Cryptsy incompetence

There are some strong indicators to suggest that Cryptsy are doing an exit scam. Since I personally have 3 BTC worth of coins riding on whether it’s a scam or not, I would be very happy to find out I was wrong.

- Most users aren’t able to withdraw BTC, Ethereum and most other altcoins (the first two are own experience, the latter claim is based on watching complaints for hours in the chat box from different users).

- Support doesn’t ever provide a timeframe for fixing the issue, but they’re always quick to cancel pending withdrawals on request. The user then ends up doing another trade for another altcoin (paying further fees), which also gets stuck.

- My first attempt to withdraw Ethereum failed, I had to ask support to cancel it after days (hoping I could make several smaller withdrawals - as suggested by them).

- I currently have 3 Ethereum withdrawals marked complete, neither of the 3 TXIDs are visible on the network. Sending a transaction out is not a complicated technical task, so the most likely reason for this phenomenon is that they generated a transaction the network didn’t accept (trying to spend coins that aren’t there?).

- My BTC withdrawal has been pending for days.

- It is reported that very small withdrawals go through for some users.

- A mod (JShock) in the chat box made a statement that users openly worried about ever getting their coins back are ‘drama queens’. I estimate 90% of users using the chat box are there seeking advice on coins they can’t withdraw.

- If you mention the words ‘scam site’ (in any context, referring to anything) it gets censored as ‘xxxxxxxx’.

- BigVern posted a tweet days ago about fixing the issues, but more and more people are complaining still. My withdrawal issues haven’t been fixed, either.

- Most importantly: Cryptsy have been aware of withdrawal issues affecting most users for at least a month now. They have been advised multiple times to either disable deposits (stop showing deposit addresses) or at the very least post a warning on the front page about the isues.

They are not doing it.

And this is the part that nails the coffin, so to speak. Being unable to return money to users after weeks - maybe grossly incompetent. Knowingly accepting further deposits when several users have been waiting for weeks is deliberate and in my opinion approaching criminal.

On the few rare occasions that BitBargain had wallet issues that likely delayed withdrawals for over 30 minutes, I always enabled ‘maintenance mode’ - which prevents trading temporarily. There’s nothing more disappointing than a site taking your money and then holding back on coins. Any sane business would rather have customers go to a competitor than give them a bad experience such as this. So why does Cryptsy prefer that users keep depositing money? Why not just disable deposits, fix the problem and then come back online? And let’s be real anyway, how could a withdrawal not be fixed for weeks?

Word of advice: even if withdrawals ever get processed on Cryptsy, do not make the same mistake again. NEVER DEPOSIT COINS ON CRYPTSY. Never trust a site run by the same people. Learn your lesson.

Good thing they’re a FinCEN approved, licenced MSB. That certainly was the necessary barrier of entry to ensure a professional service…

If you just want to convert one coin to another,  try ShapeShift.IO instead. I’ve had a very smooth buying experience there. Sure, it’s not an exchange, but we’ll have better exchanges. But first we have to take out the trash…

Update (18th of December 2015): my Ether withdrawals have gone through. I have still lost at least 40% on altcoin conversions, trading fees and withdrawal fees after giving up and rushing to get my money out as soon as possible. Cryptsy: never again.

Update (28th of December 2015): my 0.1 BTC withdrawal has been processed finally. Of course I didn’t get the full 0.1 BTC, even though I ticked ‘use free withdrawal’ I only got 0.09-something.

Update (14th of January 2016): Cryptsy was hacked. They kept it quiet all this time but just made it public. 10k BTC, 100k LTC missing from cold wallets. An altcoin is blamed. The article about withdrawal problems is blamed. Their own incompetence is not. They are kindly asking the hacker to return the coins, threatening with legal action.

http://blog.bitbargain.com/post/137339826192/cryptsy-hacked