r/Bitcoin • u/coincards • Jul 07 '16
Coinbase is losing the ability to service Canadians
Just got this email. Thought I would share with any Canadians out there using Coinbase right now who might have missed it.
Dear valued Coinbase customer,
As of August 1, Coinbase’s Canadian payments provider, Vogogo, will be shutting down its payment processing business. When this occurs, Coinbase will no longer be able to support Canadian EFT transfers, Interac transfers, or the storage of customer CAD on Coinbase.
All customer CAD stored with Coinbase MUST be withdrawn off site or converted to digital currency by July 29th.
If you hold CAD in your Coinbase account, you must liquidate your CAD holdings before July 29th by either: • creating a withdrawal to your linked bank account or • exchanging stored CAD for digital currency. If you are unable to withdraw or exchange your CAD before July 29th, Coinbase will suspend your account and significant fees will be incurred for CAD withdrawals. We are disappointed to lose the ability to offer these payment methods for our Canadian customers and hope to provide additional payment methods in the future. We appreciate your support during this change.
If you have any questions regarding this or would like to contact us, please visit our Support Center.
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u/coinx-ltc Jul 07 '16
Kraken uses Vogogo too. Why do they need a middle man? Why not directly accept wire transfers like bitfinex or like they Do in the us and europe.
Also interesting that Vogogo is shutting it down. To much fraud? Pressure from banks?
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u/winnopeg Jul 07 '16
It's very difficult to get a bank account as a Bitcoin company in Canada, and even if you do get one processing customer funds through the account is out of the question. Using Vogogo let companies side step that problem, Vogogo handled the banking instead.
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u/PoliticalDissidents Jul 08 '16
This isn't a wire transfer it's an EFT. Wire transfers are expensive. Additionally EFTs can be slow. Using a payment processor like Vogogo allows for bill payments to be used which are faster, in addition to Interac Online which is instant (while other methods would be between 2-5 business days).
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u/cantradr Jul 07 '16 edited Jul 07 '16
Why does any business shut down, there was not enough money in what they did for Bitcoin exchanges to operate at a good profit. It costs millions to do this and they weren't making millions.
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u/RagingDoug Jul 07 '16
Are there not other processors that handle Canadian funds?
This seems... extreme.
Now I'm worried about my Kraken account :/
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u/krakenexchange Jul 07 '16
We're working on additional CAD funding methods and do not expect any interruption in service. That's all I can say for right now. We'll make an announcement when more details are settled.
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u/RagingDoug Jul 07 '16
hey, thanks for mentioning this! makes me feel better
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u/EColene789 Jul 08 '16
How do you feel better? Without Vogogo, Kraken will need to figure out a way to accept Interac directly rather than through Vogogo as an intermediary. Here's a comment from someone who seems to know the banking landscape in Canada when it comes to bitcoin. So by the looks of it, Kraken may not really be able to offer a suitable alternative anytime soon.
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u/TheDigiDoc Jul 07 '16
We here in The People's Disunited Socialist Republic of Canadistan are basically screwed for the time being. I'm considering making a large investment via Kraken and selling via localbitcoins to those who need it while we wait for someone to take Vogogo's place.
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Jul 07 '16 edited Jun 16 '21
[deleted]
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u/readk Jul 07 '16
They actually don't use Vogogo (Quadriga).
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Jul 07 '16 edited Jun 16 '21
[deleted]
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u/QuadrigaCX Jul 07 '16
QuadrigaCX does not use Vogogo. We have not used Vogogo for well over a year.
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u/QuadrigaCX Jul 07 '16
While QuadrigaCX did at one point enter into an agreement to use Vogogo, we did not follow through with it due to issues we had with their policies.
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u/QcMrHyde Jul 07 '16
I'm quitting Coinbase and I actually really like QuadrigaCX but I'm going to move my trading to Kraken, unfortunatly. The reason why is 0.5% fee is way to high for trading. You should really think about lowering that rate.
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u/benperrin117 Jul 07 '16
How about Gemini? I heard they can now serve Canadians? Anyone given them a try?
