Bitrue - froze my account

[Fladams 2,347]

***  TLDR - Bitrue small print in the TC's has a single sentence that says "You will not engage in n-degree arbitrage trading to exploit the inefficiencies of the market."  Apparently this was something I was doing (didn't even know what that meant) and therefore my account withdrawls have now been frozen. ****

 

I'll start by detailing the small amount of activity that i've had on my Bitrue account since conception.

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4th June 2019   - Initial XRP deposit
4th July 2019   - First XRP withdrawl

8th July 2020    - XRP deposit made
6th August 2020  - XRP deposit made
22nd August 2020 - XRP deposit made

5th October 2020 onwards - XRP withdrawls being rejected
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As you can see above on the 5th October I saw that my withdrawl had been rejected so I contacted support by email to resolve.

Email to support
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Oct 5, 2020, 23:09 GMT+8 
My attempts to withdraw XRP (either to a Coinbase or Toast wallet) are being rejected.  There is no explanation given.
 
XRP    100    2020-10-05 15:52:42    -- wallet address removed --
Tag: 0                         Reject    

XRP    100    2020-10-05 15:12:44    -- wallet address removed --
Tag: xxxxxxx                    Reject    
 
 
You can see that one of the wallet addresses is the same one I used last year to withdraw XRP too.  I don’t understand why I cannot do it now.
 
Please assist ASAP.
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Another email to support
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Oct 6, 2020, 16:41 GMT+8 
I’m still having withdrawls rejected today with no reason provided at all – just ‘rejected’.  Please can you look into this ASAP.  I’ve as of yet had no response other than the automated reply.
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Another email sent to support:
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Oct 9, 2020, 4:36 GMT+8 
I still have not heard from your support team yet on my issue.  PLEASE can someone contact me as soon as possible as all my withdrawls are being rejected.
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Email finally received from support with a link to a Zendesk support ticket:
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John (Bitrue) 
Oct 9, 2020, 11:44 GMT+8 
Have you received our warning letter? If you agree with our warning content, please complete the KYC verification according to the above requirements and stop the triangle arbitrage. 

Bitrue Team
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My response on 9th Oct:
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This is the first communication that I have received from you since I opened my support request almost three days ago. Please can you re-send \ provide the relevant link \ forms that you require me to complete.
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Bitrue respond 9th Oct:
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Dear Customer,

We have recently discovered that you have been conducting n-degree arbitrage on our exchange. We would like to kindly remind you that this is prohibited according to our Terms of Use, which you agreed to when signing up for our platform.

To avoid loss and dispute between our platform and the customer, we must require you to stop your arbitrage trading immediately. Further violation to the T&Cs of the platform will lead to limitations on your account. We will also need you to complete KYC verification for withdrawals in the future if you have not yet done so already.

Thank you for your patience and support!

Bitrue Team
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Reponse to Bitrue on 9th Oct:
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Oct 9, 2020, 15:12 GMT+8 

Had I realised I was in breach of any Bitrue T&C's I would have immediately stopped - this is the first time i've seen such a warning notice as I have had no communication from Bitrue.

I believe I have already completed KYC verification? Is there anything else that I am required to do?
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At this point I can't seem to access the support ticket that was created for this on the Bitrue Zendesk.  My login doesn't work and a password reset just sends a blank email.  Disabled...maybe?

 

Email to Bitrue support 10th Oct
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Oct 10, 2020, 3:04 GMT+8
For some reason I am unable to now log back into my Zendesk support ticket (#XXXXX) for continued assistance -  a password reset seems to send me a blank email.  
 
I have attempted a withdraw again (after the previous communication with John in support) but and am still currently unable to do so.  
 
I am pretty sure I have completed and provided all the relevant KYC information – but if you can direct me to what exactly is required that will be helpful.
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Email to support 12th Oct:
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Oct 12, 2020, 23:23 GMT+8 
Please could you respond and provide an update on my support ticket.  Withdrawls are still not available for me on my Bitrue account.  
 
I’m intending to move XRP to the Exchange in the near future as Bitrue is participating the SPARK (FXRP) distribution.  But unless I have the ability to make withdrawls I will be unable to do this.
 
