Topic: Bank asking to provide additional details regarding my activity (Read 314 times)

I have faced same issues as well where my bank do ask me out on where those big transactions came from but luckily i do have some closest friends inside the bank
which do save me up and didnt ask further more.I just mentioned that it was some sort of loan payment and later on i do make up some dummy
business.Yes, it sounds illegal but you should be wise on how to protect yourself on possible issues later on.

What you said is right, if the user is from bitcoin illegal country it might generate them legal issues. Better is to inform the bank that those transactions were from friends for some reason. I encountered the same issue years back while I withdrew a big fund from my bank account. Further I mentioned it as a loan sanctioned amount for building house. Further they released the fund.

I think you can't tell that you are in crypto business because all we know that most of bank are against about crypto. Kindly inform them that you are in merchandising business and answer their follow up question as long as their question is not over your security privacy you can answer that. But if their ask your password or private keys you don't have to answer it.

Well you have nothing to hide if the source of fund is clean just comply with their request, banks only want you to verify the source of fund. The question is how much fund is involved, if it exceeds your limit or being flagged then definitely they will ask you a proper documentation regarding the funds.

They want to know if you are compliant to the bank, so your first assignment is to check if the bank is open to accept transactions coming from Cryptocurrency, if they do then, you can tell them these transactions since they'll understand how Cryptocurrency trading works.
If they not then you can look another bank to transact your business if you already have huge funds and want to have a good standing you need a good lawyer for advice on this. 

In 2018, I made a conclusion from my cryptocurrency wallet Ethereum to a bank card in the equivalent of $ 10,000.  I used certain exchange services, but in order to protect myself, I conducted exactly 5 transactions for $ 2,000.  Nobody demanded additional documents from me and an explanation about the origin of my funds, but nonetheless, I transferred all the funds to my bank card without any problems.  But so far I have come across certain banks that are beginning to demand a source of origin for these funds when it comes to large amounts of money.

Op already mentioned that he is from EU so he is in completely legal zone,only thing is he need to provide the details for the source of money if he done it in private manner and the source is from illegal activities then he is in danger.

I remember at the beginning of this year I was a big participator of trades deposits and withdrawals with a certain bank in my country. Some months later, I decided to withdraw my trading profits to invest in another project. The project I invested in performed very well and so last month i closed my trades and deposited my profits, I decided to continue trading and using the same bank. On taking my investment funds to the bank, I was subjected to a lot of questions by the officials asking questions about the source of my money and even questioning the legality of my businesses. This was frustrating coming from a bank that I had been saving with for the past few years. They didn't hold my funds or anything but this kind of questions are very frustrating, There was no other option but to change my bank account - as a long term trader deposits and withdrawals from cryptocurrency trading are minimal - but involves huge deposits and withdrawals - which are subject to review whether you doing normal businesses or trading cryptocurrencies.

Somehow the answers from other users also helped me.
I didnt know about those kind of things about legalities so it really helped.

Regarding your problem. It might just be precautionary measures since you are making a different transaction.
Since you are receiving from another entity it will not be normal.

They are used to receive an amount of deposits in your accounts by means of deposits when you go to their establishment and now you are receiving from another end.

Money laundering could be the issue. But if done right then it is legal.

This is how bank is and I think this is normal process. Crypto is perfectly legal here as well, but before you can open a bank account there's a lot of documentations and questions that you need to submit and answered. Even opening a local exchanges account, you need to go to a lot of KYC.

I have once questioned by a bank about the source of my funds and where it is coming from. I just answer them right away and tell the truth. If I were you I will be completely open with them, simply as that.

Well, if it's illegal to your country you should always hide it. They are asking you that question because they think that there are suspicious activities that are happening in your account, they might freeze your money inside the account. The government is very strict on money laudering that's why they ask further documents to prove that you are legitimately having good sources of money that you put in your bank account. If you will tell them about cryptocurrencies, I am very sure that they will contact the higher authorities to arrest you. So you need to be careful.

Since the country you are located in, crypto is completely legal, then you have nothing to worry about. You just have to come clean concerning your activities and don't go on the defensive that they have no right because they do and intact, they can suspend your account to carry out activities from it until you provide necessary explanation and mind you, you have accepted this as part of their terms and conditions before you start operating your account with them.

When you get out to this, since its the volume of transactions that led to your account being flagged, you might want to go the route of registering a company and try to formalise your activities because with that, you can operate in a corporate manner and volume of transactions won't be an issue at the same time documents to prove transactions such as invoices or receipts won't be a difficult tasks.

Did you receive fund from LBC buyers? if yes you should check all ID of your traders.

If crypto is legal in your country then what is wrong in telling bank. Just tell them you are engaged in trading of cryptocurrencies. If they are ok with it then no problem but if they raise questions and try to limit your account then you can always shift to other banks. In my country, public sector banks owned by government are bit conservative in respect of foreign remittances so my bank limited my account stating that I can no longer receive funds from outside my country. Then I shifted to private sector bank and everything running smoothly since then. But do check that you pay taxes on your incomes else you can land in big trouble.

