Bitstamp: Unverified Bitcoin Accounts at Risk as Deadline Looms

Bitstamp, one of the largest exchanges in the world that deals with US dollars, is taking the customer ID verification requirement very seriously and has warned its users to complete the process or face potential seizure of their assets by the US government.
Slovenia-based BitStamp has notified certain users that if they fail to verify their accounts within the next 28 days they were at risk of having funds seized by US regulatory authorities and additional penalties were also applicable as well. The October 16 announcement reads:
‘We kindly ask all unverified account holders with a balance to get verified within 28 days of this announcement.’
The company acknowledged that many of their customers will not be happy with this decision, but also stated that compliance with regulators was necessary if they wanted to be able to provide a truly global cryptocurrency trading platform.
When the company announced the new policy it said:
‘We believe it makes good sense for us to act in a conservative fashion and to do our best to safeguard the integrity of the system. Each day, each minute, each second, Bitstamp provides an online exchange in which we match buyers and sellers, and through these myriad transactions, help to set the real-time value of Bitcoin for use by merchants and customers around the world.’

This post was published at Coin Telegraph on 2014-10-20.