I’d rally appreciate an update as soon as possible with the current status.
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I had already been discussing what was going on with other XRP Chat community members in the "Zerpening-iv-stairway-to-heaven" area of the site for the last week or so.

Another email sent to support:
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Oct 14, 2020, 14:46 GMT+8 
It's been over a week and still my withdrawls are being rejected.  I have had minimal\next to no communication from Bitrue on this and i've not been informed as to what Bitrue is intending here.  
 
As mentioned before if I broke Bitrue TC's then it was not a deliberate act, I had not realised that what I was doing was against Bitrue policy and was shocked to find this out.  I'd like to add that I immediately stopped all trading after receiving the warning notification from Bitrue.
 
I am very much a Bitrue fan, i've already created my PayID address and I am an avid XRP supporter.  I am also an XRP Chat community member (over 2 1/2 years) and I follow XRP \ Ripple very closely.
 
I would also like to be able to freely move my crypto from other Exchanges to Bitrue for the upcoming SPARK token release and this will not be possible as things currently stand.
 
I have been discussing my current situation with other XRP Chat forums members and explaining what has been happening, i'd rather this just got resolved and we moved on from this with me being able to continue to use and support Bitrue.  Another XRP Chat member linked me this Twitter post from Bitrue earlier on in the year - I hope this will also apply to me too.
 
https://twitter.com/BitrueOfficial/status/1240105828037738496?s=20
 
***
Bitrue
@BitrueOfficial
If users have been engaging in activity that is prohibited according to our Terms of Use (e.g. n-degree arbitrage trading) their withdrawals will be frozen. The reason will be clearly communicated to the user via email & they will usually be given a 2nd chance to trade as normal.
***

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Then to my dismay I received the following response from Bitrue support:

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Oct 15, 2020, 13:57 GMT+8 
Hi,

According to the judgment of the risk control team, your triangle arbitrage behavior is serious, and the assets you have deposited before have been withdrawn, so we will not unfreeze it.

Bitrue Support Team

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Follow up email to support:

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Oct 15, 2020, 08:07 GMT+8

I’m finding this all a bit surreal.  You run an exchange, what’s wrong with me withdrawing assets in the past – is there a requirement for me to leave and hold assets on your exchange?

I have just received a single email (last week) from Bitrue saying that I was breaking the TC’s, which was a complete surprise to me so I immediately stopped trading.

Now i’m being informed that you will not allow me access to my assets at all.  What you are doing is completely wrong, unethical and against all crypto principles in my eyes.  As well as out right theft of my original assets I put onto the Exchange.

Your giving me no choice but to raise awareness of this via social media and other news outlets.   I’ll also be looking to contact Curis Wang directly as well as other senior members of the Bitrue team and bring this to their attention.  Rest assured in addition to this I’ll be reaching out to other prominent figures of the XRP community too.

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Apologies for the long post, I wanted to provide as much detail as possible to get the facts out in the open and clear from the outset.

I do not argue the fact that was I was doing may have been in breach of Bitrue TC's - but it was an honest mistake and it hadn't even crossed my mind that trading one XRP pair for another XRP pair via USDT would be unacceptable (I presume this is what 'n-degree arbitrage trading' is?) confirmation of this would be good.

Here is the TC's for bitrue: https://www.bitrue.com/exchange-web/footer/terms.html  - search for "n-degree" to find the relevant 14 words that say you can't do it.

I had been trying to find contact details for Bitrue during these events that unfolded and i stumbled upon this 'Curis Wang' post where he is re-sharing \ promoting a Ripple article about "how to take advantage or arbitrage opportunities" - seriously they're having a laugh.

 

I'm currently at the stage where I may just step back and leave the crypto space and *try* to forget about it - but I really feel what's happened to me here needs to be highlighted and brought to light.  Bitrue need to make people aware of what they can and cannot do on their Exchange - and im not talking about 14 words of small print in the TC's.

 

Edited October 15, 2020 by Fladams
Forgot to reference an additional email

[Gilligan 6,671]

This is crazy!  I hope you get some answers soon.   

[BillyOckham 7,551]

So very disappointing to see this from Bitrue.  Their ‘warning then second’ thing has fallen over badly.

