I’ve been holding some amount of ZEC for several years, recent market activities and volatility is good opportunity to trade back and forth between ZEC and USDC/USDT for profit. After awhile, Binance asked for “proof of source of funds”, i gave them screenshots of my Trezor HW wallet and Zashi mobile app.
They then demanded the records of my initial acquisition of Zcash. They even asked for records of my entire Bitcoin holding dating back to more than 10 years: transaction logs, trade logs, deposit/withdrawal logs from any other exchange. They basically threatened account closure if i don’t comply.
I plan to not give them or any CEX my business, is there DEX with good volume? I’m unaware of recent development of AMM-style DEX.
Something similar happened to me with my Gemini account, so I can relate to how frustrating it is. About seven years ago, when I was trading a lot of ZEC and moving funds on and off the exchange, Gemini asked me to verify my source of funds. I had to provide bank statements, pay stubs, and records of my trading activity to show where the assets originally came from. It was a hassle, but I only had to go through it that once, and I still use Gemini regularly today to buy ZEC and transfer it into a shielded wallet without issues.
These types of requests aren’t unusual. It falls under what exchanges call “Enhanced Due Diligence.” It’s their way of documenting to regulators that they understand where user funds originate and that they’re complying with AML requirements. Exchanges vary a lot in how aggressively they enforce these checks, and for many users, it’s annoying and enough to push them toward avoiding CEXs entirely.
Regarding alternatives, check out NEAR Intents and Maya Protocol. Here are a couple links where you can track liquidity and volumes:
Time is running out to drop the centralized exchanges and fiat gateways. Go P2P, it’s not easy, it still has a lot of frictions, it requires a lot of imagination and adaptibility but it will save you a lot of headaches (to be very mild…) in the future.
Isn’t the implication of the request that some people will be denied access?
Can’t we therefore conclude there are people who are unprivileged?
I don’t know @nva but a-priori I can’t assume they have the status/privilege required to “provide bank statements” (what % of the world is unbanked?).
I find it deeply disturbing to hear the “it’s a bit of a hassle” narrative.
It’s not, in general, a bit of a hassle… in general it is a flagrant and unjustifiable abuse of power that causes vast, incomprehensible levels of human suffering.
In that frame, the real significance of NEAR-intents is NOT that the hassle of the elite is reduced… it’s that it radically alters the politics of power.
Sorry… if I am coming across a bit heated… I tend to carry direct experiences of poverty in a raw way.
I spent some time near the US/Mexico border recently, and the inhumanity and grotesqueness of the “border” is something it’s better for me to grieve than to internalize un-considered.
