Hi, i’ve been a fully registered bitstamp account owner with fairly low trade activity for the past few years. I have provided all the necessary information that they required previously. Despite that i now received an email (the first since ages) informing me:

“After careful consideration, Bitstamp decided to terminate your access to your Account in accordance with our Terms of Use. Your account will be terminated from the date of this notice having been received by you. This notice shall be treated as having been served upon the completion of the transmission of this email. ”

No further information about what kind of problem they may have identified, nor any chance to react to it, or to transfer the cryptos elsewhere. Instead they offer to transfer the equivalent value of the remaining cryptos to a bank account i specify…This is absolutely ridiculous! I had no intent on selling now and would at very least want to have the chance to transfer my crypto elsewhere.After some research it seems this is a relatively common issue with Bitstamp but i do really hope that Bitstamp will reach out to me to clarify this and find a solution. I don’t understand how this can be a legal action to close an account out of the blue??Thanks

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EDIT:After requesting a clarification for the reasons of closing the account without any notice I’ve received a reply from Bitstamp support:

“*Unfortunately, we are unable to provide any further information on the reasons leading to the termination of your account due to our internal policies.*

*We kindly ask you to provide us with a valid bank account held in your name in a reply to this Account Termination Notice so Bitstamp can proceed with the termination of your Account and send you the currencies credited to your Account, costs withheld*.”

This is insane! They close my account saying it violated their Terms of Use, which seems strange given that I hardly trade, certainly not in any questionable way and have provided all possible personal information that was requested at any time.

They gave no prior warning of any of such ‘violation’ and upon request to clarify refuse to provide any clarification.

Extremely dodgy and frustrating. I do hope i will receive my funds eventually and will brace for hefty transfer and currency conversion fees as this all smells to me like a scam. Since i’m certainly not the first or only one with this issue, i’d caution anyone about this company.

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UPDATE:

After pestering Bitstamps support service several times, they finally processed the transfer and i had my funds on my account approx 1 month after they closed the account. No further details were shared about the selling point or any calculation that could have helped me to understand if the sell was done correctly or if any hidden fees were added. Inquiring about more transparency they suggested that i could make formal inquiry using PGP key, handwritten notes, ID documents supplied for the account opening, etc…I did not yet get to do this and am not sure it’ll be worth the hassle. They also continued to point to their company policy that highlights that they do not need to disclose reasons for closing someone’s account.

This was the last they’ve seen of me.

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4 Comments

  1. j-mahlitz on 19. August 2022 at 16:23

    Would be nice if you can add a Screenshot as a proof of that. Where did you get the message? After Login or via Mail (careful with phising).

     


  2. Bitstamp-Domen on 19. August 2022 at 16:23

    The decision to terminate a user’s account is never one that’s taken lightly and it’s always done after careful consideration. You can check our Terms of Use for more info: [https://www.bitstamp.net/terms-of-use/ltd/](https://www.bitstamp.net/terms-of-use/ltd/)

    Unfortunately, I can’t comment on the specifics of such cases on Reddit. I suggest you reply to the email you received with any questions you might have and your banking details, so that our team can return your funds.

     


  3. btc_clueless on 19. August 2022 at 16:23

    Which country are you in? Is there any chance that any of your activities outside of Bitstamp might have triggered something?

    You know how HSBC has canceled bank accounts in Hongkong of people who simply protested against the Chinese government. Or how Wikileaks got their PayPal account suspended. If you are on a watchlist of your government, weird stuff can happen. It’s just a thought though…

     


  4. JozefZemla on 19. August 2022 at 16:23

    the same my now! wanted to sell and buy xrp..Pump Dump action …and they have frozen my account …ridiculous