Thursday, March 6, 2014

Breaking: Bitcoin Exchange Closes Down US Operations Because of Hostile US Regulatory Environment

Vault of Satoshi has issued the following statement:

It is with great regret that we inform you that we will be ceasing our US operations effective today. If you reside outside the United States this does not affect you.

We’ve made this decision not because of any specific legal challenge or threat, but because we feel the regulatory environment in the US is becoming increasingly hostile toward Bitcoin, and more specifically toward exchanges trading in digital currencies. We’re heeding the warnings of Bitcoin Foundation and BitInstant founder, Charlie Shrem, who recently conducted a troubling interview with “Let’s Talk Bitcoin.” If you want to hear more about the situation exchanges face operating in the US, we recommend you listen to episode 87 of “Let’s Talk Bitcoin” here.

We’ve made repeated attempts to comply with FinCEN regulations, but their online form submission process will not allow us to post reports from our headquarters in Ontario, Canada. They refuse to accept printed paper reports, and their drop-downs don’t include Canadian options, making it impossible to the file the required documentation properly in order to comply. Despite repeated inquiries into how to properly file reports from Canada, we have yet to receive a satisfactory response. They’ve literally made it impossible for us to run our business in compliance with their regulations.

We make this decision with a heavy heart, and will be revisiting it as we continue to monitor the regulatory and legal position of the US government (and all of its individual States) towards digital currency exchanges. Each State has their own requirements for how to handle a business like ours, and the setup and compliance costs are astronomical. We’d like to get back into the US digital currency exchange market as soon as possible, but cannot do so until the regulatory situation is clarified and settles down. We will be exploring re-launching on a state-by-state basis, but we do not yet have a timeline in place.

If you are a US-based customer, unfortunately your account will soon be demoted to level 1, and you will be limited to coin-to-coin trading, which will be launching within the coming weeks. Any dollars currently in your account will be refunded to you via check, which you should receive within 2-3 weeks’ time. Please make sure your address is correct.

If you’re a US-based customer and have recently submitted documents for verification, unfortunately, we will not be able to verify your account at this time.

To all of the amazing American users who have helped us build Vault of Satoshi into what it is today: we value you tremendously and we hope that we have not lost your trust and support. We deeply regret that we can no longer service your cryptocurrency exchange needs, and we’ll do everything we can to re-gain your business and re-launch in your country in the near future, stronger than ever before.

To Canadian and International users, we’ve got exciting plans ahead and are continuing our to expand and cement our position in this industry. Stay tuned for more amazing innovations from our team here in Canada.

Thank you once again for your incredible and humbling support.

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