D&T, the points you make are fair. You got us wondering: what are the solutions to the problem? IMO, Charlie Shrem will bring us the solution. He mentioned that BitInstant will "make Dwolla redundant" through a deposit and withdrawal system they plan to implement at BitInstant. Shrem believes their major hurdles are finding a KYC verification team and getting ACH clearance.
I don't think this has ANYTHING to do with AML/KYC. I am level 2 verified, and I was told level 3 wouldn't help speed the process up.
This part of the quote is telling:
we will be able to cancel your withdraw
in the past Mt.Gox has indicated that when funds are frozen due to AML they CAN'T cancel/refund the funds. Even on amounts as trivial as <$100 coming from Dwolla they insist the funds have to remain frozen. Mt.Gox giving me (and Inaba as another example) the option to cancel, pay even more fees converting to BTC and withdrawing without delay all but guarantees this has nothing to do with AML/KYC.
AML/KYC is a nightmare but Mt.Gox hiding behind it (either explicitly or implicitly) is an abomination.
I would point out that in my last round of 2 week delays Mt.Gox never contacted me once to verify source of funds, ask questions regarding my financial activity, or make any other inquiries. It was simply delayed day 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14, and then BAM the wire was finally submitted to their originating bank and I had my money 4 days later.
It is no wonder a bank wire "takes 19 days" when the originating bank doesn't even get the request (per their wire confirmation) until 15 days after I requested it. I mean they had any more information on day 15 that they didn't have on day 1. So what happened on day 2 to 14?
Now Mt.Gox claims this is due to Dwolla and if that is true, STOP ACCEPTING DWOLLA. I am paying >$40 for an international wire and yet funds flow slower than a paper check sent by ground mail. If Dwolla issues are constraining their ability to issue wires in a timely manner then they should accept Dwolla has failed and prioritize international wires. The only possible scenario that I can think of is they are funding their Dwolla account via a US bank and using bank wires to get the funds their. They could be running into wire limits imposed by their Japanese bank due to the volume of Dwolla they need (Dwolla funding has become very onsided, all outgoing). Once again this is just a guess because they haven't provided any real information.
The complete and utter lack of any transparency is worse than the delays. WHY EXACTLY does it take them 14 days to give the already approved (months ago) wire instructions to their OWN BANK. This has been going on for two months now and delays are getting longer not shorter.
Customer have a right to know WHY funds are being delayed.R: If the post seems hostile it isn't directed at you. Obviously you can't answer some of the questions they are more rhetorical in nature.