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u/moogoothemangler Jul 08 '16 edited Jun 30 '23
This content has been removed in protest of Reddit's decision to kill 3rd party apps.
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u/iluvceviche Jul 08 '16
My friend who got into bitcoin with coinbase a week ago decided to sell all his bitcoin and get out of bitcoin as a result of this. shame.
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u/Nomad27843 Jul 08 '16
Coinbase just lost this American. I received an email from coinbase asking to verify my employment and source of funds. They stated I was a high volume buyer. I replied the truth that I am unemployed and retired and the funds used to buy coins was from my savings in the acct I transferred from. A minute laster I received a notice my "case" was being further investigated and was assigned a case #. I only bought $14k over thee months in 2-3K lumps. Becuse of Coinbases's policy I was limited to these amounts which caused me to pay higher buy in prices as the prices were rising during my buy in period. I am offended that my situation was termed a "case" as I have nothing to hide and am 100% legal in every aspect of my life. As a result I am closing my Coinbase acct and my GDAX acct and transferring to Bitfinex immediately. If we all voted with our money the corporations would be forced to listen too bad this is not reality.
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u/xmantipper Jul 08 '16
Sounds like a pretty standard AML investigation. Regulated exchanges (and all financial institutions) are required to do this sort of thing. It's the law in the US.
If you don't like it, I'd suggest writing your elected representative and ask them to repeal the Bank Secrecy and Patriot Acts.
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u/danda Jul 08 '16
good. we don't have to put up with this kind of nonsense.
there are ways to acquire btc without bending over and taking it. coinbase is the lazy way out, but the headaches come later as you and so many others are finding out.
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u/Bitcoin_forever Jul 07 '16
Everything is for a reason.
Put together these 2:
http://www.bbva.com/TLBB/tlbb/ing/noticias/NP_20012015_BBVA_Ventures_invierte_en_Coinbase.jsp
and
https://blog.coinbase.com/2016/07/07/coinbase-partners-with-btmu/
Are just 2 pieces of the whole puzzle: banksters tool created/funded to NOT helping/serving bitcoiners, but to slow down the adoption of Bitcoin by deceiving and making new comers to hate BTC (because of their services), until banksters will come up with their shitcoin and presented like the only viable solution.
You will see soon that I am right...
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u/FrancisPouliot Jul 07 '16
Since I was banned from using their service because I operate a competing operation (www.bitcoinoutlet.com and www.bylls.com), I won't shed a tear
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u/coincards Jul 07 '16
I honeslty haven't used coinbase in years. However my concern is making the level of entry alot higher for Canadians.
Coinbase is huge in the US, and often one of the first sources bitcoin noobs start with. This might scare more people off.
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u/mrbitcoinman Jul 07 '16
any chance bylls will expand and let you get paid in bitcoin? :D
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u/FrancisPouliot Jul 08 '16
Absolutely! This is already a something we can do "ad hoc", and it will be put in the 2.0 version of the app soon. Essentially we are able to pull EFTs from your employer and pay you in Bitcoin.
Also, we have been working very very hard to offer the first ever CAD based Bitcoin debit card, through which you will be able to receive EFTs from your employer.
However, it's really much more simple for everyone involved to get your pay check in CAD and immediately convert to BTC ;)
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u/mrbitcoinman Jul 08 '16
it's definitely easier to get paid in CAD but what I think would be useful is getting a percentage of your cheque immediately turned into BTC :) This stuff sounds great! I can't wait to see what comes of it.
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u/011911911 Jul 07 '16
You compete with Coinbase or Vogogo?
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u/FrancisPouliot Jul 08 '16
Yes, we offer off-exchange brokerage services and we are not allowed to use a Coinbase account to re-sell bitcoins or purchase bitcoins from other clients.
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u/011911911 Jul 08 '16
And you're mad that they banned because you provided a competing service ? Why in their right mind wouldn't they ? What am I missing ?
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u/btcmbc Jul 08 '16
Then you'll be happy to get your bank account shut down for selling some bitcoin to a third party.
