Hitbtc.com locking in customer funds.

[HerrAndreas]

An exchange ceasing to allow fiat withdrawals and giving very vague answers when customers ask why they are not getting their money.
Does that remind anyone of a little bit of history repeating?

My guess:
Hitbtc.com has run into some serious banking problems and is now trying to get customers to rather exit their funds in crypto (at well above average rates), then to pay people their balances in fiat.
Either that or they are finally packing things and are getting ready to make a run.

My 5 Satoshi: Hands off - hitbtc.com looks like going (m)t(g)oxic.

[1714507674]

1714507674

[sgk]

An exchange ceasing to allow fiat withdrawals and giving very vague answers when customers ask why they are not getting their money.
Does that remind anyone of a little bit of history repeating?

My guess:
Hitbtc.com has run into some serious banking problems and is now trying to get customers to rather exit their funds in crypto (at well above average rates), then to pay people their balances in fiat.
Either that or they are finally packing things and are getting ready to make a run.

My 5 Satoshi: Hands off - hitbtc.com looks like going (m)t(g)oxic.

I've been using this exchange for a while now, but never used fiat deposits/withdrawals. I have always treated it as an altcoin exchange platform.

Thanks for the heads up though, I'll withdraw any altcoin balances I have there, just to be safe.

[HerrAndreas]

I have been trading there for many months, but it seems like it is going down recently (Just take a look at the miniscule orderbook depth around the spread borders).
Following their recent bank account change and their "accounting system update" there have constantly been problems with balances beeing locked in (usually you get some "new AML regulation" bs - even if fully verified. And guess what, the compliance officcer (probably Andrey Sevchenko from Ullus Corp himself), is on holiday. I do wonder if he will ever come back.
It might be early to panic concerning crypto currencies, but when you hold any fiat balances there, you should be highly concerned.

[HerrAndreas]

You can call me overly nervous, but I just did what I had not planned to do.
I converted my fiat at hitbt.com to BTC (at a hefty loss) and withdrew.

my farewell to hitbtc.com:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=911995.0

At least crypto withdrawals are still working. for now.

[EnterReturn]

As I remember, their story with new re-verification started late in October. And there was a reddit discussion about their bankruptcy or whatever. And the exchange is still alive. And today there's another one which is muuuuuuch more alike to go gox))))

The main contradiction here is that, damn, that hitbtc is working on their platform. I did a small esearch last month... They added some features like brokerage reports, and are testing some new ones (contract trading, ++)... A goxing exchange would not act like this...

Another "pro" is the user complains who can't pass verification to START trading (https://forum.hitbtc.com/discussion/29/i-am-being-denied-verified-status-and-i-don-t-know-why#latest). Looks more like they experience some pressure from outside concerning AML policy... A potential bankrupt does his best to get as much money as possible and ASAP. That's what they are not doing.

p.s. I never had more than 200 euro on my account on any exchange. I don't know, what would I do if I had over 10 000 stuck somewhere. So, please don't follow my point of view blindly. I just think that it is all not as bad as you say.

[HerrAndreas]

As I remember, their story with new re-verification started late in October. And there was a reddit discussion about their bankruptcy or whatever. And the exchange is still alive. And today there's another one which is muuuuuuch more alike to go gox))))

The main contradiction here is that, damn, that hitbtc is working on their platform. I did a small esearch last month... They added some features like brokerage reports, and are testing some new ones (contract trading, ++)... A goxing exchange would not act like this...

Another "pro" is the user complains who can't pass verification to START trading (https://forum.hitbtc.com/discussion/29/i-am-being-denied-verified-status-and-i-don-t-know-why#latest). Looks more like they experience some pressure from outside concerning AML policy... A potential bankrupt does his best to get as much money as possible and ASAP. That's what they are not doing.

p.s. I never had more than 200 euro on my account on any exchange. I don't know, what would I do if I had over 10 000 stuck somewhere. So, please don't follow my point of view blindly. I just think that it is all not as bad as you say.

nah. that is not what is happening.
I have been through all the full verification to deposit and withdraw a few k euro daily and went through the "new" verification again (I´ve been active on hitbtc for the larger part of 2014). What they ask for is what all the others want (makes sense, since the same AML regulations apply to all of them). They had that from me and they got it again. And now the say something about "current AML" regulations and that the money is "frozen". But at the same time suggest to move the money out by exchanging eur to btc (at their higher then elsewhere rates).

There is no new regulation since the last verification I went through with them (a few weeks ago).
They worked fine for some time, but now they seem unable to process fiat withdrawals (not more then a few k).
I believe they either are an honest exchange and just don´t have the money or they are an dishonest exchange and well, it was a hitbtc and run.
Either way, they do unexpectedly not process larger fiat transactions and I dont care why. If something doesn´t work, it doesn´t work.

