Topic: mtgox requires physical identification - page 2. (Read 10175 times)

I don't want to specifically discount any bad experience anyone's had with MTGOX, but I do feel the need to state that I've put about $10k through MTGOX since before the "incident" and I have had zero problems.

I did neglect to put a MTGOX customer number on a dwolla transfer and my money was "lost" for a few days - but that was entirely my fault. As soon as MTGOX customer service found the transfer, it was available to me for trading.

Other way around, sorta, but I did not say it clearly.

I'm saying that if I am going bring something of value (cash, gold, etc) to meet face to face with someone who is so concerned about anonymity they won't use something like Mt. Gox or Tradehill, it is very possible that I am meeting with a criminal.  That is a risk that I'm going to need to deal with in various ways so it will have to be worth my while and I'll want a discount over what I could get coin for on an exchange.

I guess as mtgox gets bigger, they are subjected to more regulations, I doubt it is their fault and I also doubt that they will wait to inconvenience their users if they can help it.

I was initially very disappointed to have to submit my iD... but you know what... it's a compliance issue that will not go away - a cost of doing business in USD set by big governments and big brother... It's not a bad thing for Bitcoin, but eventually a good thing because soon everyone will see that once you're in BTC, you can do whatever the fuck you want to do with your Bitcoin and be free from a fascist government snooping into your financial affairs.

I think it's the other way around, meeting face to face to purchase bitcoins with cash immediately is a premium service over using an exchange.

Are you saying people will pay less to get coin without giving info to an exchange?

I doubt that any exchange who is big enough to pay their expenses will be able to operate under the kind of anonymity that would be desirable to a lot of us.

My projection is that when anonymity is required, fiat<->btc will be occurring on a face-to-face basis and at a significant discount over the exchange rates.  And I doubt that it will be long before that is considered to be a criminal activity if it is not already.

I really don't think that is too strong a word at all.

I've been recommending them in the past, but won't any more and I won't keep a balance on there for convenience like a used to.

Magical Tux other service Kaly Host has also turned to garbage. I've been avoiding saying it publicly because they've been good in the past. But it's been almost 3 months with no response from support for my account and for the account of a friend who I refereed there. It is bad to the point where he owes money imo.

+1

+1
And it's not just BS, it's theft.

After I submit my documents, both my requests was closed with comments:

Now I am waiting 5 business days for document checking, as written in the site.

do you mean https://ozco.in ?

In "here" you really can't do much , that's why I am extremely supportive of oz.in, certainly isn't easy, just the cost of doing biz will be a killer.

mtgox are fair to ask for id. But it is completely evil to let people deposit money thinking they have anonimity. Spread it on the forums, edit a note whereever you see gox - using this exchange removes privacy due to withdrawal limits that vary as limitless as exchange rates.

Let this be a lesson to everyone. And a lesson for me, i thank you for the warning, especially on gov fund siezures.

I lost almost all my life savings years ago when the gov froze a fund. The court case has been going on for years and by the time i get the funds unfrozen i expect the printing press would have decimated my savings. This can happen with mtgox and any other exchange so LET THAT BE A LESSON  to spread eggs to many baskets.

 And trust your instinct too;  before it happened i started to withdraw even though i no idea what was spooking me. If i had converted to bitcoin back then i'd be drinking a barcadi and coke in the carribean by now!

Australia.

Maybe the OP can check the TOS of Mtgox asking them to point out the clauses that need him to supply the identifications?

where is 'here'?

My perception is that they were genuinely naive and thought that if they set a $1000 per day/$10,000 per month withdrawal limit then that would somehow exempt them from having to comply with AML/KYC and various other financial services laws in the countries in which they operate.  Quite a  few times people questioned that logic and got vague answers about how those rules couldn't be applied to their operations because...Bitcoins.

Although it was before my time on these boards, from what I've read about how Mt Gox operated prior to being taken over by Mark the withdrawal limits used to be lower and the time period to withdraw much longer - which probably reflected the relatively low volume and small cashflow which the exchanges had prior to the surge in Bitcoin prices.

In many jurisdictions it is going to be illegal for them to allow customers to remove their money anonymously.  Just because withdrawals are below the threshold amount which requires that the transaction must be reported to the financial tracking organisation in a particular country, doesn't mean that financial services providers aren't required to know the identities of customers making transactions below that threshold.

I do utterly agree that their customer service stinks.  They need to be proactive about getting information to their users rather than simply putting announcements about issues on their websites and relying on others to repost it in the forums - especially when those issues affect people being able to access their funds.  Far too often, they've even delayed putting announcements on their website for days after people have been complaining here about not being able to withdraw through dwolla/paxum/SEPA/whatever when they clearly knew that there was an issue.  And often when they've finally deigned to respond on the forums, their answers have been formulaic, robotic, and given no more information than was already on their website. 

I get that they're probably stretched to the limit in terms of staff resources right now, but being stonewalled isn't reassuring to their customers.  They're quick enough to come here and post when they want to announce something which they think will bring them more business, but pitifully slow at making an appearance when something goes wrong.

I sent them the documents.


That is exactly my point.

Don't get me wrong, I understand why MtGox are doing this, but I think that they could be more open and up-front about having to do it from the offset, and allow people to remove their money anonymously if they stay within the agreed limits ($10k per month). They also need to pull their finger out and have faster response times to people's issues.

I've heard of so many people who have been well within MtGox's limits having their accounts frozen. Everything about this goes against what bitcoins stand for imho.