SERIOUS BITCOIN ANTI-PRIVACY MOVE

Via Reddit:

Bitstamp will not process withdrawal unless you prove the source of every coin you've ever traded on their exchange. (self.Bitcoin)

submitted 22 hours ago by bs519

Just wanted to make users fully aware that Bitstamp may refuse to process withdrawals unless you go provide intrusive and personal information.

Background: My account is fully verified. I traded regularly in 2013 buy haven't made a trade since December. I purchased $2500 worth earlier this week through a different exchange and sold on bitstamp after the quick price rise.

After requesting with withdrawal, here is what happened:

We have received your withdrawal request. As your withdrawal request met some of our volume and frequency thresholds, we will have to kindly ask you to help us better understand the nature of your relationship with Bitstamp.

In order to do so, we require that an additional KYC (know your customer) procedure is completed before we can proceed with the processing of your transfer.

We kindly ask you to send us a high resolution image of both pages of your international passport and answer the following KYC questionnaire: 1. How did you learn about Bitcoin? 2. The purpose of trading on Bitstamp? Please describe in as much detail as possible how you intend to use your trading account. 3. What is the origin of the deposited Bitcoins? If mining, please specify your hardware specifications and submit a receipt or an invoice for your mining equipment. 4. What are your future plans and activities planned on our exchange? 5. Do you plan more withdrawals in the future? 6. Which bank do you intend to use? Please provide the complete address and SWIFT code. 7. Estimated amount that you would be depositing/withdrawing to/from your Bitstamp account per month (in USD and BTC)?


We kindly ask you to submit your answers and documents in a reply to this ticket.
OK fine, here are the details and my passport (already verified with driver's license and had swift code already entered).

They required that I prove where the coins came from that I sold. I provided the receipt from the exchange. Here is what they came back with.

Thank you for your reply.

Please note that the provided information is for only 5 BTC while you have deposited to and sold on Bitstamp more than xxx bitcoins.

We kindly ask you to send us a signed message of your personal, most used wallet so we can establish the veracity of your statements.

The "Sign Message" feature is an advanced functionality of the Bitcoin client which allows you to sign arbitrary messages to prove to somebody that you are (were) in control of the funds of some Bitcoin address.

Since the exact way how to send a signed message differs between different wallet provider we advise you to try to find the information on your wallet provider's site.

If you are using blockchain here is a shot tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S88ciN9DsRk

Thank you for your cooperation.

We look forward to your reply.

Not only is this extremely intrusive, it wouldn't actually show them where I bought the coins. I understand KYC requirements but this is beyond anything in the financial industry. And the coins I traded (under 500) were over the history of my account (not just this one trade). They eventually cancelled my withdrawal so I was able to get coins out (at a loss though).

So just a heads up, be prepared to require this sort of information if you want to trade on bitstamp.

I repeat, there is nothing about Bitcoin that should make it attractive to the libertarian community. Bitstamp is merely ahead of the game. I expect that eventually all above ground Bitcoin exchanges will be required to identify the source of a Bitcoin users bitcoins. Bitcoin in the opposite of anonymity.

(ht SunFan2)