[sgk]

That's a pity. It is one of the very few exchanges I have been using. I really liked the interface and the trading engine.

I think if they fail to get around the fiat problems, they should just make it a crypto-trading exchange and dump the fiat support. This way they can better focus on what they're good at.

[HerrAndreas]

That's a pity. It is one of the very few exchanges I have been using. I really liked the interface and the trading engine.

I think if they fail to get around the fiat problems, they should just make it a crypto-trading exchange and dump the fiat support. This way they can better focus on what they're good at.

it´s a pity indeed.
The engine and interface are really of high quality and if I am right about who wrote (/adapted) it it was made by someone with good experience in programming for paymentsystems and trading engines.
but (there is always a big but),
that level of professionalism showing in the technical aspects, was never reflected in the organisational structure (shell in a shell in a shell), their banking setup (qed), or the quality of support (you hardly ever got anything then a standard phrase as reply).

It is still an awsome bot-playground and I would surely recomend it for testing your bots (they even have a seperate "virtual" exchange - how awsome is that?), but when it comes to doing business it is reliability and support if something does not work as expected. And those reqirements are simply not met at all.

As you said,
it´s a pity.

[ipnone5only]

That's a pity. It is one of the very few exchanges I have been using. I really liked the interface and the trading engine.

I think if they fail to get around the fiat problems, they should just make it a crypto-trading exchange and dump the fiat support. This way they can better focus on what they're good at.

it´s a pity indeed.
The engine and interface are really of high quality and if I am right about who wrote (/adapted) it it was made by someone with good experience in programming for paymentsystems and trading engines.
but (there is always a big but),
that level of professionalism showing in the technical aspects, was never reflected in the organisational structure (shell in a shell in a shell), their banking setup (qed), or the quality of support (you hardly ever got anything then a standard phrase as reply).

It is still an awsome bot-playground and I would surely recomend it for testing your bots (they even have a seperate "virtual" exchange - how awsome is that?), but when it comes to doing business it is reliability and support if something does not work as expected. And those reqirements are simply not met at all.

As you said,
it´s a pity.

I'm experiencing similar shit but on the opposite side. I use them for exchanging fiat to crypto. So, after providing ALL DAMN POSSIBLE documents (excluding a notarised copy of my underwear) they refused to verify my and said they will not accept any fiat deposits from me. So, I sent my last 1k euro, withdrew my coins (with no delay as always) and that was it.
Can I call them scammers? Definitely, no.
Can I expect more adequate service? Definitely, yes.

[ipnone5only]

That's a pity. It is one of the very few exchanges I have been using. I really liked the interface and the trading engine.

I think if they fail to get around the fiat problems, they should just make it a crypto-trading exchange and dump the fiat support. This way they can better focus on what they're good at.

it´s a pity indeed.
The engine and interface are really of high quality and if I am right about who wrote (/adapted) it it was made by someone with good experience in programming for paymentsystems and trading engines.
but (there is always a big but),
that level of professionalism showing in the technical aspects, was never reflected in the organisational structure (shell in a shell in a shell), their banking setup (qed), or the quality of support (you hardly ever got anything then a standard phrase as reply).

It is still an awsome bot-playground and I would surely recomend it for testing your bots (they even have a seperate "virtual" exchange - how awsome is that?), but when it comes to doing business it is reliability and support if something does not work as expected. And those reqirements are simply not met at all.

As you said,
it´s a pity.

I'm experiencing similar shit but on the opposite side. I use them for exchanging fiat to crypto. So, after providing ALL DAMN POSSIBLE documents (excluding a notarised copy of my underwear) they refused to verify my and said they will not accept any fiat deposits from me. So, I sent my last 1k euro, withdrew my coins (with no delay as always) and that was it.
Can I call them scammers? Definitely, no.
Can I expect more adequate service? Definitely, yes.

Forgot to mention, that with my last chat to support they dropped kinda hint, that they are working on this bottleneck. So we can expect some changes in the near future.

[HerrAndreas]

If and when hitbtc starts to live up to the promises it makes, I would consider moving some of my trading back to them, but as long as support replies always come with the bitter feeling of "I cant be bothered to care" and most important of all, as long as money simply gets "stuck" (or frozen or whatever you call it) it is nice to look at, but also as useless as a screensaver.

[ipnone5only]

If and when hitbtc starts to live up to the promises it makes, I would consider moving some of my trading back to them, but as long as support replies always come with the bitter feeling of "I cant be bothered to care" and most important of all, as long as money simply gets "stuck" (or frozen or whatever you call it) it is nice to look at, but also as useless as a screensaver.

1000 % agree. The only thing I'm trying to call upon - stop hysteria like "mtgox", "bankrupcy" and so on.