Prime Trust out at Swan, and other changes
2491 sats \ 16 comments \ @siggy47 30 May 2023 bitcoin
I received an email from Swan telling me that Prime Trust will no longer be the custodian of my account.
The email contained a link to this new faq changes at Swan.
Some of the changes sound good. I know nothing about the new custodian.
Opinions from people with some insight?
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10 sats \ 2 replies \ @ChrisLAS 30 May 2023
It seems good at first pass, but I get the impression they are moving really fast.
The first heads-up we got was 2 days before the email telling us its happening now and that our DCA will be paused for an undefined amount of time.
The email also tells us to log in, accept the change, and withdraw our BTC. But when you login, they don't have it ready to accept the change. A Twitter update suggests that it should be available by tomorrow.
Then it seems once we can agree/accept the change, we have just a few days to do it before they close our account.
I know they have been looking into Prime Trust alternatives since at least January, but a few things about this transition feel really rushed.
(Which is fine. These things happen. I would like some more transparency)*
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60 sats \ 1 reply \ @siggy47 OP 30 May 2023
The rushed aspect has me concerned. I'm probably going to withdraw my btc, which isn't much, and let them close my account. I may not have a choice anyway. I have a NY account, which was grandfathered in and allowed to remain open after they stopped serving NY State. The proviso was, if I'm not mistaken, that I couldn't change bank info. I bet I wouldn't be allowed to create a new account right now anyway.
That's okay. I need a good kick in the ass to go full non-kyc anyway.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @aoeu 31 May 2023
It all does feel a little rushed to me too. However, you should already be withdrawing your btc to cold storage. This is what they recommend from day 1. They do not want you to keep anything with the custodian. The one exception to this is if you have an IRA with them. Then you have to keep it at the custodian. I withdraw regularly and then mix in combo of whirlpool on Sparrow and joinmarket.
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @DiracDelta 30 May 2023
What else do you expect from a company that hires 10 marketing and sales people for every engineer, is run by someone who was actively giving talks pumping shitcoins in 2019, and employees people who were shitcoining hard in 2020. 🤷‍♂️
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30 sats \ 6 replies \ @benthecarman 30 May 2023
No reason to use them over river anyways
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0 sats \ 5 replies \ @siggy47 OP 30 May 2023
Unless you live in New York. River doesn't have a bitlicense.
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0 sats \ 2 replies \ @mudbloodvonfrei 30 May 2023
WTF is a bitlicense?
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0 sats \ 1 reply \ @siggy47 OP 30 May 2023
So you really want to know? https://www.dfs.ny.gov/virtual_currency_businesses
Only in NY.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @mudbloodvonfrei 30 May 2023
I'm speechless..
And.. seriously.. 2015? They knew about bitcoin in 2015? Lucky bastards.. To be fair, I'd heard of it around 2013 but I didn't take the five minutes necessary to understand that it has more use cases than drug trafficking.
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0 sats \ 1 reply \ @benthecarman 30 May 2023
neither does swan
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319 sats \ 0 replies \ @siggy47 OP 30 May 2023
Correct. The reason I am at Swan (for now) is that I had an account before they ceased operating in NY. I was grandfathered in and allowed to use my account, but I could not switch my bank, or at least that's what I remember. I'm wondering now whether the events of the past few days mean that all NY accounts will be closed. I've decided to stop dca ing with Swan anymore anyway, as I said on a prior response.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @siggy47 OP 31 May 2023
If anyone is still interested in this saga, I got an email last night from Swan:
Thank you for your response.
We are eagerly anticipating the availability of selling, purchasing, and withdrawals on our platform. Currently, we are awaiting updates from our team regarding the progress of the migration. Once the migration is successfully completed, we will promptly notify you.
We are hoping for later today, and are standing by. If we don't hear from our team working on migration, the ETA is looking like later this week.
Thank you for your understanding and patience.
I have personally put your name on the withdrawal list for priority.
Luckily I don't dca much with Swan anyway anymore, and I never leave any sats on there past the day the funds clear anyway, so I'm not facing a big hit. It's just a good lesson and incentive, as I said before, to go full no kyc. I traded trust in a third party and kyc for convenience.
Pure laziness. I knew better.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @gnilma 31 May 2023
Why use KYC exchanges in the first place? If you have coins with them, take them off the exchange into self custody and put them through coin join to protect your future privacy.
If you don’t earn in bitcoin and rely on buying it with fiat, use a non KYC service. Anonymity and privacy is paramount, especially when it comes to a public ledger like bitcoin. Once your identity is tied to your coins, all your past, present, and future transactions can and will be tracked unless you obfuscate the tracking through coin join… but that only protects your privacy going forwards, your ownership of the amount of KYC coins are still known.
Stop using KYC services and protect your privacy.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @DiracDelta 30 May 2023
They have provided ZERO information as to where they will get liquidity, which could still be Prime Trust. Disappointed to see that, along with the surprise, sudden change rather than warning customers.
But what can you expect from a company that screwed its customers by not making them whole after allowing one of their subcontractors to scalp egregious 10% spreads... but that's the quality of the "bitcoin industry" for you.
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0 sats \ 1 reply \ @siggy47 OP 30 May 2023
I'm trying to get my last sats off of the exchange. The transaction is not proceeding as usual. Swan's process is strange anyway, because you can only withdraw during Prime Trust's normal business hours. That always bugged me. Usually I get a confirmation once Prime receives the transaction. It's been over an hour now with no confirmation. There was a notice on the site that transactions will be delayed and I was instructed to contact customer service. I did and now I wait....
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @DiracDelta 30 May 2023
Lol, you can't withdraw 24/7, such a shit company. Bitcoiners are pathetic. Such incompetence is arguably worse than shitcoinery.
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