WARNING! : Be Careful Sending Funds to Bitfinex.com
In an attempt to get in on EOS early, in case it was being released immediately after Consensus, I gambled that Bitfinex.com (the hacked exchange currently having financial issues) would be one of the exchanges EOS would be released on. So I sent some BTC there to be ready. The deposit went fine and I waited.
After a few days it became apparent with more discussion that EOS was not going to be released any time soon, so I decided to pull my BTC off of Bitfinex. I submitted the withdrawal request and waited. Days went by and the withdrawal still showed as "Pending", so I submitted a support ticket.
In my ticket I stated up front why I deposited the funds, because I felt there must be some problem since they're still holding my funds, I figure I'd head off any questions by explaining why I sent the money and why I'm withdrawing it; not that I was required to do so, I just know how these things go from experience.
Here's what I got in return...
Issue #1 : They didn't read a word I said in the support ticket, which answered all of these questions.
Issue #2 : I answered all of the questions, again, and so far no reply for 9 days and no sign of my Bitcoin.
Issue #3 : They appear to be using KYC laws to hold funds without requesting any identification or offering any method of resolution for customers to get their funds back outside of answering these questions they ignore the answers to or delay answering for weeks. This is what a lot of exchanges that operate on a fractional reserve allegedly do. Another exchange, Bter.com has been accused of this for many years, and they once held my funds for an entire year before releasing them.
I'll be bluntly honest. I don't want to go through a Bter situation again, and therefore I am looking for some sort of leverage that I can use to force Bitfinex hand. This post is a good example of what @bitfinex can expect to happen until I receive my money. :)
My question to anyone with knowledge in this field (law especially) ...
In your opinion, do you think Bitfinex is abusing KYC laws to hold customer funds?
Update
I was able to finally get my funds off of Bitfinex, unfortunately I had to do it by buying an altcoin (ETC) and then waiting half a day or more for them to arrive.
For me to withdraw my Bitcoin, Bitfinex asked that I DM them on Twitter from the @TuckFheman account.
Bitfinex does not follow the TF account, so I could not DM them and they had requested the impossible task now. I waited days for them to never respond to my ticket informing them of this, then finally decided to just buy ETC and try to withdraw that way.
According to Bitfinex
The reasons they gave for holding my funds are below ...
So the lesson is ... don't do what I did or ...
Don't send your money to a centralized exchange.
Use the BitShares DEX instead.
Wow I cant believe how many shills are here omg. Bitfinex is the best trading experience that you will get hands down. They are the number one globally in fee-based volume. And that volume allows for the best liquidity. And when you are trading a fast paced commodity you need best serves and best liquidity, which Bitfinex. I am sorry that USA customers are not able to access the service but is because of your banks. Your banks are in collusion to block USA customers and have therefore forced bitfinex to close the doors. I can tell you that I know friends who access Bitfinex nonetheless and do it successfully and love the experience. Everyone should be writing to their Banks telling them that If you can't access Bitfinex you will take your funds out. If they don't change move to a credit union. You guys have the power now learn how to use it. Bitcoin, the only truly decentralized coin, is not a game.
I don't know the answer to your question but I harassed Bter 10 times a day for 2 weeks until I received my coin. The email that finally did it was, "I really wanted to invest a lot more BTC into the website but I'm not sure I can trust it unless this transaction goes through".
They had the funds in two hours.
Suckers.
lol nice!
The old "I wanted to invest trick".
Try it.
By the way thanks for the support on my comic man. If you enjoyed it I'll be posting another (hopefully) tonight. I've seen some good ones from you so it means a lot.
Peace bro.
Fuck Bitfinex.
ROFL, money rules the world.
one more reason for the need of a decentralized and highly liquid low fee crypto exchange with some sort of asset protection in place. these exchanges are like roach motels, we've got no problem letting you put the funds in, but if all you wanna do is take it right back out, well, now we're "very concerned" about the source of your funds.
it's why I still wouldn't be comfortable placing any real amount of funds on any of these exchanges. no comparison to a well-run brokerage account with SIPC and additional insurance. short of a SHTF event, you can sleep like a baby at night regardless how much capital you may have sitting there.
resteemed, if only to help further protect the community. I sincerely hope it works out and you get your funds back. probably couldn't hurt to try @kryptik60's suggestion either.
Thanks!
