Bittrex Locks, Freezes Withdrawals for Thousands

Since the summer of this year, Bittrex has been imposing changes on its users and requiring increasingly detailed verification paperwork. Accounts have retroactively been downgraded in response to these policy changes. As a result, many users have found their accounts disabled, and many more have noticed their withdrawal capabilities locked.

While this began several months ago, the majority of users were affected in November, where Legacy accounts (unverified but registered well before the new verification policy came into play) saw withdrawals limited to just .025 BTC/day, and then reduced just a week later to zero.

In order to regain withdrawal privileges, users must fill out verification forms. With basic verification, users can withdraw .025 BTC/day. Once users receive enhanced verification, their withdrawal limits are expanded to 100 BTC/day, so long as they have two factor authentication enabled.

While this sounds understandable on the surface, the real problem lies in how Bittrex is handling verification. Users who fail basic verification, whether due to misusing an international character or even for no reason at all, are required to submit enhanced verification. If the details in documents uploaded for enhanced verification don’t match the details submitted for basic verification, users must have their documents manually reviewed by Bittrex support staff.

Manual review is where the primary problem comes into play. Bittrex support staffers (if they even exist) simply aren’t reviewing these verification issues. Tens of thousands of accounts have been stuck in limbo, some for over two months, with absolutely no communication from the exchange. This is entirely unacceptable for a business with as much revenue as Bittrex. If the support team cannot handle the current traffic of tickets, Bittrex needs to use just a fraction of its profits to expand the team. If it’s neither a matter of manpower nor of ignorance, then something much slimier is taking place. It can be assumed that Bittrex is ignoring these tickets so it can withhold user funds for its own investment and trading activities.

What can I do if my account is locked or my withdrawals are frozen?

Unfortunately, the only avenue that can be followed is to file a support ticket. In the past, users could bypass the waiting line by instead sending an email or placing a phone call. Recently, however, Bittrex stopped accepting phone calls and emails, telling users to instead file tickets.

This does not mean that all hope is lost. Savvy individuals are finding ways to bypass the support ticket bottleneck, which has doubled in volume to over 500,000 tickets since these changes first took place. One user took it upon him or herself to log the tickets of users who self-reported on the BitcoinTalk forum. In comparison with the total percentage of tickets being resolved, those logged on this thread are being resolved faster and at a much higher rate.

That user also recently shared another way for one’s account to be reviewed quicker. If you file your support ticket as a two factor authentication issue, you will be reviewed much quicker than if the ticket is filed as a verification issue. Because 2FA tickets require the same documents as enhanced verification, the information required to be verified will be shared with the support team, allowing your verification to be approved as well.

Beyond this, the best course of action is to stay away from Bittrex and dissuade any peers from using this exchange. New users are not made aware that they cannot withdraw until they attempt to do so, meaning that traders throughout the world are losing money by depositing to Bittrex every single day. This is unacceptable and terrible practices for any business. Bittrex should be avoided as much as possible.