Topic: Bitcoin Accounts Frozen As Australia Banks Crack Down on Crypto - page 2. (Read 387 times)

Its finally happening when a lot of people were predicting about the happenings and expectations for bitcoin in 2018, my argument was actually tilted towards this direction in that when government realises that their controls are becoming ineffective and that the dominance of bitcoin is now changing their highly revered social structure, they take the easy way out which is what the Australian government is doing at this time.

However, I don't see this as something to lose sleep over because they shut a door to do it via government known sources, they would then open up the opportunity to do it without their poking eyes or even without them knowing just by trading among citizens and still transferring to individual bank accounts since they can stop citizens from sending and receiving money from each other.

Shall we not look at this as a crackdown on Bitcoin just because it is not controllable by the government? Are we looking at more and more countries going the China way?

I'm surprised there hasn't been more of this worldwide really. At this moment in time there's little upside for banks and a whole lot of head aches. If they do go all out it'll wind up like China and go full P2P. There's not much the banks can do about that.

There are two different risks that has been mentioned in the topic and seemt that they have a connection, but they are totally different:

1. Every 5th post is about not to store the coins on the exchange, because of the risk.
Should store large amount of your coins on an exchange - Definitely no. But not because of exchanges are reporting to governments (possible, but this is not the biggest risk). The biggest risk is that an exhange can close in every second and run away with your coins or get hacked and someone will run away with your coins. (or the exchange ask someone to hack and share 50%-50% )

2. I've read similar posts about banks who close the account because of receiving fiat from bitcoin exchanges (or not entirely closing the account but just not accepting the transfer from bitcoin exchanges and returns the transaction).
Should you wire back fiat to your bank account from an excange - Your decision, but it was a working solution before. If banks and government want to cause serious problem to bitcoin, they can just cut these transfer lines from exchanges to induvidual accounts, and they will force people to use their bitcoins somehow differently. (If LN will go live and you will be able to buy a coffee for bitcoin then this will not be a serious problem anymore, but until then, it can cause us headache...)

Well, all the more reason to take your money out of the banks. And even more reasons to stop storing your BTC in exchanges, Seriously, I've seen countless of posts in every bitcoin forum on the internet saying that you should not keep your Bitcoin on exchanges as there's the risk that they will share your private info to 3rd parties.

Wow, that news article couldn't be more biased: "Bitcoin, a currency once known for its use by criminals trading online through a ‘Silk Road’ for drugs and weapons, has become a popular investment option."

Really? is that all they know about Bitcoin? why can't they mention anything from the present?  I'm pretty sure that the govt and big financial institutions in Australia are using the 'Sydney Morning Herald' as a tool to spread FUD and scared tactics about Bitcoin. Absolutely disgusting.

And this over here, from the article: "A Commonwealth Bank spokesman said “however, we do not currently use or recommend any existing virtual currencies as we do not believe they have yet met a minimum standard of regulation, reliability, and reputation compared to other currencies that we offer to our customers"

It's all about keeping the ponzi fiat alive, it's about the Commonwealth Bank being scared that the customers might start putting their savings outside the system.

You might be correct, I'll try to talk to my Australian friends in detail about it and try to learn more about it. Thanks for the info you provide above for all of us to learn more about such rules and regulations in Australia.

I don't know about Australian regulations and whether they tolerate the use of cryptocurrency or not but the article didn't talk about official ban of cryptocurrency.
Banks aer freezing accounts related to Bitcoin exchanges because of security risks.
It is just a trader who spread the news. Waiting for a more official statement.

Hmm... See this, it looks like it's not a fake news. Maybe your friends haven't done a transactions recently so have not yet suffered from this ban in Australia. I am interested to know what is the final output from this. If this is general it will be a very bad news.:/



https://twitter.com/BitcoinBabeAU/status/946575047254204417/photo/1

http://www.smh.com.au/business/bitcoin-tensions-rise-as-investors-claim-banks-freezing-their-accounts-20171229-p4yy3z.html

Not good news for those of us in Aus, the 4 big banks control most of the market. It will make new crypto purchases very difficult

I doubt the authenticity of this news. I have crypto lover friends their in Australia who I confirmed it with and they said they never heard of any such thing happened there in Australia so I guess it is some sort of fud.

There have been many times that it is risky to store coins on an exchange. Though I am the best and largest exchange, I will not keep all my encrypted money there, usually only when I need to trade.

Exactly. What you said: "... weakness of human nature.", are the keywords here.

To be honest I don't think that there will be a "big battle" between the big banks and the BTC. Instead the banks will (some already did) start to embrace it and not to mention that central Bank of England is researching a cryptocurrency for their own.

I wish this will not happen in My country..

Any statements about this from the Australian government of any one of its bodies? If it has something to do with taxes then maybe there's a case for something going on down under but I would likely have seen some comments on this in more places than just this one crypto newsplace. Maybe there's something else that the AUS government is suspicious of and is getting something read for this individual or group of individuals? Money laundering suspicions perhaps? It wouldn't be the first time that there have been some freezes off of suspicion alone.

This phenomena is not only happens on Australia, but it's a global thing (majority of the countries government will try their best to crack down your crypto trading record, by referring to your online fiat currency transactions) Like one of the above member mentioned, "It's better not to make a huge transaction with fiat currency, especially if you're trading crypto, as it leave a footprint for the government to track you down".

this is good news banks start to be worried about bitcoin. also some news from south Korea support this news

 global fight will start between bitcoin and banks

I understand what you really mean. The best environment is actually unregulated and decentralized but the problem is that we are still beset with the weakness of human nature. Where there is an opportunity to make money, expect some people to exploit the same platform for their own selfish interest and this is where the problem is. In order to protect the many, there has to be rules, procedures and laws specific for cryptocurrency otherwise there can be mini-anarchy and that the whole market can be turned sour as less investors will be interested to go into something where there is no order. Regulations with good intent should be welcomed with both open arms and everybody should exert effort to follow those changes otherwise we will really have big problems.

Many exchanges have said they do that regularly.
It is no conspiracy but fact.
It's also why some guys got arrested by the FBI in Florida in a parking lot after doing a deal for 30k worth of BTC.

The link to banks is the problem.
banks have strict laws.. even with unlawful "crypto" coins.

Sometimes you have to have fiat or you need to hedge against a big drop in price.

If banks are freezing accounts it is likely due to huge amounts of money being transferred and them informing the tax authority that demands temporary freezing untill the funds can be explained.

Its always better not to store coins at exchanges and use them what they are for. Instead plz use concerned wallets to store and more security. That is all i am thinking about. Lets see where will the crypto world head to as it remains defeated until and unless its regulated. I m waiting for the regution news so eagerly since long but as of now still waiting. Lets see what this year brings for all of us.