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I think this level of heavy-handed measures are a result of cases like this [0] where a Sony employee embezzled $150 millions and converted them to BTC using Co

I think this level of heavy-handed measures are a result of cases like this [0] where a Sony employee embezzled $150 millions and converted them to BTC using Coinbase. Probably their silly security flags went up thinking you are trying to steal your business's money using BTC? Edit: people who want to know more about the case, here's a Money Stuff article by Matt Levine [1], jump to "Coinbase compliance". Bunch of related links there as well, like NY Department of Financial Services release [2]. Summary from that: > In the spring of 2021, an individual purporting to be an employee of a corporation (“Corporation A”) was able to open an account on behalf of Corporation A without authorization from that corporation, and without the appropriate personal identification documentation required by Coinbase policy. As part of a sophisticated fraud, the individual was able to submit an online request form to raise the daily withdrawal limit by 50 times, which was granted despite a total lack of account activity and, therefore, no evidence that the existing thresholds were insufficient for the customer’s activity. Then, on a single day, the employee transferred more than $150 million from Corporation A’s bank account (that the employee had also gained unauthorized access to) into Corporation A’s Coinbase account. The employee then immediately converted the fiat funds into virtual currency, then immediately moved the virtual currency to a wallet off the Coinbase platform. Coinbase did not become aware of this activity until six days later, when Coinbase was contacted by Corporation A’s bank. Coinbase assisted with the investigation of law enforcement, which ultimately led to recovery of the funds. [0] https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdca/pr/united-states-files-civil-action-return-150-million-embezzled-funds-sony-fbi-tracks https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdca/pr/united-states-files-civ... [1] https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2023-01-05/coindeal-s-bentleys-weren-t-real https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2023-01-05/coinde... [2] https://www.dfs.ny.gov/reports_and_publications/press_releases/pr202301041 https://www.dfs.ny.gov/reports_and_publications/press_releas...

e40 4y ago
Well, the accounts share nothing in common other than me. And, I deleted my personal account, like they asked. They seem unable to move forward after that. As a developer myself, it's clear that request (delete personal account) was a hail mary. They had no idea if it would work. And, the amounts of money involved are very small.
- throwaway1777 4y ago
  Sure, but how does coinbase know that? For that matter how do we even know you’re telling the truth now?
- polygamous_bat 4y ago
  Well yes, I completely agree that they seem to have set up a series of security flags that they do not understand themselves, even though the flags were mandated for a legitimate reason initially. Coinbase paid $50 million in fines for that (see [0]) so they would rather lose some business from people like you than risk a fine like that again. [0] https://www.dfs.ny.gov/reports_and_publications/press_releases/pr202301041 https://www.dfs.ny.gov/reports_and_publications/press_releas...
toss1 4y ago
Yup, maybe coinbase being PTSD-level gunshy explains something. I had an account made years ago, linked to my company's business bank acct and did some exchanges; all went fine. Then after a few years of inactivity, I tried to make a small transaction, and kept getting error messages, then questions of verification - the whole invasive lot as you described. I had no problem complying, went through half a dozen++ separate tickets that kept ghosting me and/or proposing non-working solutions (yet another invasive verification...). Finally after ~6 MONTHS of this nonsense, I suddenly got verified and it started working -- on the same damn account that had previously worked. And crypto was supposed to be so easy and replace banks. Coinbase's landing page blares out: "The future of money is here" Right. It's still forking vaproware and worse than ever a decade and a half later. So much wasted potential. Ugh EDIT: Aaaannd, I just signed in for the first time in many months, and the only thing I can access is an Account overview screen and some transaction data. No evident way to see my current holdings, prices, or way to cash out. But they do have a convenient [Close Account] button at the bottom, with a warning that it is irreversible and should have $0 balance Nice.

e40 4y ago

Well, the accounts share nothing in common other than me. And, I deleted my personal account, like they asked. They seem unable to move forward after that. As a developer myself, it's clear that request (delete personal account) was a hail mary. They had no idea if it would work. And, the amounts of money involved are very small.

throwaway1777 4y ago
Sure, but how does coinbase know that? For that matter how do we even know you’re telling the truth now?
polygamous_bat 4y ago
Well yes, I completely agree that they seem to have set up a series of security flags that they do not understand themselves, even though the flags were mandated for a legitimate reason initially. Coinbase paid $50 million in fines for that (see [0]) so they would rather lose some business from people like you than risk a fine like that again. [0] https://www.dfs.ny.gov/reports_and_publications/press_releases/pr202301041 https://www.dfs.ny.gov/reports_and_publications/press_releas...

toss1 4y ago

Yup, maybe coinbase being PTSD-level gunshy explains something. I had an account made years ago, linked to my company's business bank acct and did some exchanges; all went fine. Then after a few years of inactivity, I tried to make a small transaction, and kept getting error messages, then questions of verification - the whole invasive lot as you described. I had no problem complying, went through half a dozen++ separate tickets that kept ghosting me and/or proposing non-working solutions (yet another invasive verification...). Finally after ~6 MONTHS of this nonsense, I suddenly got verified and it started working -- on the same damn account that had previously worked. And crypto was supposed to be so easy and replace banks. Coinbase's landing page blares out: "The future of money is here" Right. It's still forking vaproware and worse than ever a decade and a half later. So much wasted potential. Ugh EDIT: Aaaannd, I just signed in for the first time in many months, and the only thing I can access is an Account overview screen and some transaction data. No evident way to see my current holdings, prices, or way to cash out. But they do have a convenient [Close Account] button at the bottom, with a warning that it is irreversible and should have $0 balance Nice.