Bitcoin Exchange Sues Wells Fargo Over Massive Wire Transfer Suspension (bitcoin.com) 79
An anonymous reader quotes this report from the cryptocurrency news site Bitcoin.com:
Bitfinex, on Wednesday, filed a lawsuit against Wells Fargo for suspending its outgoing U.S. dollars wire transfers. In addition to "a preliminary and permanent injunction against Wells Fargo," the exchange is seeking compensatory damages in excess of $75,000 and any additional relief the court may deem fair as well as a jury trial for the case... The court document states that Bitfinex is a customer of four Taiwan-based banks but is not itself a customer of Wells Fargo. However, its banks in Taiwan use Wells Fargo as a correspondent bank to process U.S. dollar wire transfers, which is a normal practice in cross-border payments.
"So far, close to US$180M in funds is locked up in Wells Fargo accounts," writes The Merkle, "with no clear path to a resolution in sight." But a Bitfinex representative on social media pointed out that "Funds are not frozen," adding that Wells Fargo is just a correspondent bank, and "They have chosen to block wire transfers between us and our customers which we are challenging in court."
Another post from BFX_Brandon states that "If we allow them to simply flip a switch and disrupt business, then there becomes a precedence in the Bitcoin industry beyond just Bitfinex, so we believe it is the appropriate time to take action."
"So far, close to US$180M in funds is locked up in Wells Fargo accounts," writes The Merkle, "with no clear path to a resolution in sight." But a Bitfinex representative on social media pointed out that "Funds are not frozen," adding that Wells Fargo is just a correspondent bank, and "They have chosen to block wire transfers between us and our customers which we are challenging in court."
Another post from BFX_Brandon states that "If we allow them to simply flip a switch and disrupt business, then there becomes a precedence in the Bitcoin industry beyond just Bitfinex, so we believe it is the appropriate time to take action."
Typical Wells Fargo... Steal as much as possible.. (Score:2, Insightful)
From fake accounts, to reorganizing deposits to come after payments so they charge outrageous penalties, to arbitrarily changing 30+ year old account agreements so that they can charge exorbitant "fees" for something that costs them absolutely nothing.
I recall historically when Wells Fargo meant security, safety for your funds. Now it's just a cover-up for highway robbery.
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Banks have to make money.
Do we get to vote on that? Because somehow I could foresee that the general consensus says otherwise.
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Times change. Banks have to make money. If you were a banker, you would instantly recognize simple facts. But you are not, so you will never understand. Charge 9% on student loans? Their's a good reason for that.
Nobody deserves to make as much of a share of the wealth in circulation as they do. The fact they make it is reason enough to hang them all.
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Charge 9% on student loans? Their's a good reason for that.
Care to elaborate on what that good reason is? Return is proportional to risk. Student loans are just about the lowest risk loans that can be made, and should be "priced" accordingly.
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Sorry, no. The only thing that's changed is the urge to make more money faster has overridden concerns that banks could go away if they lose consumer confidence.
Part of this changing times is that these days a bank account is more important to fully participating in society. Stuffing it under the mattress is just not much of an option anymore.
It would be interesting to see your excuse for charging customers fees for services they didn't sign up for and saw no benefit from.
Re:Typical Wells Fargo... Steal as much as possibl (Score:4, Insightful)
That's shit-though-mouth backwards. The issuing bank can more readily identify the account, available funds, detect fraud, minimize clearing times, etc. Of course they fucking don't, because all the clearing and processing times are artificial, and are designed to hit an account holder with fees later should the check bounce. It's the same with the overdraft "protection" scam.
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Inn recent years I've been cashing savings bonds (series E I believe). I first went to Wells Fargo because they were the closest bank open on Saturday.
My god, it was a fucking hassle. I knew it would be bad, and I expected the teller to have no fucking clue what a savings bond was let alone how to process it, but what I didn't expect was the damn resistance to actually cashing it because I wasn't a Wells Fargo customer.
You're a fucking bank, and there are still (some) laws you have to respect. After 3 pe
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Each teller I encounter is flabbergasted that a non-customer can walk in, make them do some actual work, and get money without any fees attached.
As someone who has never worked in banking or finance, that is news to me as well. How did you learn that they were required to do that?
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https://www.savingsbonds.gov/ [savingsbonds.gov]
A "savings bond" most commonly refers to a bond issued by the government at a fixed interest rate. In the past, the government offered decent interest rates and people trusted the US Dollar, or the government was desperate and offered high interest rates and people wanted to help the government (war bonds). The last time savings bonds were popular was with series EE in the 80s.
People often bought them for newborns and young children. They carried a fixed interest rate (7 perc
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I mean, who in this day and age should be forced to receive a physical cheque, go to a physical bank, fall in line, fill out the paperwork, and then wait in line for his own money!
In Europe they do it much better, quicker and more efficiently: Just transfer the money to payee's bank account. In a flick. No charges. Europe-wide.
