Be Warned: Strike will refuse to delete your personal info after rejecting you
276 sats \ 6 comments \ @satoshisat 4 Apr 2023 bitcoin
Against my better judgement I decided to apply for a Strike account and provided more personal info than I've ever provided to any company (SSN, Drivers License pictures, picture of my face, address, phone number, etc). My account creation application was denied without any reason or request for more info.
When I sent them an email to inquire, they responded with "Your request was denied as we were unable to authenticate your account." I asked what more info they would need to "authenticate" me since, as stated previously, I provided more info than I've ever provided any company. I also requested that if they would not budge on the denial of my application that I would like to formally request that they delete all of the personal information I provided from their systems. To this deletion request they responded with the following: "At this time, we have determined that we are unable to fulfill your request. We currently continue to maintain information collected in regards to your account, as it is restricted from deletion by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA). Please note that we maintain this information only for as long as required or permitted by applicable laws, including the GLBA, and only as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which we collected it. We will delete this information after that time has passed, as required by applicable laws."
The whole thing seemed scammy to me to begin with and I should've known better than to provided so much personal info but I guess I fell for how popular Strike seems to be in the Bitcoin community. At this point I'm preparing myself for identity theft and have frozen my credit. Let this be a warning to anyone that may be thinking of getting a Strike account. I'm contemplating hiring a lawyer to get them to delete my information. This is ridiculous.
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15 sats \ 1 reply \ @wxcbhwdishymdjjclh 4 Apr 2023 freebie
Strike has plenty you could criticize about, but this is not the hill you want to die on. Ex employee here. I will not verify that claim.
Strike is required by law to retain financial data in order to be KYC compliant. The email you got explains this clearly.
This is unfortunately, not up to Strike. You have to provide KYC data and if you are being rejected it is because you have either:
  • Attempted to create multiple accounts
  • Are flagged by Prime Trust as too high risk
  • Have committed fraud on other platforms that use Prime Trust
  • Have provided false, inaccurate or clearly doctored identity info
  • Live at an address that is not residential (Long stay hotels do not count. The address must legally be RESIDENTIAL)
Do not drag Strike through the mud just because you couldn't get an account and then couldn't even be bothered to read the email explaining this is in compliance with Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.
My advice is to not use any platform that relies on Prime Trust. River Financial is my choice. Freeze your credit but also understand River Finanical requires KYC data and will retain it if you request your account to be deleted.
Strike does NOT want to retain this data. The liability risk is way too high. Technically, Prime Trust custody this data but its still a massive pain in the ass with no real benefit. If they do not retain this data for a set number of years the United States government will shut their shit down in a heartbeat.
Strike does not sell the data, and their TOS explains this. If Prime Trust gets hacked, you're not only going to see data from Strike but every exchange that uses Prime Trust to custody KYC data. Which is a lot.
Your data will be removed after it is no longer required to be retained. Educate yourself on law and know your battles.
A lawyer will laugh you out of the office or grift you out of money. You will get similar responses from most regulated exchanges if you close and request your data to be removed.
Data privacy laws in America are a joke. If you want to fight this fight, advocate for the constitution to be amended to include data privacy rights.
Go ahead and open an account on Bitcointalk.org and then request for the data to be deleted. They wont even though there is no legal obligation one way or the other.
Don't make the mistake of assuming your best interests are guarded just because these companies are "Bitcoin only" or market themselves with any sort of moral good because they are built from the community.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @satoshisat OP 5 Apr 2023
Appreciate the detailed response.
I stand by my position that others should be warned of Strike's shady ways.
To address your bullet points:
  • I've never created a Strike account before
  • Not sure what Prime Trust considers too high risk so this one is always possible but based on the information they could gather from the information I provided, I cannot foresee anything being a red flag
  • I've never committed fraud
  • Didn't provide false, inaccurate, or clearly doctored identity info. If I had, I wouldn't be so pissed
  • I live in a residential address
Never have I been denied by any financial institution so for them to gather all of this data and then deny without chance for appeal or to provide more information in order for Strike to be able to "authenticate my account" is shady AF.
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5 sats \ 0 replies \ @franzap 4 Apr 2023
I wouldn't go so far as fearing identity theft but they definitely crossed a line, I feel the betrayal brother. Makes us honest working people treated like criminals. Fuck KYC.
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3 sats \ 0 replies \ @kepford 4 Apr 2023
Sorry this happened to you.
For others(USA), you should keep your credit frozen all the time. You can temporarily unfreeze when needed.
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1 sat \ 1 reply \ @franzap 4 Apr 2023
KYC onramps deserve to die. They are very convenient but we need to swallow the bitter pill, the sooner the better. Operation Chokepoint I hope they go hard and succeed.
Price will suffer but we're better off in the long run. This will force an explosion in non-KYC marketplaces and people will have no choice but stack privately.
@satoshisat did you try an (almost) non-kyc option such as relai.app? https://support.relai.app/en/articles/5663851-what-are-the-limits-for-buying-and-selling-bitcoin
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @satoshisat OP 4 Apr 2023
Honestly, I don't need a KYC on ramp. The only reason I applied for a Strike account was to be able more easily transact with others that have Strike such as on Bisq. I stack my sats nonKYC which is why I began my post with "Against my better judgment"
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