Bitstamp: No withdrawals for Bitcoin related companies

[dave111223]

A few weeks ago our company requested a wire withdrawal from our Bitstamp corporate account.

After a week the money came back into our bitstamp account (at a $45 cost to us) with bitstamp saying: "The reason for the failure was stated as a breach of a recipients bank's Terms of Service."

This is quite worrying so we contacted our bank, and no they had not seen or rejected any transfer; and said they'd need to see the SWIFT transfer form (MT103) to check it out further.

Bitstamp then had the nerve to ask us to pay $40 extra just to get the proper receipt of the transfer; which we paid.

The receipt, that we paid $40 for, shows only that they transfer money between Raiffeisen Banka d.d. to Raiffeisen Bank international....and the RBI had rejected to process the transfer saying that they do not execute transfers related to Bitcoin...

Talking to Bitstamp is like talking to a brick wall...in their opinion Raiffeisen Banka is their bank and Raiffeisen Bank international is an intermediary; therefore we have to pay all the costs of this botched transfer and can seemly no longer withdraw funds (because of this intermediary that is supposedly totally unrelated to Bitstamp or their bank)

End of story we paid $85 for a transfer that was never sent to our bank; and we have no way to receive any transfers because bitstamps bank/intermediary will not send to Bitcoin related companies...

HOW CAN A BITCOIN EXCHANGE NOT BE ABLE TO SEND TRANSFERS TO BITCOIN BUSINESSES?

Bitstamp support seems to see no real problem with this situation.

Notes:
- We have previously done many successful wire transfers with the last one being about a month ago with no problem.
- Our company name has "Bitcoin" in it.

Here is a Memo from Bitstamps intermediary (basically Bitcoin hate mail): http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/22i768/raiffeisen_bank_international_internal_memo/

[BITCOIN-PIZZA-DAY]

They are simply afraid of KYC/AML shit.

[grahvity]

Current discussion about this on Reddit:

Bitstamp: No withdrawals for Bitcoin related companies

[Sukrim]

I thought they use Unicredit (aka. Bank Austria)?
When did Bitstamp switch their bank partner?

[miohtama]

Talking to Bitstamp is like talking to a brick wall...in their opinion Raiffeisen Banka is their bank and Raiffeisen Bank international is an intermediary; therefore we have to pay all the costs of this botched transfer and can seemly no longer withdraw funds (because of this intermediary that is supposedly totally unrelated to Bitstamp or their bank)

Wasn't Bitstamp in process to change their banking partner? Did they already switch to some German bank?

[N12]

This is a different case from this, right? http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/2e9np5/bitstamp_blocked_my_fiat_withdrawal_and_no/

Why is this apparently a common occurence now?

[seljo]

Is this just FUD?

[dave111223]

Is this just FUD?

Lot of people yelled at me for "FUD" here too:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=225707.0

Reading back it looks like people actually went back in and deleted their FUD comments.

Anyways just managed to withdrawal all my funds in BTC.

[JorgeStolfi]

Here is a Memo from Bitstamps intermediary (basically Bitcoin hate mail): http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/22i768/raiffeisen_bank_international_internal_memo/

The warnings (first paragraph) are standard and all perfectly true, and the advice to stay away from bitcoin (last bullet) is good advice.   Bitcoin is a risky investment, mining is lucrative only for well-planed operations, and even experts find it difficult to protect their coins from theft.  People who do not know how computers work should not be pushed into it.

As for the ban on bitcoin-related transactions, it is an abuse of their power, but what did bitcoiners expect?  "Hi, we are your friendly bank, I understand that you want to destroy us, what can we do to help you?"

[seljo]

Is this just FUD?

Lot of people yelled at me for "FUD" here too:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=225707.0

Reading back it looks like people actually went back in and deleted their FUD comments.

Anyways just managed to withdrawal all my funds in BTC.

I'm not yelling I'm just asking you for a direct answer without links to other posts and avoiding to answer this simple question with yes or no. Is this just FUD?