Right. =/
to clarify, I'd say yes, they're totally abusing KYC laws by applying it completely backwards and to their own questionable advantage. btw, posted this in the EOSproject telegram group as well.
bitshares/openledger It has been there for a while
I think many people who've already seen it feel it's just not quite there yet. Not to mention that most pairs have little or no real liquidity. I also don't like all the fees and that whole MLM feel it has with the whole affiliate thing. It's also not quite fast enough to compete with a centralized exchange. What we really need is the "quality" and liquidity of poloniex (when it's running "smoothly") in a stable and decentralized context. I've actually been sort of hopeful that EOS may be the platform that could finally facilitate the successful development of such an endeavor.
They need referrals as that helps in marketing to bring liquidity in the system. It's a chicken and egg problem that is why we need to support it so we can have a better decentralized exchange. Yeah its not yet there but its a very good start
Interesting bitsharestalk thread on the subject here:
https://bitsharestalk.org/index.php/topic,23691.15.html
Attracting liquidity is the hardest part, and that's after they've gotten many of the other aspects mostly right.
Just look at the effort ERIS Exchange has gone through promoting their futures contracts over the past few years:
https://www.erisfutures.com/EE/Eris_Swap_Futures_Overview.pdf
Also notice how many platform partners they have, and how far they go to make people feel "safe" using it. And look at the fees:
50 cents per side, per $100K NOTIONAL! That same size trade on poloniex (with all its issues and risks) at .15% ADD LIQUIDITY (not remove liquidity, which is even higher) would cost $150!
https://www.erisfutures.com/fees
Any wonder why the really big traders are still mostly sticking to the much less expensive regulated trading exchanges?
Thanks for the heads up. It's crazy that they aren't even replying back to you.
UPDATE 6/3: I was contacted by @bitfinex earlier today after alerting them to this post (keep that in mind).
They claimed they contacted me first, but I have no record of any email contact or via any other means.
Unfortunately I still do not have my money as of yet because they requested that I DM them on Twitter and I can't because they aren't following me. Seems they would have known this up front and could have sped this process up, but ... exchanges.
So, another wild goose chase for a bit it seems, then hopefully I can get this resolved. I will update as soon as I have my funds.
I'm getting so tired of not having a decent decentralized exchange yet. Honestly, how has nobody been successful in getting that off the ground yet? It's a multi billion dollar market already and one of the biggest needs in the space.
https://shapeshift.io/#/coins is what your looking for mate :)
Maybe you should look up the word "decentralized".
try waves platform :)
I'm not gonna make a decentralized exchange all by myself lol.
no u did not get the point try waves platform is already decentralized and competes with ethereum but it's also an exchange
Exchange of what? WAVES/shitty self made tokens? BitShares DEX has almost all currencies and nobody uses that either.
you are confusing bitshares with waves....
you need to read more info before you judge ;)
It looks like WAVES is still alpha though.
bitshares / openledger has been up for a long time
All cryptos started as shitty self made tokens
No not shitty, Bitcoin was revolutionary :p
People say that now but not in 2009... And in a few years when everyone starts creating their own currency...most people will then say it is revolutionary...:)
Can we create our own currency on Waves?? I have been wanting to try it.
yes you can but it will only be exchanged on waves platform it cost 1 waves to create
http://prntscr.com/ff9p2f
Thanks man appreciate it.
Wow, I was close to send funds via Bitfinex! Thanks for the warning, @tuck-fheman, you really saved my money!
Wow I cant believe how many shills are here omg. Bitfinex is the best trading experience that you will get hands down. They are the number one globally in fee-based volume. And that volume allows for the best liquidity. And when you are trading a fast paced commodity you need best serves and best liquidity, which Bitfinex. I am sorry that USA customers are not able to access the service but is because of your banks. Your banks are in collusion to block USA customers and have therefore forced bitfinex to close the doors. I can tell you that I know friends who access Bitfinex nonetheless and do it successfully and love the experience. Everyone should be writing to their Banks telling them that If you can't access Bitfinex you will take your funds out. If they don't change move to a credit union. You guys have the power now learn how to use it. Bitcoin, the only truly decentralized coin, is not a game.
Never used Bitfinex before, mostly because they usually charged a decent amount more than the other exchanges. Glad I saw this though to make sure that I never use them. Thanks for the information!
Thanks for explaining the situation.