 

You’ve made some breach (btw I can’t understand what could possibly be wrong with arbitrage,  but that’s their conditions so fair enough) without being aware you were doing so,  and now they are dropping on you like a hammer.  That sux and is a poor reflection on Bitrue.  It looks like theft to me.

 

Can I suggest a brief summation TLDR section be put at the front of your long original post?  This is the Internet so many won’t bother if it’s longer than a few words...    

I would encourage anyone who uses Twitter and has had contact with Bitrue to link that OP.

[Fladams 2,347]

Just now, BillyOckham said:

So very disappointing to see this from Bitrue.  Their ‘warning then second’ thing has fallen over badly.

 

You’ve made some breach (btw I can’t understand what could possibly be wrong with arbitrage,  but that’s their conditions so fair enough) without being aware you were doing so,  and now they are dropping on you like a hammer.  That sux and is a poor reflection on Bitrue.  It looks like theft to me.

 

Can I suggest a brief summation TLDR section be put at the front of your long original post?  This is the Internet so many won’t bother if it’s longer than a few words...    

I would encourage anyone who uses Twitter and has had contact with Bitrue to link that OP.

Thanks for the feedback Billy - I will indeed amend a TLDR at the beginning. 

[LeXuZ 624]

This sounds like plain theft to me.

You have made several deposits and only 1 withdrawal in the past.

How the hell can that be arbitrage?

That's bull.

[SquaryBone 851]

This has been happening for the past x years (there's basically no exchange to trust). They block you and give you a lousy explanation and keep your funds.

[BillyOckham 7,551]

1 minute ago, LeXuZ said:

This sounds like plain theft to me.

You have made several deposits and only 1 withdrawal in the past.

How the hell can that be arbitrage?

That's bull.

I think the arbitrage they refer to is between coin pairs and doesn’t leave the exchange.  But I don’t understand why they are against it....   it’s actually a good thing that brings valuations into line.  
 

This is really disturbing and should bother all traders that someone can be accused of this obscure thing that none of us here so far can define.

I’d love to hear how they justify this...  it sure looks like theft.

[LeXuZ 624]

Let escalate this crap on twitter.

 

I was planning to move my Zerps there before the Flare airdrop.

Edited October 15, 2020 by LeXuZ

[IAmATroll 211]

Did they freeze all withdrawls or just XRP?  Have you tried trading the XRP to BTC and moving it off?

[Tako 868]

Thanks for sharing your story, I hope you will find a solution to get your account unfrozen. 
I have some VET in Bitrue’s power piggy, but in light of the above I’m seriously considering getting all my tokens out of this exchange, and just forgetting Bitrue altogether.  

[aavkk 2,793]

I was also considering using them for the Flare drop but won't until we see some clarity around this.  Thanks for sharing, @Fladams and best of luck with a timely resolution.  

[BillyOckham 7,551]

I went and looked at their terms and conditions to see where they talk about it.

Holy crap.

First up, even though long web pages are all over the internet and the methods to display them properly to ease reading have been known forever, these guys have used a tiny font and made each line a mile long,  so just reading it is a struggle.

Second up, they do indeed mention “n-degree arbitrage” in a very terse way but make no clarity about what it is or what happens if you accidentally stray into doing so.  No definition at all.

Lastly it must be noted that their method of dealing with it when they think it applies is truly pathetic.  They have total control of the exchange site.  If I wanted to advise a user of an issue that was dire,  I wouldn’t send a email that might go to spam.  I would place a modal message on the site the user can’t go past or ignore.

The fact that they ‘advise’ you via email and then just lock you out of your funds is atrocious.

I hope they see the light.

[Tako 868]

1 hour ago, BillyOckham said:

 

I hope they see the light.

I’m sure they will. Let people leaving their exchange be the torch that burns this light into their retina forever. 

[WarChest 678]

It has always been a concern of mine that if moon happens, exchanges will not be able to  pay out, and will withhold funds.

this is why regulation is required.

[strikerjax 664]

Have you tried telegram channel @  https://t.me/BitrueOfficial

Just checked it and Looks like they don't provide any support there.

Edited October 16, 2020 by strikerjax