Kraken CEO give a heads up to carefully use CEX

[AbuBhakar]

Just recently browse this screen capture of Kraken CEO Jesse Powell in response to a concern tweet about freezing of account without consent of owner. The CEO is 100% sure about the possibility of this event so if you guys are concern for freezing your account, You should withdraw now all your coins on all CEX and never store on it if you are still doing this kind things.

Source: https://twitter.com/jespow/status/1494462097161220104?t=ONLgfLVc_TlJsX9tQ9ZvDA&s=19

[jackg]

Yeah the recommendation has always been to move funds away from exchanges if you can and it's nice to see someone from an exchange actually agreeing with that notion.

Every financial institution are bound by similar laws so it's hard to escape the account freezing normally, but with bitcoin the p2p and decentralised nature does make it doable.

[Potato Chips]

... about freezing of account without consent of owner.

Sad to say that this has been happening in centralized crypto platforms for a long time now. It's one of those stories you will regularly see in cryptocurrency communities... Users gets their funds frozen with no clear reason. Some gets the chance to appeal their case typically in exchange for more KYC info, but some gets completely shunned by the support team. A number of them may have an edge legally but attorneys and all that are a luxury not everyone can afford.

[noorman0]

That is old advice that is effective and is voiced everywhere. Even without regulatory involvement, centralized services can also freeze customer funds with internal rules as they please. Unfortunately people are too dependent on centralized platform because of their habit with conventional financial system and also not enough knowledge to manage cryptocurrency independently.

[DaveF]

Not your keys Not your coins.
I really think every APP and wallet should start with that. Let people know that yes you can keep your BTC anyplace they want. But, if it's not local to them then it's not theirs.
I just bought some BTC to trade, and I left it on the exchange. I know the risks. How many people do not?

-Dave

[Lanatsa]

Just recently browse this screen capture of Kraken CEO Jesse Powell in response to a concern tweet about freezing of account without consent of owner. The CEO is 100% sure about the possibility of this event so if you guys are concern for freezing your account, You should withdraw now all your coins on all CEX and never store on it if you are still doing this kind things.

At least he do tell the truth to the public which most of us do definitely know on what are the circumstances that we might faced specially if a certain platform would really be ending up on high

or tight/strict regulation which they would need to comply on something for them to operate continuously or staying up on the business even if via means on affecting other users.
If they wouldn't tend to agree with the terms then its neither closure or something like that but most of platforms will surely agree on such changes
and users would need to follow if they do wish to stay but its actually a good suggestion.

[Captain Corporate]

 Its really not that much of a shock though. I mean what did people expected, for Kraken to say no to cops and judges? Obviously they are going to end up saying yes to whatever law says and the moment there is an order for a persons assets to be frozen, it will be frozen. Kraken never really told people that they would protect your funds no matter what happens, that would be insane to do, they would be shutdown within the day and would never work anywhere in the USA ever again. People who use Kraken already know this or at least should have known this. If you were now aware of it, now you are. Use it with this caution but doesn't mean that you can't use it neither, just do not do anything illegal that makes a court judge to go out and freeze your assets, and you will be fine.

[livingfree]

It's been said for so many times that when you're going to store for long term, use a hardware wallet.

He's right and on point about keeping it on exchanges, even him, he knows the risk of letting the exchange hold your fund.

Just don't put all your money in the exchanges.

[sheenshane]

That's a good point and that's good to know that even the CEO of the exchange advises their users to use a noncustodial wallet for the safety of their assets.  Everything can be hacked and centralized exchange is vulnerable or prone to that hack.

He's right and even the CEO of the exchange is aware of possible hacks and if you don't have trust in the exchange you can pull out anytime your assets and store them in a safe place.  Still, the golden rule was there "Not Your Key, Not Your Coin".

Kraken exchange is good for trading not storing your assets and I don't even trust in P2P exchange.

[harizen]

Just recently browse this screen capture of Kraken CEO Jesse Powell in response to a concern tweet about freezing of account without consent of owner. The CEO is 100% sure about the possibility of this event so if you guys are concern for freezing your account, You should withdraw now all your coins on all CEX and never store on it if you are still doing this kind things.

