You are not the first person to be asked those seven questions. The post below is from a whole thread about them. It says the questions are to do with AML and KYC requirements and there is no way around them after bitstamp asks them.
I've filled it previously, sent them my id and bill and registration card. Then entered the bank data with swiftcode etc.
Now the ask for this:
We received your withdrawal request. As your withdrawal request met some of our volume and frequency thresholds, we will have to kindly ask you to help us better understand the nature of your relationship with Bitstamp. In order to do so, we require that an additional KYC (know your customer) procedure is completed before we can proceed with the processing of your transfer.
We kindly ask you to send us a high resolution image double page of your international passport and answer the following KYC questionnaire:
1. How did you learn about Bitcoin?
2. The purpose of trading on Bitstamp?
3. What is the origin of the deposited Bitcoins? If mining, please specify your hardware specifications and submit a receipt or an invoice for your mining equipment.
4. What are your future plans and activities planned on our exchange?
5. Do you plan more withdrawals in the future?
6. Which bank are you using? Please provide the complete address and SWIFT code.
We kindly ask you to submit your answers and documents in a reply to this ticket.
I was asked these questions when I made withdrawals in November/December 2013 from Bitstamp, so this is nothing out of the ordinary. I answered the questions and received my withdrawals as normal.
Exactly the same for me.
To those screaming because of this: ANY company managing funds on behalf of third-parties is required to comply with both AML and KYC requirements.
1) AML is pretty straight forward. You need to ask a) ID and b) proof of residence of your customers. That's what all exchanges do to verify their customers and it is standard procedure.
2) KYC is trickier. There's no "official" procedure, but any company managing funds on behalf of third parties is required to "know their customers" - as broad as that definition might seem. If shit hits the fan and LE investigates one of the company's customers, the company needs to have as much info as possible on that customer to avoid to face any legal problems.
Summing up: to comply with current AML regulations an ID and proof of residence
should be enough, but any company willing to avoid problems *must* do
their own due diligence when they spot something
suspicious. Probably none of our transfers/withdrawals were
suspicious, but in my personal case I was asking a big fiat withdrawal. With *big* I mean an order of magnitude bigger than what I guess is the average withdrawal requested by a small-time trader. I'm not surprised Bitstamp is asking that kind of questions, and in my opinion they are as general and vague as they could be. In my case I also replied with vague answers ("I bought those Bitcoins a few years ago"; "I don't know when I will use your service again or how many bitcoins I will buy or sell in the future, it depends on the market", etc.). Bitstamp gave me the OK to those questions in 24 hours and processed that withdrawal the day after. It looks like they are doing what they should be doing: asking for as much info as possible to their "bigger volume" customers.
IMO there's absolutely nothing to be worried about and in fact it is good news that Bitstamp is gathering KYC info on their customers.
