Hello,
Bittrex is trying to force me to submit my passport. Otherwise they will lock my account, they say.
What is the worst case that can happen if I submit my passport? Isn't this extremely dangerous? For example, if any employee or a hacker or whoever uses my passport to register with any other exchange and does some shady shit like money laundering there, I can't prove that it isn't me, because authorities will say, that I provided my documents. Or let's say somebody creates an account with my documents on another exchange and my tax authorities come to know from this account, they will say I have to pay taxes for all trades with this account. Do I exaggerate this or can it ruin me in the worst case if I submit my passport to any exchange?
I hope I can get my funds out before they lock my account. But in case they lock it before, I don't know what to do at the moment.
And another question. Can I verify with my driver's license on Bittrex? I think the risk mentioned above would be lower, but I still don't wanna do this, because authorities could say the same, even if it's "only" a driver's license.
Identity fraud is obviously the worst case scenario. You could have fake bank accounts opened in your name, your info being sold on markets or whatnot, you name it. Though with somewhat more trusted exchanges, the risk of this may be less.
If Bittrex is asking you for identification then there is really nothing that you are able to do. They have sole discretion over your funds at this point, and they are going to continue to cite this KYC issue when you try to get funds out of your account. You should have realised this sooner though, since legacy Bittrex accounts have been long removed from being valid.
Perhaps you could timestamp and watermark the images that you are submitting, although I'm not sure if Bittrex will accept a version that has been marked like that. This is the reason why I prefer using anonymous exchanges, even if it means switching exchanges from time to time. There is less hassle when it comes to this. Also, I don't think that drivers license will be less prone to abuse, given that they are usually listed in the same category as passports in terms of weighting in verification.