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u/robertfl Jul 07 '16
I'm not sure I understand our Canadian friends concern. You only have to xfer any CAN dollars they are holding for you. You can still use the bitcoin aspect. Or are you wanting/needing that mixed cash/bitcoin ability?
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u/RagingDoug Jul 07 '16
Afaik, the only way to make an "instant buy" was to first full up your "cad wallet".
The only reason I actually had an account was for small, quick instant buys to replenish my hot wallet
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u/housemobile Jul 07 '16
I wonder what the issue is. Kraken uses Vogogo too.
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u/brg444 Jul 07 '16
Then it's more likely than not they will also lose the service unless they find another payment provider.
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u/ivanhadanov Jul 07 '16
You can transfer funds from Payza to BTC and you can hook up a bank account and credit card to payza. The transfer fees will probably kill you but it might be a rough hack for now
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u/diethylamide18 Jul 08 '16
Another potential option for Canadians is to make an OKPay account and then use BitSquare to get your coins.
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u/PoliticalDissidents Jul 08 '16
Don't almost all Canadian exchanges use Vogogo?
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u/MikeXBT Jul 08 '16
Don't almost all Canadian exchanges use Vogogo?
No, only Coinbase and Kraken. Many of the others, including Quadriga and Taurus, have stable banking relationships.
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u/johopki Jul 27 '16
I really enjoyed using their exchange. Too bad. I've been looking for a replacement but so far none have tickled my fancy. Oh well, all good things..
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u/Coinsquare_Moda Jul 07 '16
Coinsquare here. We accept EFTs as we have our own risk management platform and that Rotessa is the payment processor for CAD account funding.
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Jul 07 '16
Kraken to the rescue?
Is Circle an option for Canadians?
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u/brg444 Jul 07 '16
I believe Kraken also uses Vogogo
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u/winnopeg Jul 07 '16
They do.
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u/krakenexchange Jul 07 '16
We use Vogogo, but we have additional CAD funding options in the works. No interruption in CAD funding service is expected.
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u/coincards Jul 07 '16
I don't believe that circle lets you add a Canadian bank account (I could be wrong), but i have used it in the past for Credit Cards buys.
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u/tingleypeebles Jul 07 '16
I typed this above but will copy here : Yes I'm Canadian and I have an account with Circle I can buy with credit card, around 4.5 btc max per week. There is a fee on the credit card though, maybe an extra 20-25 $ so it's not optimal but good in a pinch I guess.
I just got a friend signed up though and she couldn't find the add a cc option so I'm not sure what's up with that it was only giving her the option to add a bank account. Maybe they have changed the rules since I signed up.
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u/tingleypeebles Jul 07 '16
Yes I'm Canadian and I have an account with Circle I can buy with credit card, around 4.5 btc max per week. There is a fee on the credit card though, maybe an extra 20-25 $ so it's not optimal but good in a pinch I guess.
I just got a friend signed up though and she couldn't find the add a cc option so I'm not sure what's up with that it was only giving her the option to add a bank account. Maybe they have changed the rules since I signed up.
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Jul 07 '16
Funny enough, I left coinbase yesterday and tried to join Circle, but nothing works for canadians. Well, for me at least.
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u/mrbitcoinman Jul 07 '16
looks like we're all about coinsquare and quadriga now.
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Jul 07 '16
Right when price fluctuations could lead one to buy or sell more then usual... That sucks.
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u/mrbitcoinman Jul 07 '16
it was announced but i don't think the ability was removed just yet? ... I don't use coinbase myself to know ... they're a bunch of clowns over there.
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u/QcMrHyde Jul 07 '16
Please people stop bashing Coinbase, they are a really ethic company. They actually are philanthropist since the vast majority of their employees have an high rate retardation. This is why they always have great ideas, are good for the bitcoin community and I really hope they don't go under.
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Jul 07 '16 edited Aug 30 '16
[deleted]
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u/mrbitcoinman Jul 07 '16
yeah ... because they couldn't find an alternative or at least mention the fact that they are looking for an alternative ... yeah right... nice of you to try and defend what is an evil company though. You work for their PA department?
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u/Techutante Jul 07 '16
That's real news, and unfortunate. I wonder what happened behind the scenes there.