I had a kinda weird experience cashing out to fiat and I want to know if anyone else has had similar.
So I made a killing in crypto and decided to cash out. I converted my bitcoins to fiat and sent them to my bank account. Easy so far. But the money didn't appear on my balance. I went into my bank to ask them what was happening...
The lady at the bank said because the money came from cryptocurrencies they wouldn't be legally allowed to process it, so it wouldn't get added to my balance. I basically said this is theft and asked what she was going to do about it and could I see the manager. I stomped about a bit and let me tell you I was wearing those boots that Uncle Peter got me with the metal heels and I made quite a commotion.
This is when she backed down and she said I could still have the money, but I would have to have it as bitcoin and not as fiat. Okay, so long as I get to keep my money. I can try to cash it out another way. This was two bitcoins which is a lot of money for me so quite a big deal.
So then she rummages around behind her desk and then puts these on the counter. I picked them up in disbelief. WTF, you may be thinking. No, WT
AF.
I picked them up and they weren't even metal like proper bitcoins, they had this kind of cheap plasticky feel. Then to make it worse she says "Oh I forgot to deduct our fees." And she gets out this cheese grater thing and starts filing away the edge of one of my bitcoins, and she scoops up all the plastic bits with a little shovel and pours them into the till. It is important to quantify things so I used my phone to take a photo of how much she filed off. To me it looks way way too much. Please tell me, is this a normal amount for banking fees? I think she was scamming me. Seriously she scraped off like a third of that thing which is just extortionate, right?
So now I have one proper bitcoin and one damaged one, but I think they are plastic anyway. I put them in an envelope and mailed them to an exchange, but they didn't get added to my balance there either. I think there has been a hard fork and they no longer take plastic coins because it is not hard like metal. If they had a soft fork I would be fine. But this is the way of crypto, us wise old heads who have been in the game for a while learn to take the rough with the smooth, and the soft with the hard but this is the first time I have taken the plastic with the metal.
Anyway, has anyone else had this? A couple of weeks ago the exchange said my bitcoins were worth over $10,000 and now they say they are worth nothing. I am feeling confused and angry, and I think from my exposure to these plastic bitcoins I may have contracted this crypto volatility that is so fashionable these days.