https://www.coindesk.com/btc-es-big-claim-bitcoin-withdrawals-begin-tomorrow/BTC-e, the long-running and controversial bitcoin exchange targeted by US authorities last month, has claimed that users will be able to withdraw their funds beginning Saturday.
As previously reported, BTC-e – after its original domain had been seized by law enforcement following the arrest of a Russian national and the levying of a $110 million fine for money laundering violations – said it had secured "55 [percent] of the funds" originally held by the exchange, with the rest being confiscated. Yesterday, BTC-e renewed access through a new domain, allowing users to check their balances and communicate through the chat box.
In an update, the exchange said that users would be able to withdraw the portion of their funds still available – provided that they accept a deal which would see BTC-e issue a debt token aimed at making up for the confiscated funds.
The statement reads:
"On September 2, 2017, it will be possible to withdraw 55% of the funds from the account...on the condition that our debt obligations are abandoned to the remaining 45% of funds in the form of tokens. More details about the conditions, the principle of calculation and the form of output will be available tomorrow."
If they redeem their promise then i have true respect for them. They are one of the few exchancges to ever be able to do this in such a short span of time, and reimburse their customers without any further questions asked.
However, it's not very clear to me if you decide that you want to have your money back now(you'll get 55%), will you essentially be forfeiting the rest of your funds which amounts to 45%(which is a lot), or will you just receive an IOU token like the BFX token? If the latter then what benefits will you get out of not claiming your balance right now?
Can anyone answer this, or is there not enough info from btc-e to answer this question?
If you withdraw early, then you forfeit the 45% token issue. You are taking an assured cashout now, with no verification required, at the cost of your claim to the remaining 45% debt.
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So far I do not understand how they managed to get rid of the money laundering accusations and how they got back to operating so fast.
this looks more like a "secret deal". like in American movies: when the FBI and CIA need to find many criminals they make deals with the small criminals to get them to the big criminals.
such as when someone goes fishing and uses the small fish on the hook to serve as bait to catch the big fish.
I do not want to scare people, but this is strange.
Here's a few reasons why this is unlikely to be a honeypot or "secret deal" as you call it. BTC-e is opening withdrawals for users who wish to withdraw their 55% account value and forfeit their 45% debt token. Anyone withdrawing early gets 55% of their account value in crypto. No verification required. So essentially they'll be firing out millions of dollars in crypto in the next few days without getting any information in return. No ID documents, no information at all really.
The FBI isn't going to forfeit millions of dollars in assets for no reason. Obviously they could just not send out those withdrawals, but that would destroy the trust they have built in the community. If they don't actually process the withdrawals in the coming days, then they are essentially defaulting on their debt, under terms they created unnecessarily. No one expected them to create an early withdrawal system. It was a recent surprise announcement.
