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Topic: [2017-12-30] Australian Freeze: Big Aussie Banks Denying Bitcoiners (Read 123 times)

legendary
Activity: 1526
Merit: 1179
Banks should stop acting like complete jerks. The only thing we want them to do is to provide us a properly functioning platform we can do our banking business on, and that's it.

But the thing is that we don't know whether or not they get pressured by the government to do so. Banks are nothing more than governmental slaves, which means that they can change the rules at any given moment without notice.

In most cases the smaller banks turn out to be more lenient with Bitcoin, because everything related to complaints about banks versus crypto has to do with the larger banks.
legendary
Activity: 1232
Merit: 1091
Seriously, let that piece of shit bank bleed till it can't do anything other than correcting its mistakes.

I like that. It's our money we have worked our entire life for, and they decide for us where to spend it on? That's a big no go for me. I am however not sure how many people would actually participate in a coordinated bank run. I am confident that cryptocoiners will join, but the few they account for won't make the bank sweat. In order to make the bank feel that they have gone too far, thousands of people need to empty their bank accounts, where from that point I am sure the bank in question will pee from fear. It's safe to say that as long as banks control our money, we don't own anything....
full member
Activity: 199
Merit: 100
The problem is that 99% of those leather wallets are offshore - it's not arriving back into a big-4 account - that handful of notes literally vanish (their existence in the first place was illusion based on the imaginary money the banks invented when they wrote past loans against real cash, but which now must be somehow un-invented because that "real cash" has gone to another country)
hero member
Activity: 868
Merit: 535
I guess this has been happening all over the world, as I think the banks are afraid of this new found financial instruments. This could lead to banks being replaced by cryptocurrencies and other forms of financial institutions that revolve around the use of cryptocurrencies. Maybe one day there would even be some cryptocurrency banks that would hold crypto for their users and those crypto banks would also lend out crypto to would be borrowers.

A brave new world we live in.
hero member
Activity: 798
Merit: 506
The war against bitcoin which started by banks already begun. There are a lot of cases where banks cracked down exchanges accounts in bank or freeze bitcoiners accounts such as in this article.
Since bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency and the bank is centralized, it seems like bitcoin is the natural enemy of banks.
The problem is banks do it without legal laws issued by governments, as long as there is no regulation that state bitcoin is illegal, people are free to transact bitcoin or using banks as an intermediary to deposit/withdraw to exchanges.
legendary
Activity: 2170
Merit: 1427
Of course if I'm a Australian bitcoiners I will complain as well because the government itself embrace bitcoin and now banks are f***ing rejecting them? WTF?

Take a look here https://www.bunq.com/ It allows anyone to open a bank account without the need to verify yourself with ID and so forth. There are several paid plans you can choose from, or just free if you want to keep it simple. It will require your mobile phone number, but that's pretty much the only main requirement, which isn't all that unreasonable. They have an official banking license as well, so it's nothing shady or whatever. It's pretty much a last resort option, but better than nothing if your own banks aren't cooperating.
legendary
Activity: 3080
Merit: 1353
It's pretty simple, if a bank denies me access to Bitcoin, or crypto in general, I withdraw my money from that shit bank. I have experienced the same a good while ago, and it meant the exit of that bank for me. I withdrew all my money from that bank and told them to immediately close down my bank account. I am glad that my current bank doesn't seem to be working against crypto coiners at all, but in case it does, I will personally set up a group or whatever to organize somewhat of a bankrun with everyone that I know. Seriously, let that piece of shit bank bleed till it can't do anything other than correcting its mistakes.

I have a bad experiences with banks though in my country and that they keep denying me opening an account because simply they think my source of income (bitcoin) comes from illegal ways. Until I found a bank, which is very far away from my place and they are too lenient. And there's a news going around as well, that one of the biggest banks here will not accept crypto specially if you are going to transfer from our exchanges to that local bank. This is a big surprise for me because Australia is the second country to accept and legalize bitcoin. Why are Australian banks waging this uncanny war to begin with? Of course if I'm a Australian bitcoiners I will complain as well because the government itself embrace bitcoin and now banks are f***ing rejecting them? WTF?
legendary
Activity: 3164
Merit: 1127
Leading Crypto Sports Betting & Casino Platform
This only shows how banks are afraid that in the future they will lose some of their customers.

Quote
Bitcoiners in Australia claim banks are on purpose freezing their bank accounts, disallowing exchange transfers, and at least one exchange is over-reacting to the freeze.

I wonder why only a single exchange is complaining when they have more exchange?

They have:

coinspot.com.au
bitcoin.com.au
cointree.com.au
remitano.com/au

Why other exchange do not complain?

Quote
In particular, Commonwealth Bank, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ), National Australia Bank (NAB), Westpac Banking Corporation, known as the “big four,” have halted exchange transfers and frozen accounts, according to enthusiasts.

