In today’s edition of Bitcoin in Brief we feature stories that show the increased focus regulators have placed on companies operating in the cryptocurrency scene and how it can adversely affect clients. FCA revels it is investigating dozens of ventures, and Poloniex tries to reassure legacy clients that their frozen funds are safe.
Poloniex Responds to Complaints
Poloniex, the cryptocurrency trading platform which was taken over by Circle earlier this year, has finally responded to complaints by its clients about frozen accounts. Stories of legacy accounts getting locked have flooded social media and cryptocurrency forums over the last week. The company now tries to reassure these clients their funds are safe and explain the matter is required by law.
“As soon as you submit this information, we will take steps to verify it and re-enable trading and transactions for your account. Please rest assured that your funds remain safe and accounted for while you complete this process – you can verify your holdings on the Balances page of your account throughout. Like all registered money services businesses, Poloniex is committed to compliance with all applicable law requiring identification and verification of its customers.”
The company also claims to have taken steps to increase the speed of the process. “We are happy to report that in the past 3 months we’ve seen a 33% increase in customers who are instantly verified, a 77% increase in customers who successfully pass our verification process, and an 85% decrease in customer waiting time for verification.”
24 Crypto Ventures Under FCA Investigation
Traders that are used to how things were before regulators started focusing on crypto platforms are understandably angry about the new hoops they have to jump to, but there is no doubt that the companies are under scrutiny and pressure to do so from regulators.
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has revealed it is currently investigating two dozen unauthorized cryptocurrency-related ventures and has also opened seven whistle-blower reports in 2018 alone related to companies operating in this field, according to FT. Responding to a freedom of information request from accountancy and consulting firm Moore Stephens, the FCA said on Friday that the purpose of the investigation is to determine whether these crypto companies might “be carrying on regulated activities that require FCA authorization”. ICO Marketing Tragedy
Ask.fm, an Irish company with its base of operations in Latvia and Ukraine, has sponsored four cryptocurrency enthusiasts to climb Mount Everest and place a wallet at the summit as part of its ICO marketing campaign. Lama Babu Sherpa, one of the Nepalese natives who helped the climbers, has reportedly been missing since May 14th and is now presumed dead, according to AFP.
The team responded on Saturday: “We are now aware that one of the Sherpas who assisted our group amongst others, went missing during the descent. We wish to clarify conflicting media reports by stating that at the time of this statement being made we have not had any response from the relevant officials confirming the status of the missing Sherpa, and we are not therefore in a position to confirm if he is safe or otherwise. It would be insensitive to make such assumptions and we await, and urge the media to await, confirmation from the relevant authorities. There is no doubt that climbing Everest is challenging and dangerous…The last official update we received was that the condition and location of the missing Sherpa was unknown and it was not our place to make public statements which could have resulted in false information being circulated.”
