Limits of anti money laundering laws (Binance)

Cryto_AL

I recently sold a property and the money was paid from solicitor into the bank. The bank had no problem obviously as they could see it was from a property sale.
Then transfered the money to a different bank, they asked where it came from (to satisfy AML laws) so told them from a property sale. Excellent no problem. Explaination accepted at face value with no proof asked for.
Then transfered to a crypto exchange and started using it for trading. No problem. Made huge profits.
A month later the exchange account was frozen without warning and received a message asking to complete AML qeustionaire. So stated where the money had come from and provided a copy of the original recipt letter from teh Solicitor showing property details and sale price. this was rejected as evidence and they asked for copy of bank statement.
Provided copy of bank statement showing reciept of payment from solicitor which actually had the property address details as the payment reference.
This was rejected as sufficient evidence !
They then asked for copies of banks staements showing personal wealth, Copies of trading activity on other exchnages  and any emails showing my historic involvement in crypto !
WTAF !
I said a clear no and started screaming about privacy and data protection laws.
.
So the question is. Just what is the limit of how much evidence they can demand to satisfy AML laws?
This screams of data trawling and potential for future fraud.
In online groups there are numerous users having exactly the same problme and Binance are deleting posts and comment about it so other users cant see it is happening.
All unbelievably shady !

Malthusian

Proof that the money came from property isn't always going to be sufficient evidence to satisfy AML - they might want to be satisfied that the property wasn't bought with dirty money in the first place. I am not an expert on Cayman Islands AML regulation but I doubt there is any hard and fast limit on how much evidence they can ask for. 
Your options are either to hand over what they want or get in touch with your solicitor (although if it comes to it you might have to pursue the case in the Cayman Islands).
Might be a stupid question, but are you sure it was Binance and not a clone scam you handed your money to? (Although if this is a recurring problem with other users, that reduces the likelihood of that being the answer.)

dunstonh

I said a clear no and started screaming about privacy and data protection laws.

Data protection is irrelevant.  AML trumps it.   Your privacy is not above the law.

So the question is. Just what is the limit of how much evidence they can demand to satisfy AML laws?

They can demand what they like to satisfy themselves that the transaction is clean.

This screams of data trawling and potential for future fraud.

You are in part correct.   They are trawling for potential fraud from you.

All unbelievably shady !

Indeed, crypto generally is. Some more than others.   Hence why it gets treated this way.  Unlike property which has strong audit trails in the public domain.

[Deleted User]

Cryto_AL said:

I said a clear no and started screaming about privacy and data protection laws.

You started screaming?

Millyonare

The Binance Wikipedia page makes for an interesting read.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binance

DannyCarey

The exchange are just stealing your money at this point. 
When you load money into an exchange they put your money as an asset on their side (and a liability). 

You actually surrender your money the moment you put it in an exchange. 

They are a bit like an unregulated bookie - very very happy to take your money but they will make it as awkward as possible to withdraw money especially if you are a new user. 

masonic

DannyCarey said:

The exchange are just stealing your money at this point. 
When you load money into an exchange they put your money as an asset on their side (and a liability). 

You actually surrender your money the moment you put it in an exchange. 

They are a bit like an unregulated bookie - very very happy to take your money but they will make it as awkward as possible to withdraw money especially if you are a new user. 

It's a fair point about surrendering any money/crypto transferred into an exchange. An exchange is a place to exchange currencies, but your wallets held there are not in your control. Funds should be exchanged and moved to the safety of your own private wallets/accounts. Binance may, however, just require more information in this instance. OP can either provide this or relinquish anything they currently hold on the exchange. This is the risk taken when dealing with unregulated offshore organisations.

Cryto_AL

dunstonh said:

Data protection is irrelevant.  AML trumps it.   Your privacy is not above the law.

They can demand what they like to satisfy themselves that the transaction is clean.

No it doesn't. Data protect/privacy laws are primary law based on human rights/common law. AML is secondary statute, commercial law.

Cryto_AL

DannyCarey said:

The exchange are just stealing your money at this point. 
When you load money into an exchange they put your money as an asset on their side (and a liability). 

You actually surrender your money the moment you put it in an exchange. 

They are a bit like an unregulated bookie - very very happy to take your money but they will make it as awkward as possible to withdraw money especially if you are a new user. 

Its legally a trust agreement, you do not surrender anything. As such and as crypto is classed as private property not currency. Any refusal to return the property or seizure of it would surly be a criminal act of conversion.
The problme is regulators and comapanie try to treat crypto as currency one mintue so they can use finacial and tax law against us, then teh next mintue they treat it like private property so they dont have to help us when we get scammed. Saying its a civil matter.

dunstonh

Cryto_AL said:

dunstonh said:

Data protection is irrelevant.  AML trumps it.   Your privacy is not above the law.

They can demand what they like to satisfy themselves that the transaction is clean.

No it doesn't. Data protect/privacy laws are primary law based on human rights/common law. AML is secondary statute, commercial law.

Legal liability trumps Data protection rules.  e.g. the ability to share personal data with third parties without your permission and storage of that data infinitely and the ability to refuse to supply data.

Type_45

Cryto_AL said:

I recently sold a property and the money was paid from solicitor into the bank. The bank had no problem obviously as they could see it was from a property sale.
Then transfered the money to a different bank, they asked where it came from (to satisfy AML laws) so told them from a property sale. Excellent no problem. Explaination accepted at face value with no proof asked for.
Then transfered to a crypto exchange and started using it for trading. No problem. Made huge profits.
A month later the exchange account was frozen without warning and received a message asking to complete AML qeustionaire. So stated where the money had come from and provided a copy of the original recipt letter from teh Solicitor showing property details and sale price. this was rejected as evidence and they asked for copy of bank statement.
Provided copy of bank statement showing reciept of payment from solicitor which actually had the property address details as the payment reference.
This was rejected as sufficient evidence !
They then asked for copies of banks staements showing personal wealth, Copies of trading activity on other exchnages  and any emails showing my historic involvement in crypto !
WTAF !
I said a clear no and started screaming about privacy and data protection laws.
.
So the question is. Just what is the limit of how much evidence they can demand to satisfy AML laws?
This screams of data trawling and potential for future fraud.
In online groups there are numerous users having exactly the same problme and Binance are deleting posts and comment about it so other users cant see it is happening.
All unbelievably shady !

Why did you leave money/crypto on an exchange?  Even rookies know not to do this (although I'm sure many do).

What percentage of your crypto is stuck on the exchange?