Even without that kind of announcement, it should be a usual approach not to "store" coins on a third-party service.

Not saying you shouldn't use those services but only if it's really needed to or you are running out of alternatives.

I appreciate though the awareness of the CEO of one of the popular exchanges in the crypto-world. That's a good reference at those new players lurking right now in between several centralized exchanges.

[Strongkored]

That is the risk faced if we entrust our funds on the central platform there will be people who have the power to do anything for legal reasons and everything, always consider all the possibilities that occur if we choose to put large funds in CEX and if not for trade transactions it would be better to withdraw it and store it in the wallet that we have access to PK.

[Jawhead999]

As you posted this on Trading section, many people still hold their coins on exchanges because it will minimize the fee when you want to send/receive from your own wallet. Daily trader doesn't have any choice with this matter, maybe they can only put few% for their daily trading and rest of them still on their wallet. If many people prefer to use P2P rather than CEX, there's will be high liquidity there and there's no reason we need to use CEX.

[GreatArkansas]

I'm very glad that they are transparent and telling this in public which for me is very correct and must. Glad to see people on centralized platforms telling this, not being hypocritical, and being greedy even they lose customers.

This is also another thing that most of the people in crypto will know especially before signing up or doing deposits on their centralized exchange accounts.

[tranthidung]

First, not your keys not your coins. CEX means they mostly only give you custodial wallets that mean you don't have any key.

• https://notyourkeys.org/

Second, CEX means centralized and are regulated by governments so whenever governments bring serious pressure and ask those exchanges to do KYC on all customers, they will do it. Then you might get trouble with KYC procedure and in worst case, your coins will stuck on those exchanges.
Lastly, CEX means if their exchanges get hacked and unable to compensate for customers, you will lose your money. In addition, they can use hacks as reasons for their scam exits.

[bittraffic]

It must be related to Binance.US probe investigation of SEC with thier trading affiliates. The investigation could lead to accusing CZ of conspiring suspicious activity with partners inside the trading platform. Jesse Powell is just sending the possibility that SEC will also try to get him through such an investigation and warn everyone now to cautiously use the exchange and leave money inside that you can afford to lose.

Would this mean Jesse is hiding something? 

[cheezcarls]

I have never stored my assets on a centralized exchange. Not your keys, not your coins. I only use CEXs for day trading or just simply buying or selling coins and tokens and quickly transfer them to a cold or non-custodial wallet. No disrespect to CEXs, but this is the reality nowadays.

[so98nn]

Well this is one of the best example that no matter what, not your keys not your coins.
Yes, I know its about the CEX, but on the other hand just think about the tweet from CEO of exchanger itself. They know very well, if they are forced to freeze the assets then they wont be able to give it to the clients account. It would be their own liability if they loose it. So clear message, even if they are multi millionaire exchanger they can't help you whenever there is situation like this or even the hacking. You will always get suffered with this. I kinda started to think that Peer 2 Peer option is far better these days rather than keeping the assets on exchangers.
At the least they gave the notice to their followers, hope so everyone gets the lesson of not your keys!

[rhomelmabini]

It's not always SAFU but if the CEO himself has warned the users then best to do it and besides it's always been the narrative to keep your coins privately. Looks like Kraken will just be the focal point for now but likely to happen to other exchanges as well.

[The Cryptovator]

Nothing news, we have many experiences like this. And thanks to Kraken CEO for telling the truth. If we don't like to freeze our assets then have to move into a non-custodial wallet or deal it p2p. But we are not hearing that and there is not much we can do as well. We are forced to use centralized exchange due to Liquidity and pair. But need to make sure the amount isn't big there and not hold for a long time. Otherwise, at any time fund would freeze.

[beerlover]

I would guess that Kraken have to say this as well, I mean not like they could deny it, then FBI would be all over them. Plus they got a banking right as well, don't know if they actually started the bank or not but I know that they had that right. Which is a big proof enough to show you that they are quite legal and out there. They do not have stocks trading on the market like Coinbase does as far as I know, but they are still a huge company.

I believe that they will be more and more inside the law over time and that requires them to give up on some of the freedom that crypto brings. If you are worried about your money, just get a ledger nano and you would be able to protect it very carefully.