Poloniex, the world's 25th largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, said on Twitter that it will freeze customers' accounts if they do not provide their personal information. It appears that under regulatory pressure, Poloniex and other exchanges are going to sacrifice customer privacy to satisfy business interests and comply with regulatory requirements.
Coinbase and Gemini, for example, have always been committed to complying with regulatory requirements, and Bitfinex surprised the crypto space recently by introducing customer verification procedures in May of this year. And now the latest to join the ranks is the Poloniex exchange.
It is interesting to note that the exchange introduced mandatory identity verification procedures in December 2017, but did not mention any trading restrictions at the time.
The Poloniex exchange said in a press release: “We ask all Poloniex customers who have not previously provided full identification information to do so now through the Poloniex profile page. On this page contains clear instructions on what information is required to verify your account. Once you submit this information, we will take steps to verify it and resume trading and transactions for your account."
Many are outraged by this turn of events, as freezing accounts is a very unpleasant measure. In addition, frustrated users have reported that trading accounts remain blocked even after completing the identity verification process.
The exchange's possible policy change is related to its acquisition by Circle, a payments, technology company that is largely funded by Goldman Sachs and Breyer Capital, which have a huge focus on compliance with the letter of the law, at least in the eyes of the public. This explains why Poloniex users must provide their personal information. However, the method of freezing funds is similar to the methods used by centralized institutions, which usually “intimidate” their clients with such measures.
The Poloniex exchange could at least allow users who do not want to share personal information to withdraw their funds. But obviously she didn't. Some Reddit users are discussing plans to file a class action lawsuit against the exchange.
According to btcmanager
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