kraken.com has frozen my money since 1 week - Is that the price for being an early adopter of crypto currencies?
First of all I´d like to assure one thing: I´m neither a classic complainer nor somebody that generelly finds any entertainment in public denunciation. I´m rather the complete opposite.
However, when people are holding my money for no reason and don´t talk to me, then I have to find "new ways" to reach them. This article will be directed to the BTC exchange service kraken.com that is obviously suffering a serious overload problem.
Finding a solid provider that exchanges EUR for BTC in Europe comes close to a miracle. I will have to put that again on my Christmas wish list.
The price for being an early adopter
Yes, we are early adopters. We are these insane people that camp in front of an Apple store in order to participate in one of the next iPhone releases (please subsitute Apple / iPhone for whatever brand / technological innovation you might prefer instead).
As @hilarski perfectly described in his latest post "We have many great features regarding crypto currency that are spectacular but come on guys and gals crypto currencies are still largely unknown. We know that Steemit is becoming "The Gateway Crypto."
In matters of the general crypto currency market´s lifecycle we are still at the very beginning.
To be honest I have the sensation of having fallen into that chasm.
There is no doubt about the fact that early adopters have a higher tolerance for risk. It´s part of the game. Since we favor being part of a potential new technology over keeping in our comfort zones, setbacks are budgeted.
However, it´s actually hard to show patience if you don´t know WHY you are waiting.
This is what I have transferred to kraken.com in order to set up my account:
- Name, address, birth date
- Phone number (validated)
- ID / passport (validated)
- €250.00 via SEPA bank transfer (registered on the 03-21-2017)
Today is the 28th of March 2017. Since 7 days my deposited money is "on hold" and I have no idea why or how I can improve the situation.
Thank God I haven´t transferred more money still. This was supposed to be a test and it poorly failed!
They have my complete personal data and my money. What else do they need?!?
The information provided to kraken.com is the very same information you need to open a regular bank account, for instance.
If you are not ready for the masses, then please don´t let them in.
kraken.com announces on their website that they estimate 1-5 working days for proceeding an incoming deposit.
Since they exceeded that deadline two days ago, I sent them another support request. But the only thing I get in return is the very same message I´ve already received twice now.
It´s obvious that kraken.com has a capacity problem.
If they are still not ready for take-off then shouldn´t get even more people (and their fiat money) on board!
Thanks for your time, attention and compassion :)
Marly -
Picture sources:
Title: wired.com
It´s not done quote: pinterest.com
Lifecycle: tumblr.com
If you get a chance to take it out do it and don't ever put it back in. Two exchanges did that to me. One was Cryptsy and they kept it all.
You must be kidding! You never got it back??
There are a lot people in Crypto Currency that never got it back and it happened once before Cryptsy to but I cannot remember the name. I mined it all too so it took a long time to get and was a lot of work. If you get a chance to get it out take it out and do not put it back in there. Good luck! Oh, I put mine in poloniex, bitrex, CEX.io, and some others that are big and those seem to last but a hack can occur at any time. Always use two factor authentication and email notification as well if they have it.
nothing is 100% hack proof
Thanks for the valuable information, Jeff!
Life is learning. Every single day :)
cryptsy, mtgox, several exchanges was hacked or stole our funds...
Incredible!
Good luck @surfermarly - what I heard about Kraken they are solid and probably all will be fine soon - fingers crossed.
Early adopter live a wild life indeed - however i will never understand anyone camping because this brand with a fruit is launching crap phones lol - but that is a different story!
Their way of managing my issues wasn´t too solid, but I am glad you had a different experience. You know what: after publishing this article on Twitter and linking them there, they replied to me - via Twitter! Can you imagine? How does that look to a new customer? They don´t proceed my ticket but start chatting with me on a social media platform. It doesn´t look too good...
I asked them to refund my money though.
Regarding fruits: we don´t have to agree 100% on everything. I love Vitamin C! :-D Haha
Enjoy your evening!
Acá amiga te comento de buena onda nomas. Pq no entiendo nada de criptomonedas. Demasiado nuevo este mundo para mi. Ojala que puedas recuperar tu deposito. Y si queres un alfil para declararles la guerra a los de kraken conta conmigo! Yo les canto esto...