I have a friend who get same experience. I think with cryptocurrency, sometime Bank will ask for detail if it is related to cryptocurrency. In my country, there are no rules. I mean bitcoin is not illegal, but not legal too. Only no regulation yet and my friend face that experience. From that time, for now i usually exchange my bitcoin to fiat on verified seller that it is personal and not company. That is why i look never get transaction from cryptocurrency business.

I didn't get it, I'm sorry

It is so contradicting, you just said

and then this

I assume you meant was OP is in a zone where trading cryptocurrency is legal but, he needs to provide the whole information regarding every transactions he have in his bank account history. I guess when he did that, the banks would stop sending him emails questioning how he earns money.

E D I T: correct me If I'm wrong

If your country legalizes crypto, don't be afraid to tell the truth. they won't accuse you, they just want to know what you do with that money and whether you make money or you launder money. Therefore, please give the most true testimony. Your worst case is just about tax, don't worry.

Since when banks collect taxes, a bank isn't a governmental institution!

@OP
You worry for nothing and @teosanru gave a hint. Since you mentioned you're from the EU, banks use algorithms to detect suspicious activities. In Europe, the threshold is about 5000€ during the last 30 days. Once your account is flagged the bank is supposed to do the first check and then supposed to report your bank account to the financial authorities, then it is up to them to make the necessary investigations. Some don't bother to do the first verification (since it's automated), in your case, your banker did it.

You don't have to lie, it never pays btw. On the opposite, if you are able to explain clearly what you are doing (and if you can also provide evidence) you have nothing to worry about. There are thousands of accounts reported in the EU but in the end, just a very very low percentage of the accounts are truly doing something shady. (99% are false reports).

Another point.
It is possible that your bank thinks you have commercial activity and as personal accounts are not allowed for that (banks hate it). They would like to be sure (in case they can sell a pro account). You can tell them it isn't a regular activity just an extra income, they will be fine.
If you use this account just to do your LBC stuff, it's easy for the bank to think you're running a business (No bills paid, no recurring payment, no card transactions etc)

This is interesting. The bank probably detected  suspicious  transactions in your account. If you think this is what it is about then provide them what they ask for, that is all!

You have nothing to fear If cryptocurrency is legal in your country. I think you should be completely open to them. Just make sure to record the most important things that'd transpire between you and the bank.

Although crypto is legal, money laundering is not. And banks use to have certain imposed limits over which they start asking about the provenience of the funds.
My assumption is that you did somewhat bigger trades and passed well over those amounts, hence the questions.

Another possibilities would be that the sender tries some sort of chargeback or is himself under an AML investigation.

It sounds like they are trying to investigate whoever sent you the funds. Probably someone that stole someones bank information and bought cryptocurrency from you with it. If this was all related to Kraken, they may be thinking that someone has stolen your bank account information and are trying to verify it. I wouldn't worry about it too much. Just give them the information they asked for. It's probably just a verification thing due to abnormal spending habits.

I think you should explain everything to your bank officers that all of your transaction was from trading bitcoin. Since in your country, cryptocurrency is legal, I guess you don't have to worry about everything. You don't have to cover some because your bank will know that you are lying to them and that will be too risky for you. If you don't want to answer by email, you can visit your local bank so you can meet face to face with the bank officers. And who knows, they will have an interest in bitcoin, and they will follow your step to invest in cryptocurrency. That will help cryptocurrency to grow in your city, and you might get to build a crypto community in your town.

This happened to me in my country and to think that in our country, there is no law yet about the legality of using Bitcoin, people are just warned. There is a bank here in the Philippines that asked the same question to their new depositors and if they found out that you are engaged in trading cryptocurrency, they will not allow you to open an account. There are banks out there that are cryptocurrency friendly, they are the one who will catch all of those that are denied by the not so friendly banks.

This would really be a hard decision not only to op but on all people who do experience on such requirement being asked out by our banks.
You cant really removed on ones mind that they might faced up some legal issues or problems if they would tend to tell the whole thing.
This will vary on countries laws towards crypto but if we do look for it to be legal then its somewhat a relief but not totally because you wouldnt know
on what would be you banks expression if they do know that you're engaged with crypto yet we know that even a country isnt opposing with crypto
but there were always a regulation about decentralized things.

Hiding or lying about your crypto activities to them might just lead to a major problem.

Your options:

1) Comply on what they asked to you since you hit the "alarm". It's a sort of verification that most banks need to follow as a mandatory term under the country's anti-money laundering act. As crypto is legal there, you don't have to worry. You just need to be true to yourself.

2) Stop involving banks on your future bitcoin transaction activity. As for me, as much as possible, even I lived in a crypto-friendly country, I will not involve banks in my crypto-related activities to avoid questions that might violate my privacy.