In Australia only have these banks? Will people in australia not have other options, something like other banks?

Quote
At Commonwealth, its terms do reference bitcoin, “saying it can refuse to process an international money transfer or an international cash management transaction ‘because the destination account previously has been connected to a fraud or an attempted fraudulent transaction or is an account used to facilitate payments to Bitcoins or similar virtual currency payment services,’” noted the Sydney Morning Herald.

The question is when did these terms come into effect and if people know about those terms?

full member
Activity: 294
Merit: 125
Alea iacta est
It's pretty simple, if a bank denies me access to Bitcoin, or crypto in general, I withdraw my money from that shit bank. I have experienced the same a good while ago, and it meant the exit of that bank for me. I withdrew all my money from that bank and told them to immediately close down my bank account. I am glad that my current bank doesn't seem to be working against crypto coiners at all, but in case it does, I will personally set up a group or whatever to organize somewhat of a bankrun with everyone that I know. Seriously, let that piece of shit bank bleed till it can't do anything other than correcting its mistakes.

This is exactly what you should do when a bank starts acting this foolish towards cryptocurrency. You just go to another bank and avoid and advise against it as much as possible. Banks are nothing without our money so if they don't respect their users they're not worthy of our money.
legendary
Activity: 2170
Merit: 1427
It's pretty simple, if a bank denies me access to Bitcoin, or crypto in general, I withdraw my money from that shit bank. I have experienced the same a good while ago, and it meant the exit of that bank for me. I withdrew all my money from that bank and told them to immediately close down my bank account. I am glad that my current bank doesn't seem to be working against crypto coiners at all, but in case it does, I will personally set up a group or whatever to organize somewhat of a bankrun with everyone that I know. Seriously, let that piece of shit bank bleed till it can't do anything other than correcting its mistakes.
sr. member
Activity: 546
Merit: 252
Bitcoiners in Australia claim banks are on purpose freezing their bank accounts, disallowing exchange transfers, and at least one exchange is over-reacting to the freeze. They’re so unnerved they’ve done what any good crypto enthusiast does: air it all on social media and in comment threads.

Australia’s Big Four Banks Freeze Crypto Accounts

Australian bitcoiners have taken, in frustration, to social media and comment threads to broadcast treatment by banks and, to a lesser degree, exchanges. In particular, Commonwealth Bank, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ), National Australia Bank (NAB), Westpac Banking Corporation, known as the “big four,” have halted exchange transfers and frozen accounts, according to enthusiasts.

Popular regional crypto exchange, Coinspot, announced a temporary hold on fiat deposits from the country in response to friction with banks. “We assure you we are just as unhappy with the situation as you, but unfortunately Australian banks have been so far unwilling to work with the digital currency industry which leads to frequent account closures and strict limits on accounts whilst they remain operational, in effect debanking our industry,” the exchange alerted.

Australian John Rudge commented on the exchange’s sudden actions, “I can’t believe what you did to your customers with your $AUD deposit ‘debacle’. We don’t live in Zimbabwe or China, surely you saw this banking ‘crisis’ approaching,” he typed, noting the exchange knew prior what its reaction would be, and so it could have warned customers about a pending change.

“At the very least you could have given us a month’s notice so we could stockpile reserves for ourselves. I can see you didn’t want to lose customers to other services so better just keep mum about it and we’ll sell them a bullshit story about being bullied by the banks!” he raged.

Bitcoin Babe Fights The Big Four

At Commonwealth, its terms do reference bitcoin, “saying it can refuse to process an international money transfer or an international cash management transaction ‘because the destination account previously has been connected to a fraud or an attempted fraudulent transaction or is an account used to facilitate payments to Bitcoins or similar virtual currency payment services,’” noted the Sydney Morning Herald.

All big four bank spokespersons referenced anti-money laundering laws, various regulatory requirements, and none expressed outright prohibition on bitcoin-related transfers or activity. “A NAB spokeswoman said it was important to note the currencies are currently unregulated. ‘While we don’t support unregulated currencies, NAB does not deny the right of individual customers to buy virtual currencies,’” she was quoted by the Herald.

Bitcoin Babe, Michael Juric, is having none of it. She told the Herald she’s “had business accounts closed by 30 banks and posted a picture of a letter from ANZ, saying it was closing her accounts effective 30 January 2018 in accordance with its terms and conditions.” She shared ten letters closing her various accounts, “with one saying she had received fraudulent funds, though none specifically referenced cryptocurrencies,” the article explained.

“She said banks were not the ‘be all and end all of accepting payments’ for Bitcoin and there were other avenues to transfer funds.”

https://news.bitcoin.com/australian-freeze-big-aussie-banks-denying-bitcoiners/
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