Kraken sos un boton, kraken sos un boton, sos un hijo de p... la p... madre que te pario!!
Kraken sos un boton, kraken sos un boton, sos un hijo de p... la p... madre que te pario!!
Jajaja no hace falta amigo! Me acaban de contestar. Después de haberles enviado el enlace de este artículo por Twitter me respondieron. Te lo imaginas? No trabajan mi solicitud financiera pero chatean por social media. Vaya profesionales!!! :-)
Mejor que no entres en este mundo amigo, es demasiado temprano. Los servicios aún necesitan crecer y establecerse. A seguir blogueando y ser felices sin Bitcoin! ;-)
Sorry. =/
One exchange kept my funds for a year before returning them. Be careful in crypto!
That doesn't sound very promising to me :-( Really sorry to hear that! Thanks for the advice @tuck-fheman.
Do you know what's funny: they replied to me via Twitter right after contacting them! They can't proceed my ticket but they chat with me through social media. Very professional! :-D
Ah good news, I see elsewhere they did give you your funds back.
Yeah, funny somehow. After publishing the link of this steemit article on Twitter and linking them they suddenly became very cooperative...;)) The money has been refunded within only a few hours! Some public pressure always helps. Don´t like that way at all, but hey... it´s the money I worked hard for.
Thanks for your support!!! :)
Keep it public. Keep after them. And if it's still not settled let them know you're making it public and let them know where you're making it public. Let them see that you're getting other people's attention and that you are rationally and truthfully explaining the situation the exchange has put you in.
What is a cryptocurrency?
Well, it's a currency.
It's also crypto. Secret.
Encrypted. Private. Secure. Anonymous.
Handing over your financial details is the bane of crypto.
When you need to give someone your ID in order to exchange goods or services, or money, you've already become non-crypto.
I've been into free software, anonymity, and encryption for quite awhile, and I've learned that there is nothing as important as freedom and privacy in this insane digital age.
I highly recommend you find other ways to get money into cryptocurrencies, that do not involve handing over your personal details.
We are fighting a war against banks, government, and fiat when we use crypto. We need to win that war by not giving out our private identities.
Don't make this mistake twice!
They just refunded my money but where brash enough to pocket a handling fee for their miserable service.
Thanks for the hint, you can be absolutely sure that I won´t do that ever again. It´s a pitty because the only thing I wanted to do is to invest some money into this platform. But there are still too many barriers for regular users like me.
I´ll wait until it becomes more mainstreamy :-)
No need to wait! Just find a different source of coins. Remember: Lots of people on Steemit want to cash out. If you buy their Steem, you can convert Steem easily to any cryptocurrency you want.
The problem is centralized, premined, insecure, non-private government issued money still being used.
Not cryptocurrency. =p
Yeah, maybe dealing with steemians directly is the very best option. I don´t want any other currency, my idea was to invest into steemit.
The Bitcoin backlog likely means that they are dealing with tonnes of requests for just plain old Bitcoin deposits, and likely just don't have the manpower to deal with everything. Localbitcoins.com had a warning up about the blockchain being full, so they are probably experiencing the same thing.
Hopefully the 'main' crypto in a couple of years will be something more scalable. Maybe Steem..., but even Ethereum would be superior.
It´s obviously that they don´t have the manpower to deal with it. But then they can´t promise a 5-day-handling to me and then just ignore me after exceeding it. I am seriously concerned. Lucky me I haven´t trasnferred more!!!
i have an account in kraken without problems since a year ago -cross my fingers-
what tier are you? good luck
That yields hope, thank you!! :)
I am tier 2 currently (deposit via SEPA until €2,000).
with the proof of residence you will be tier 3 but i hope you will get verified soon
The´ve just replied to me. After publishing this article on Twitter and linking them there they felt the need to get back to me. They haven´t replied to my official requests in one week but did on Twitter within a few hours. Is this a professional trading service? Not proceeding tickets but chatting on social media? I am heavily impressed!
The refunding process has been initialized now. I won´t ever transfer any money to this platform again. Regardless, I am happy you´ve made a positive customer experience :)
Thanks for your kind support!
im glad to hear they solved it
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