For your reference, I know some people who do have the same experience as you back then. Their bank accounts were closed for questioning and yes before it got back, they told the banks their crypto activity which is mostly trading at the exchanges. In your case, you are trading directly with people so plan carefully what you will say.

So you are completely fine but one thing you need to be aware of tax reports to your government related to crypto earnings and might not be serious offence if not paid the tax as well,you might be ended up paying with penalty.

Thank you for the appreciation.

AFAIK,usage of bitcoin is legal yet in Russia but their finance ministry opposing it and might a strict guidelines to use crypto in Russia in near future.

Most probably is just them having to undergo AML procedures. If crypto is legal in your country then I see nothing wrong in your activity especially if you have invoices and all that. Unfortunately this is the birocracy we have to go through when using financial services. Sometimes it is a hassle but we need to understand that these regulations are there for a reason - to protect us and the society. Of course that there are some laws and regulations that are just there to confuse people and create loops, but we run with what we have 

Well as you said you are from a country where crypto is completely legal. But the problem so far is not concerned with crypto or bitcoin. Actually let me tell you how banks works. Generally in all the countries Central Bank & Tax authorities make a certain threshold limit on certain type of accounts and if there is a transaction exceeding that certain threshold then banks are required to report it to the authorities just to assure that transactions were legal and adequate tax compliance have been made of such transfers. For this purpose banks do such KYC on a certain transactions which they are dubious about. Now the thing is that Banks on their own have no power to sue you for anything. So you better first go to your bank and ask what is this all about. And once you are assured it's completely part of procedure then honestly answer all the questions. Don't forget to report taxes on such income otherwise you could be in trouble.

Then you're most likely fine. Like what I've said on my previous reply, it's most likely just them asking for proof that you're not selling some illegal stuff, or they're going to try to tax you. Either, or both. In this case, since they're already questioning you anyway, it might be the best move to just be completely honest with your answer. You probably could get more into trouble if you try to make some excuse just so you wouldn't pay income taxes.

Dude, thank you for posting that map--the information contained therein was not something I was familiar with, and I honestly didn't think there were that many countries that had outlawed bitcoin or restricted it.  Very, very interesting and I thought Russia had banned bitcoin for some reason.

OP, I got questioned by my bank once about a bunch of small bitcoin buys that I did through my checking account.  That was back when bitcoin was in the $400 range and Circle allowed you to buy small amounts.  I was asked by the bank branch manager what they were all about, so I told them I was buying bitcoin.  Nothing ever came of it since I did nothing wrong.

Banks can be pains in the ass sometimes, but they have their business to look out for and what their customers are using them for is definitely their concern.  My bank didn't know I was buying bitcoin.  It was just a weird (maybe suspicious to their eyes) bunch of small transactions that caught their attention. 

Then I wouldn't sweat it.

Sorry for not mentioning, the country I am in crypto is completely legal.
I am in the EU

Your response would probably hugely depend on what country you're on. While I understand that you might not want to disclose the country you're in publicly here on Bitcointalk, you might want to do research on your county's laws concerning cryptocurrencies.

Anyway, depending on what country you're in, them asking for information is not probably necessarily because you're going to get jailed or something. It's probably because it's either your bank is not crypto friendly(some are, some aren't), or they're just asking for information just so if maybe they think you're selling drugs or something, or maybe they just want to collect income tax.

You definitely gotta think of your decisions well in this.

I hope in your country trading bitcoin is legal,if yes then you can download the invoices/references from localbitcoin for each trade you done until now and submit them to your bank.

If you are living in illegal region then you might be in serious problem now,better take legal precautionary before going into the jail  

see below image to know what zone you are in,



source: https://cryptonews.com/guides/countries-in-which-bitcoin-is-banned-or-legal.htm

Are you in a zone where trading crypto currency is legal? If yes then in this case you have nothing to worry.

However looking at your concern and the post I assume you are not in a territory where buying/selling crypto is legal. In that case I will suggest to contact with the buyer and come up with a mutual agreement and find something that will be believable by the bank.

May be you can ask the buyer that you will tell them you received money from a family member or such thing. You need to make a good story and the buyer will have to agree with it too.

I hope your hassle will be resolved very soon.

Hi there,

I am trading Bitcoin on LocalBitcoins and similar websites. My bank just sent me an email asking me to provide some details regarding the transactions in my account:

- Please explain the origin of the funds received from *Name Surname* (what goods/services the funds have been paid to the account for) and provide relevant documentation (contracts, invoices)

- Explain what kind of relationships you have with *Name Surname*

- what business activity I am engaged in

- From *date* you have sent *amount* to Kraken, Payward Ltd. Please explain the purpose of such transactions.


People send me money to my bank account, I send them their coins. What kind of explanation should I provide to these questions to ensure the sustainability of my account? Especially for the first question; we do not have any contracts, and the only documentation I can get is the invoices from the exchange. Should I be completely open with them or should I try to hide that I am selling cryptocurrency? Maybe there are someone who have had similar experience?

Edited: the country I am located in, crypto is completely legal.