eXch - instant exchange BTC / LN / XMR / LTC / ETH / ERC20

[examplens]

2. NotATether's issue is not the "customer issue" at all...

After he used his auto-generated affiliation ID to earn a partner fee from clicks on his site, he started to use it directly without notifying us which is mandatory to have withdrawals enabled afterwards, since we do not simply approve them for everyone and have a right to reject approval.

If I may ask, why is additional verification and special approval required for affiliate partner ID activation?
As far as I understand, affiliate profit is paid only after successful transactions. There can be no abuse here, artificial generation of leads because the calculation is made only based on the profit that the partner has made possible by bringing in new clients.
How do you recognize illegitimate partner activities here and what are the examples of illegal promotions that banned an aff account?

Even if the partner uses his affiliate link for swap, the exchange still makes a real profit and the activity of the partner does not harm the service itself.

[LoyceV]

If I may ask, why is additional verification and special approval required for affiliate partner ID activation?

I guess it's meant to avoid using the affiliate program as a discount on your own exchange. Since the user is anonymous, it would be trivially easy to abuse. Showing a real website with real users that contains the link makes it more likely to have legitimate users.
But I'm just guessing here

[examplens]

I guess it's meant to avoid using the affiliate program as a discount on your own exchange. Since the user is anonymous, it would be trivially easy to abuse. Showing a real website with real users that contains the link makes it more likely to have legitimate users.
But I'm just guessing here

It's possible, but even in that case the exchanger definitely earned his fee / - partner's percentage. They don't need to worry about how the partner spends their affiliate profits.

[arandon]

If it is a one-man business

Doubt it. eXch (OP) uses perfect English, while the exch.cx website and the support messages use slightly broken English.

When someone so reputable is gone for a month, I'm not worried about their integrity. I'm worried about their physical wellbeingness.

I hope the people behind eXch are very careful with their anonymity.

They've been out for a month, then back with no explanation. The site doesn't have a canary. I don't recall if it had one.

Wouldn't be surprised if exch.cx was infiltrated by LE and all transfers are under scrutiny now.

This Animesh phishing is a convenient red herring.

[joker_josue]

I guess it's meant to avoid using the affiliate program as a discount on your own exchange. Since the user is anonymous, it would be trivially easy to abuse. Showing a real website with real users that contains the link makes it more likely to have legitimate users.
But I'm just guessing here

It's possible, but even in that case the exchanger definitely earned his fee / - partner's percentage. They don't need to worry about how the partner spends their affiliate profits.

Perhaps to prevent his name from being associated with illegal companies/services or ones that he doesn't support. Or, you don't want companies to use your name, only individual users.

[Pmalek]

They've been out for a month, then back with no explanation.

They did explain the situation. They wrote that the only person who has access to SimpleX was on vacation. Hence, it took longer to address the tickets. They have also written that they respond to user tickets and client inquires within 48 hours. I don't see any users claiming that's not true. They have also addressed the situation around NotATether's affiliate account and how that's not considered a customer support issue because it doesn't involve the exchange of crypto but a payment of affiliate rewards.

[NotATether]

They've been out for a month, then back with no explanation.

They did explain the situation. They wrote that the only person who has access to SimpleX was on vacation.

And they had to wait for a whole month to announce that here? (Since clearly the person who controls this account is different from the SimpleX person)

It does not do any harm, to make a small communication update. Or if access to their Bitcointalk credentials is also not available, on their main website.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

If it is a one-man business

Doubt it. eXch (OP) uses perfect English, while the exch.cx website and the support messages use slightly broken English.

An exchange as big as eXch can't be ran by one person and I don't think they have been infiltrated by law enforcement. Atleast we now have a response and things should go smoothly from here.

[JollyGood]

Well that explains a lot. As long as there are multiple points of communication handled by different people it is going to be interpreted as a good sign.

If it is a one-man business

Doubt it. eXch (OP) uses perfect English, while the exch.cx website and the support messages use slightly broken English.

An exchange as big as eXch can't be ran by one person and I don't think they have been infiltrated by law enforcement. Atleast we now have a response and things should go smoothly from here.

[ABCbits]

--snip--
The site doesn't have a canary. I don't recall if it had one.
--snip--

Canary as in warrant carany? The usefulness of such thing is questionable anyway, especially because not updating or removing it after receiving subpoena may violate law on some country.

[NotATether]

--snip--
The site doesn't have a canary. I don't recall if it had one.
--snip--

Canary as in warrant carany? The usefulness of such thing is questionable anyway, especially because not updating or removing it after receiving subpoena may violate law on some country.

That's exactly what a canary is supposed to be for.

If law enforcement's already nabbed you then you can't update it anyway, since you'll no longer have access to the hardware.

(not that this has anything to do with my previous reply from an hour ago)

[LoyceV]

Canary as in warrant carany? The usefulness of such thing is questionable anyway, especially because not updating or removing it after receiving subpoena may violate law on some country.

That's exactly what a canary is supposed to be for.

I always assumed the warrant canary works because no law can force you to post something online, and even if they could, it's going to take longer than the time it takes your canary to expire.

[ABCbits]

--snip--
Canary as in warrant carany? The usefulness of such thing is questionable anyway, especially because not updating or removing it after receiving subpoena may violate law on some country.

That's exactly what a canary is supposed to be for.

If law enforcement's already nabbed you then you can't update it anyway, since you'll no longer have access to the hardware.

(not that this has anything to do with my previous reply from an hour ago)

That's mostly true, unless government have access to your website and key to sign warrant canary. But being nabbed and received subpoena are two different thing.

Canary as in warrant carany? The usefulness of such thing is questionable anyway, especially because not updating or removing it after receiving subpoena may violate law on some country.

That's exactly what a canary is supposed to be for.

I always assumed the warrant canary works because no law can force you to post something online, and even if they could, it's going to take longer than the time it takes your canary to expire.

Relevant blog link, https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2015/03/australia_outla.html.

[NotATether]

I always assumed the warrant canary works because no law can force you to post something online, and even if they could, it's going to take longer than the time it takes your canary to expire.

That's why the canary should also say that you haven't been contacted by law enforcement for subpoenas, requests, warrants, etc.

It won't protect from a dishonest admin (but you should not be using such a site in the first place if that is the case), and the admin cannot be forced to update the canary and keep the "I haven't been contacted by law enforcement" part intact.

Section 182A of the new law says that a person commits an offense if he or she discloses or uses information about "the existence or non-existence of such a [journalist information] warrant." The penalty upon conviction is two years imprisonment.

@ABCbits I am not a lawyer, but if law enforcement prevents you from updating the canary, then the absence of future canaries cannot be used as evidence of transgression of such a law (in countries with sane judicial systems [e.g. not Russia]) because a lawyer could show that this transgression was done under duress by law enforcement.

[Pmalek]

And they had to wait for a whole month to announce that here?

I agree that it could have been handled better. Unless their staff simply disappeared and went on vacation without telling anyone, it's fair to assume that those responsible knew at what time their staff will be unavailable due to their holidays. If it was me, I would have made a post, informing the community and userbase that our staff will be unavailable or less available because of vacation. I would have asked the community to be patient and told them to stay calm.