[klmist]

Talking to Bitstamp is like talking to a brick wall...in their opinion Raiffeisen Banka is their bank and Raiffeisen Bank international is an intermediary; therefore we have to pay all the costs of this botched transfer and can seemly no longer withdraw funds (because of this intermediary that is supposedly totally unrelated to Bitstamp or their bank)

They are correct, however it seems reasonable that Raiffeisen Banka (Slovenia) would resend the transaction through some other intermediary.. how can they possibly justify sending Bitcoin related transactions through a bank that they know will reject them? Bitstamp needs to demand a refund on the failed tx from Raiffeisen Banka and make them resend it some other way.

[dave111223]

I'm not yelling I'm just asking you for a direct answer without links to other posts and avoiding to answer this simple question with yes or no. Is this just FUD?

No I did not make up this story.

Here is the owner (fairly sure Hazek is one of the owners?) of Bitstamp admitting it to be true: http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/2e9jww/bitstamp_no_withdrawals_for_bitcoin_related/cjxd9lc

[RodeoX]

How $#!ty 

Banks only listen to one thing. If you have an account at this bank and can cancel it, that will make waves. Tell them your interested in a full service bank, not a bank from the last century.

[Liquid]

Exactly there is a war that is happening right now between Bitcoin and Global Banks its a power shift a real game changer, these problems are to be expected.

it would be so much easier if we didn't need banks period.

[seljo]

I'm not yelling I'm just asking you for a direct answer without links to other posts and avoiding to answer this simple question with yes or no. Is this just FUD?

No I did not make up this story.

Here is the owner (fairly sure Hazek is one of the owners?) of Bitstamp admitting it to be true: http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/2e9jww/bitstamp_no_withdrawals_for_bitcoin_related/cjxd9lc

Is this an isolated incident or it's Bitstamps new MO, anyone else had problems like this? ...cause soon I'll have to make some withdrawal from stamp and I wouldn't like any surprises...

[dave111223]

Is this an isolated incident or it's Bitstamps new MO, anyone had problems like this cause soon I'll have to make some withdrawal from stamp and I wouldn't like any surprises...

At the moment it appears to be related to companies with "Bitcoin" in the name (or maybe some other filtered words too).

But IMHO if their banking group is this hostile to Bitcoin it can only be a matter of time until that filters down to Bitstamp themselves.

[seljo]

Is this an isolated incident or it's Bitstamps new MO, anyone had problems like this cause soon I'll have to make some withdrawal from stamp and I wouldn't like any surprises...

At the moment it appears to be related to companies with "Bitcoin" in the name (or maybe some other filtered words too).

But IMHO if their banking group is this hostile to Bitcoin it can only be a matter of time until that filters down to Bitstamp themselves.

They are total noobs in this banking shit they should use Societe General Group bitcoin friendly bank.

[renee25]

from what i read some of the bank don't allow the word bitcoin on any field.

otherwise: 2 da moon!

[edd]

from what i read some of the bank don't allow the word bitcoin on any field.

otherwise: 2 da moon!

When I walked into a bank to open up a business account for my latest venture, I ran into this issue. The representative who helped me filled in my personal info on her screen, verified that I had previously had business and personal accounts with this institution and then asked, "What is the name of your business?"

"Bitcoin General Store," I replied.

She immediately turned away from her keyboard and said, "I'm sorry, we don't allow accounts for any Bitcoin related businesses." It took about twenty minutes of assurances on my part that I would only be selling caps, t-shirts, etc and a phone call to her supervisor before I was allowed to open an account.

Needless to say, I only keep a minimum amount of USD in that account, just in case.

[LakeBTC]

from what i read some of the bank don't allow the word bitcoin on any field.

otherwise: 2 da moon!

When I walked into a bank to open up a business account for my latest venture, I ran into this issue. The representative who helped me filled in my personal info on her screen, verified that I had previously had business and personal accounts with this institution and then asked, "What is the name of your business?"

"Bitcoin General Store," I replied.

She immediately turned away from her keyboard and said, "I'm sorry, we don't allow accounts for any Bitcoin related businesses." It took about twenty minutes of assurances on my part that I would only be selling caps, t-shirts, etc and a phone call to her supervisor before I was allowed to open an account.

Needless to say, I only keep a minimum amount of USD in that account, just in case.

wow! seriously??