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The answer is obvious- since the funds aren't actually frozen, sign up with another US partner who IS willing to do international wire transfer, transfer funds to them.
A thought (Score:2)
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Imagine all the problems with Bitcoin arranged in a ring. When you point out one problem (Like you just did: Bitcoin has failed to make a full-cycle economy), they move one step along the ring and start a different argument.
The ring is big enough that no matter how exhaustively you try to shut them up, they always have another goalpost to jump to that you forgot to cover.
Today we look back at Amway as an archaic scam. Our children will shake their heads with disappointment that their parent's generation e
Credit unions (Score:5, Insightful)
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Thinking of the future, it's wise to build a relationship with my bank. After all, I'm a temporarily-embarrassed millionaire. /s
Re:Credit unions (Score:5, Insightful)
Thinking of the future, this is a real warning of the dangers of a cashless society, when only corporations will decide whether you can access any product or service no matter how cheap, not even charity all transactions to or from you blocked. Need a lawyer when you are cut off in a cash less society, good luck, you have better chance of living for ever by sitting in a bath tube with a blow drier, a box of razor blades and you head bellow water level.
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Changing the currency changes the cashless problem?
Who controls Bitcoin? No one? How's your transaction processing time going for ya?
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Not really. My bank doesn't screw me. Obviously you are dealing with the wrong banks.
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Capital One (formerly ING Direct, formerly Orange) has yet to screw me. But I'm ready to jump ship when that day comes.
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What's your bank? Every six months, Chase locks my account so I can't pay my credit card or check statements. Bank of America did far worse, levying improper fees. What's your bank?
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Then you clearly don't interact with them much. They jacked up rates, introduced fees for standard features, switched me to a new type of account without notice, have some of the lowest interest rates in the entire industry (I'm literally getting 100x more interest on my savings at Ally, since BofA was 0.01% when I left), forced me to call them for virtually every interaction instead of being able to handle it online, and did all sorts of other crap, all in the span of a few years that I was with them fresh
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Are there any trustworthy services to do that with a credit card that don't involve some sort of complicated registration / setup / etc process?
Short answer - no.
Long answer - no.
Bitcoin is not money. It is just made-up bullshit for money laundering and other illegal operations. And a few speculators hoping they can make a quick buck -- who usually end up getting ripped off by bitcoin exchanges who disappear and tale your money with them.
The number if people actually using bitcoin ffor legitimate purposes is roughly analogous to the number of people using bit-torrent to download non-copyright infringing materials.
Using a credit card complicates t
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It's not money, no, but "made-up bullshit" is itself the made-up bullshit. Bitcoin is a payment network, designed for moving your existing money around -- something that it does actually work perfectly well for.
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Except it's a little harder to walk off with your dollars you have in your hand than it is for a Bitcoin exchange to simply vanish.
At least it's harder to abscond with your dollars without some struggle, or at least noticing...
Better headline (Score:5, Funny)
Wells would be liable if any transfers fake.. (Score:1)
I get that everyone wants to go off the grid with their magical ether currency...
But without actual regulation on what a real bank / transfer looks like, Wells would be on the hook if one of these magical bit banks faked it out.
You can't both be "I'm totally off the grid and don't need your silly corporate/country moneys" and also "How come the bank won't give me real money for my non traceable money thing" at the same time.
You're asking for the security of the real monetary system, but without the checks.
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somebody mod the parent up.
Re: non traceable money thing (Score:2)
If you buy them from an exchange, they are coupled to your name, until they get transferred to your payee, from where the coin can be tracked further.
Try that with cash...
Good luck (Score:1)
When the American Bank wants your money, they can just steal it, knowing fully well that their government will keep their backs. There is an easy solution: never ever do business with American banks or financial institutes, and generally, if you keep the U.S. out of your business, you will fare the better.
Translation Please? (Score:2)
I know a bit about wire transfers but have no idea what a 'correspondent bank' is, or how funds can be locked up without being frozen. What exactly is the problem here? Furthermore, why is an injunction being sought? Is it an 'affirmative action' type injunction, to compel Wells Fargo to process the transfers? I could read the article but the summary shouldn't be so impenetrable.
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My neighbor also runs a furniture shop and is competing with me. However, he does have a truck.
So I want him to bring the furniture my clients bought from me to their homes.
Does that sound reasonable in any way?
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My bet is that Wells Fargo is concerned about bitcoin being used for money laundering -- which is a legitimate concern for a US financial institution.
It doesn't matter if bitcoin isn't an ideal medium for money laundering... what matters is it's an excuse for a competitor send regulators after Wells Fargo.
I'm the one that submitted this story (Score:1)
Bitcoin is anonymous, so ... (Score:2)
... all the "Wells Fargo, Bitfinex, Taiwan-based, The Merkle, BFX_Brandon" references are pseudonyms and stuff.
People Still Bank With Wells Fargo? (Score:1)
Wow.