Poloniex Now Requires Legacy Trading Accounts to Verify Identity

This week the popular cryptocurrency exchange based out of Delaware, Poloniex, has issued a notice to legacy account holders. According to the exchange, all traders who use the platform must verify their identity using the company’s upgraded verification portal.

Also read: Dancing With the Devil: ‘Cashing Out’ Cryptos Into Fiat Not So Easy

Legacy Account Holders Must Verify Their Identities On Poloniex to Avoid ‘Potential Disruptions’

A while back, the cryptocurrency exchange Poloniex started to implement an identity verification process for all its new registrants. At the time legacy account holders were ‘grandfathered’ with the privilege of not being required to submit identity credentials. Now Poloniex has issued a notice to all of its users that legacy accounts will now be required to verify their identities or the unverified accounts will be closed.

“We will soon require legacy accounts to become verified through the latest version of our verification portal,” explains the U.S. exchange.

The exact date for this deadline will be announced in Q1 2018 — While you will be given advance notice before this requirement goes into effect, we encourage you to verify your legacy account now to avoid any potential interruptions in your ability to trade on the platform.

Unverified Users Will See Most of the Trading Platform’s Functionality Disabled After the Deadline

At the moment unverified legacy accounts can withdraw approximately US$2,000 worth of cryptocurrencies per day from the site. The exchange details that after a user is verified, the withdrawal limit is upgraded to a withdrawal limit of $25,000 per day. Legacy accounts that fail to comply with the verification process will see trading and lending functionality disabled, and all open orders will be closed. Withdrawals will remain enabled at the $2,000 limit up until the deadline, and deposit addresses will not function after the scheduled date. Further, the Poloniex will also close margin positions after a grace period.

“Margin positions will be given an 8-week wind-down period where they can only be diminished or closed. After the 8-week wind-down period, they will be closed,” Poloniex explains.

Poloniex is ‘Committed to Regulatory Compliance’

A lot of traders use Poloniex, and as of today, the exchange is swapping the fourth highest trade volume for BTC pairs worldwide. The platform currently allows trades for 100 digital assets, and its 24-hour trade volume is 70,174 BTC or US$1Bn according to Coinmarketcap statistics. Poloniex details that at any point its legacy users can verify their accounts and “full functionality will be restored” alongside the withdrawal increase.

“As a registered money services business, Poloniex is committed to compliance with all applicable law requiring identification and verification of its customers,” the trading platform concludes in its recent notice.

What do you think about Poloniex making legacy account holders verify their identities? Do you think soon all exchanges will be required to verify identities? Let us know what you think of this situation in the comments below.

Images via Shutterstock, and Poloniex.

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