Hi all,
as some of you may know, I got caught with my pants down last Friday when I realized that I could no longer withdraw ANY of my currency from Bittrex without providing DNA (KYC-Know-your-customer) info. Ever since the gov passed these laws a few years ago, almost all exchanges would allow one to perform limited transactions, with a “non-verified account” (deposit, trades, withdraw) as long as one would stay within the guidelines that would allow this without exceeding the per-day limits.
Guess-what? As of last Friday (10-13-17)…..all of that is out the window!…I found myself trapped and as far as I could tell, and there was NO warning. Bittrex announced no more transactions, which means no more withdrawals for US customers until you satisfy KYC requirements. Bittrex indicated that they were changing their guidelines 'because they were concerned about their customers “log-in info” being compromised”….(whew, I feel safe now)….centralized control at it’s best for sure!!
After franticly researching for possible alternatives all Friday night….. I found there were none. The next morning, for the first time ever, I reluctantly made copies and uploaded my info… I had no choice. I immediately made sure all my new alt-wallets were ready… and performed some small test transactions on each one and then ….I transferred the entire balances of every coin from Bittrex to myself, so on a go-forward basis they were under my control. As soon as I had confirmations of the withdrawal tx’s…. I sent a request/support-ticket/email to Bittrex asking them to immediately close/delete my account with them “as I was never going to need their services again!!”
In addition, per linked article below/because of the rulings by the SEC, 4 days later, Bitfinex has announced it will be terminating all services for US customers as of November 9th. ( at least they are warning us,lol) I have one coin there and am working on the alt-wallet as we speak….to deal with them the same way.
Just like we knew this would be coming, the centralized controllers are trying to tighten the noose. They want to control it all. It is what we are seeing happening right now. The answer is Decentralization ! (See Andreas Antonopolis describe the "5 stages of grief" the banks are/will be going through:
After I finished taking care of Bittrex , I went to my Bitshares wallet and spent all day Saturday (until midnight) and all day Sunday (until midnight again) learning/teaching myself how to trade on Bitshares DEX (Decentralized Exchange). I have been trading Dash, ETH, Litecoin, and BTC using USD derivatives…and I never have to touch fiat money…. and NO-ONE knows who I am.
There is another DEX (decentralized exchange) called OPEN.ledger. It is built on top of the Bitshares Blockchain and has even more trading markets…..
and of course another DEX we all know about that is built on top of the Ethereum Blockchain called EtherDelta.
All of these decentralized exchanges have this in common…. no one knows who you are and there is NO CENTRAL CONTROL….it is run/operated by a blockchain and the smart contracts involved that govern it…. no point of failure/control.
Anytime the controllers try to control, the free market routes around them with new technology…..and that is what we are seeing. This is the direction this space is moving.
We all have a choice here: do we stay where we are/join those guys with their rules and support the system we have now ….or…..do we move with the people who are using this technology to free us from the former….. I am all about the latter.
In conclusion, the crypto world is changing fast in this area and everyone should take heed ! I recommend the following steps to protect yourself as best you can:
if You have ANY COINS at all on the Bitfinex exchange, get them off BEFORE November 9th or LOOSE THEM ALL.
If you have any coins on Bittrex, I recommend getting them off ASAP. By leaving them on there you are allowing a 3rd party to control your money and make all the rules.
If you have any coins on ANY centralized exchange….see # 2.
Of course, doing what I have outlined here is going to take some effort….. being responsible for yourself/your money always does. It means you will have to download, encrypt, back-up, sync,etc a wallet for every alt-coin you have…. it took me a while too :) but I am no longer jumping through the hoops-of-fire someone else lights for me !!
Again----We all have a choice here: do we stay where we are and join those centralized guys with their rules and support the system we have now ….OR…..do we move forward into a better future with the people who are using this technology to free us from the former….. I am all about the latter!!
The world is moving towards decentralization…. I am headed that way….want to join me???
https://news.bitcoin.com/bitfinex-to-terminate-services-to-us-retail-customers-by-november-9/
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