not possible/written.
Also an exchange can get hacked; or can have bugs; or a software or database change may cause their software "forget" about your money. The money will not be lost, it remains in exchange's wallets. But for you it's lost/taken.
As you should know: not your keys, not your coins. Money is not supposed to be held at exchanges. Especially if you plan to get inactive, withdraw your coins into your own wallet.

This irks me the most. Why not communicate the change via email or site notification rather than sneakily changing the Terms of Service since most can't read through the whole term and any change is nigh impossible to be tracked, unless there's one guy that has lots of time to actually do so.

[hd49728]

Lose your fund in account if exchange is hacked, shut down.

Your account can be closed, terminated, frozen and funds will be given to governmental entity.

I don't agree with people who open account and store crypto on exchanges and turn to be inactively for months or years.

Bittrex

8.8. Unclaimed Property

In certain circumstances, Bittrex may have an obligation to report any Tokens in your Hosted Wallet or any fiat currency in your Bittrex Account to the applicable governmental entity as unclaimed property, such as where your Bittrex Account has been inactive for a period of several years (as defined by the relevant state statutes) or where Bittrex ceases providing Services. If this happens, Bittrex will attempt to contact you using the contact information provided by you. If you do not respond, Bittrex may be obligated to turn over any Tokens in your Hosted Wallet or any fiat currency in your Bittrex Account to the applicable governmental entity after deducting any fees payable to Bittrex. The applicable governmental entity may require Bittrex to liquidate any Tokens in your Bittrex Account into fiat currency and turn over the resulting fiat currency to the governmental entity. You agree that Bittrex will not have any responsibility or liability for any losses, damages, or other harm that you may incur in connection with Bittrex turning over Tokens or fiat currency to the applicable governmental entity or Bittrex’s liquidation of the Tokens.

Poloniex

37. UNCLAIMED PROPERTY
If Polo is holding funds in your Account, and Polo is unable to contact you and has no record of your use of the Services for a prolonged period of time, applicable law may require Polo to report these funds as unclaimed property to the applicable jurisdiction. Polo reserves the right to deduct a dormancy fee or other administrative charges from such unclaimed funds, as permitted by applicable law.

If you haven’t logged into your Account for a prolonged period of time and we are unable to get in touch with you, we may be obligated under law to consider your account abandoned and we might then be required to transfer your account balance in such manner as provided by applicable law.

[GazetaBitcoin]

Or far better, don't leave any funds on an exchange at all.

This is the best approach. You only risk your own money since the moment of the deposit. since that moment forward, they are not your money anymore -- they are exchange's money. In theory, they are still yours, but just in theory, as without having the private keys, the deposit is a move similar to giving your wallet to a stranger and kindly ask him to take care of it. Unfortunately, very few users actually understand that. And from those understanding all the risks (also detailed by me here: 12 years later and people still don't know to use Bitcoin nor what it's good for), for some reasons, a part of them choose to ignore all the risks and still go to an exchange...

In many cases, they start crying afterwards, when the exchange is hacked / performs exit scam / freezes abusively their accounts / reports the users to IRS or local authorities / etc. etc. etc. But the cry is in vain. The damage is already done. For all those which still don;t want to open their eyes, just remember what happened with Mt. Gox.

Unlike Binance 

Touché. I didn't expect them handle this in such and amateurish way.

Looooooool seriously? Oh well, maybe if CZ would join to ChipMixer campaign, maybe he'd afford a back-up HDD. Life is hard, you know? Maybe all the Binance users (at least from the forum) could collect together 100-200$ to help him buy a HDD.

[Eureka_07]

What happens to your money if you leave it on the exchange and forget about it? Will they write off the money for inactivity?

I had some money left on some exchanges, and as of now, I received no fee just for my inactive trading there. But it may really vary between different exchanges. So better read the terms before sending funds.

Is it considered as inactive if I have a current pending booked order? It was already a year ago tho. Just random coin.

[Raflesia]

What happens to your money if you leave it on the exchange and forget about it? Will they write off the money for inactivity?

I had some money left on some exchanges, and as of now, I received no fee just for my inactive trading there. But it may really vary between different exchanges. So better read the terms before sending funds.

Is it considered as inactive if I have a current pending booked order? It was already a year ago tho. Just random coin.

So that's true how the conditions of the exchange when we save and then are no longer active for a long time and even disappear once I do, so I think any safe exchange will keep your funds intact.

But I haven't experienced the things that the OP talked about because when I'm going out of the market for a long time then I will pull all of it to maintain security later because one day problems often occur when we don't know the information.

[LTU_btc]

I'm still surprised about such a decision by exchanges. Why these inactivity fee is even collected? You "do not need to feed" cryptocurrency and charge fees for that. I dont believe that much maintenance must be made for crypto that simply is held on the account, or you need to hire a specialist for that. In general I see it like "bytes of data about every user and his balance". 1 hdd or ssd would be enough to keep all that data.

Or they compare themselves to bank, that charges monthly account fee? If the answer is yes, then they should give same quality service, support and funds protection (in case they got hacked, they must repay holders all the funds lost, like banks after being bankrupt repay users funds, after regulator sells banks assets).

I guess they are doing it because such inactive users isn't beneficial for them. They don't trade, so it's not possible for exange to earn from trading fees. So, it's just a way to monetize every user, even inactive one.
Same like I got message from one online bank few days ago. They don't have monthly fees, but I haven't used them for few years, so they send me message that they will charge €2 every month, until I will login to my account. At least they don't charge if account ballance is empty.

[libert19]

Some do charge but if they are any decent they would notify via email beforehand, do remember tho it's always a bad idea to put funds on exchanges unless you are actively trading.

[BIN-BIN]

I guess the cryptocurrency blockchain has not started charging maintenance fees which  are the ways some financial institutions drain up your untouched balance.  Even if exchange touched your balance you can easily see the address where you found is sent to an be able to get the back.