The 'regulated' exchange Bitstamp would not return your money if you raise red flags for being a terrorist and/or money launderer

I have done transfers before and everything went smooth until 15 days back, right after i did the transfer they sent me requesting details for the KYC process, they take one or two days to reply to me and within 6 days I have sent everything they requested. Now after they have everything, they do not reply to my inquiries, they did not provide any timeline or clarity on the process and why they did not mention it before. I did the transfer 2 weeks ago and today I have no clue what is the status. I find it fishy that they are doing this and is concerned about my money. What can I do?
I have been through KYC before with a bank but it was very different, they simply send me a list of mandatory documents that I have to send, for bitstamp i am their customer for almost a year now and i did transfers before. I am not a day trader and do not have that big volume. They kept the KYC running for 14 days back and forth, there was a statement needed from a bank in my home country which i could not get, they did not insist on it but agreed on alternatives and every 2 days they come back with more and more questions. I had the feeling they just want to keep the money as much as they can and this is what worries me.

Bitstamp are known to refuse service to online businesses.

The new Bitstamp's KYC (Know Your Customer) questionnaire is intrusive and out of control.

If you have corporate account or plan to open such, read this: Bitstamp pretends I never verified my corporate account and my account is personal.

Doing online business is a red flag for "high risk of money laundering".

Many banks don't open accounts to people with online business, especially related to affiliate programs (banks put this in the category 'pyramid schemes').

And regulated exchanges are in many cases worse than banks.

I do not have online business, I am an expat with a current account where my salary is deposited and a saving account in my home country. They kept the KYC going on for 14 days and asking every 2 days for more details and I sent everything, then they sent me an account termination notice which is fine with me, the issue is that they still have my money and they do not reply on when they would send it! They also do not specify any direct reason for the termination. I carry some litecoin and ripple on their exchange and they would not allow me to transfer it, they will liquidate it and send it back with the money. The thing which is starting to worry me is (assuming that I am a criminal into money laundry and terrorism :-)) why would they hold the money for so long rather than return it immediately?

It looks like being an expat is a red flag, because people involved in terrorism usually are covert government employees working for three-letter-agencies. Maybe Bitstamp suspect that this user is an CIA agent involved with terrorism or is dealing with something that looks like a cover up for a terrorist activity.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Do not use (only) flash memory (SSD drives, hardware wallets, USB flash drives) for your precious private keys!

Archiving private keys - TLDR version

[ad removed]