Wow. The next generation must really fucking suck. I wonder if the Feds have gotten to these guys or something.

I've been struggling to get in contact with anyone over at Bittrex for almost a month now. I came across this post by @leprechaun today and thought I should probably sound my warning bells as well.

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Here's the story:

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I decided to use the exchange to do a little crypto trading, unaware of their recently imposed restrictions on withdrawals. After I had made my trade on the exchange, I attempted to withdraw my shiny new crypto tokens to their new wallet home on my computer.

I was promptly notified that withdrawal was no longer possible for guest accounts, and that I would need to upgrade to a basic account to make the transaction. Okay. Sure. Fair enough. I went to the verification page, typed in the basic info requested, only to be told by the automated verification system that my name "could not be found in the public record," or something to that effect.

Alright. No need to fear. It's telling me to upgrade to an advanced verification account in order to remedy this. No worries. Let's try that.

Now, at this point, I actually wasn't very relaxed or happy. I despise having to upload my image and/or personal documents to websites like Bittrex. I value privacy in my trading, and this wasn't exactly my idea of private and/or decentralized interaction.

Long story short, even after going through all that, the system tells me that my name doesn't match the name on my passport, whatever that means. My name was not misspelled. The only difference may have been that my passport includes my middle name, and I am not sure if the site had asked for that or not, in the name entry field. Regardless, once this message was displayed, letting me know that MY NAME DOES NOT MATCH MY NAME (don't you love computers?), there was nothing else I could do. There is no way to try again.

***

Another Steemian who experience the same exact automated inanity.

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I was directed by the automated system to contact customer support. I did that. I've since been waiting over 20 days to hear back from them.

The takeaway? Watch out, and don't put anything into Bittrex you aren't willing to indefinitely part with if you are not already a verified user.

Interested to see how @leprechaun's call for a class-action lawsuit turns out. Who knows, maybe the Fed has got the fist bearing down in Bittrex the same way it does Coinbase now.

One thing about crypto. Nothing is guaranteed. Ever. There sure is a hell of a lot of opportunity here, though ;)

~KafkA

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EDIT: Just today I have gotten word back from Bittrex and my account has been verified. I did not initially want to submit documents for advanced verification, but alas, that is the route I had to take to regain access to my coins. I'm happy to have finally gotten a response, but if you are looking to make a quick exchange as a basic account on this platform, beware. You may be stuck waiting for a month in limbo, as I was.

!

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Graham Smith is a Voluntaryist activist, creator, and peaceful parent residing in Niigata City, Japan. Graham runs the "Voluntary Japan" online initiative with a presence here on Steem, as well as Facebook and Twitter. (Hit me up so I can stop talking about myself in the third person!)