I been a customer of swan for a few years. Every time they have custody issues it impacts the overall user experience which brings me to this post today.
Recently Swan has been updating its custody provider from fortress to bakkt. During this transition Swan displays two accounts one new and one legacy. Swan sent out emails saying the monthly purchases may be put on hold but everything should be operational by Dec. 1st
A few days after getting that email I get another email from Swan saying my ACH purchase was rejected because my checking account hand insufficient funds. I think to myself this is impossible I always make sure I have just enough fiat to cover my dollar obligations so I double check and sure enough my checking has enough funds to cover the purchase. I go back and check my Swan account and my account has a random balance of $1.27?!?
Since Swan paused my DCA buy I wanted to make sure I still get my DCA in for the month of November. So I do an instant buy via ACH so my attached checking account yesterday to my new bakkt account.
I check my bank account today and I noticed my savings account has a negative balance. I check to see what it is and of course it’s from bakkt swan.com. And I am thinking to myself how in the world is this even possible?!! Swan doesn’t have the account number to my savings account and my checking account has the funds to cover the purchase! I’m beside myself!
So next thing I do is try to get some customer service from Swan so I open the chat and message them and they say it can take up to 4 business days to get a reply!!
Now I gotta deal with my bank and hopefully not be charged overdraft fees over because of swan’s poor execution.
I try and support every bitcoin business that I possibly can but I think I might shut down this account with swan if they don’t get this right.
But stackers out there let this be a lesson. Try to work with bitcoin exchanges that have strong custody tech stack like River, strike, and cash app. Dealing with swan over these last years has been a headache from time to time.
I share the instinct to do this, but you're right to consider dropping your support. We want to support bitcoin businesses through their early hiccups. We also don't want new bitcoiners having these kinds of experiences.
I'd say we should tolerate mistakes to the extent the business owns up to them and makes them right. Mistakes plus lack of accountability is a really bad combination.
The story of Swan will go down in Bitcoin history. Had a great first mover advantage, awesome marketing, celebrity and sports endorsements. Founder who had a big presence on social media. Everything going right but then they dreamed of going public and started focusing on that mission instead of what got them to the dance. Sad. Hopefully they get back on track. But let it be a lesson to all.
It makes me think of SN and while I would like SN to fly a little closer to the sun, I respect the path k00b is taking.
Yeah, organic growth that improves your current users' experience isn't flashy, but it is sustainable.
It's early, my friend! Lots left to be written :) Being a public company lends credibility to a financial services business, making it significantly more attractive to partners and clients around the world. It's a MASSIVE p.i.a., and not something I've personally ever wanted, but it's super clear that the positive impact we can have on Bitcoin adoption would be multiplied significantly if we take on that burden.
Wish you all the best. Not hating. Just an observation.
wait, closer to the sun? Wouldn't it be further away from the sun (i.e., safer, not getting consumed by hubris)?
He's only made it through the first two-thirds of the story of Icarus. Don't spoil the ending.
The CEO made a lot of noise calling out scams a couple years ago, which I don't see a problem with, but then they started having a lot of problems themselves and kind of looked bad also.
Now they are stealing our sats! Now it gets worse! See the e-mail today!
WTH… “ On or around November 22, Fortress charged Swan Personal and Entity accounts an “admin fee” for exiting to new platforms. The fee ranged from $0 up to $125 per account, deducted in USD or Bitcoin depending on account balances.” You’ve got to be kidding me. How is that legal…
It’s not getting better. I had a note to move my sats to cold storage and to be done with Swan a few weeks back, but have been busy. I use River now.
I had similar, frustrating experiences with Swan before I closed my account.
Isn't Trump's media company buying Bakkt?
If this happens, I'm out at swan. The last thing I want is a trump company holding my sats for 10 days. I was going to try strike, but when I went to link my account plaid wanted me to log in to my bank with username and password. I know strike is legit, but that was too much. I denied by river, but I'll have to try again.
Do you have to use Plaid? I received a unique Strike deposit address so I could simply deposit money into Strike using SEPA instant.
It could be different for you, but that's the service I was forwarded to.
I still wonder why people are so masochists with this shitty DCA? WHY IN THE HELL NOT ALL IN AT ONCE AND FORGET ABOUT FIAT? DCA is for pussies.
I get paid every month in fiat. I work a fiat job. This doesn’t make any sense 😆
Use Bitwage. Case closed. Live happy. https://darth-coin.github.io/beginner/be-paid-in-bitcoin-using-bitwage-en.html
Trust me every single dollar I get goes to BTC! I follow your model cold storage and spending wallets. When I need dollars I send it from my lightning wallet
This is fascinating. Any kyc?
so we don't get reckt dummy
so... pussies
I have had some frustrations like this as well.
My biggest issue is the 10 day waiting period for deposits to clear their system. It always resulted in me having to do all sorts of calculations to see which money was used to buy which sats.
It also lumped my referral commissions as a regular buy which made it difficult to calculate my income since all of those payments were lumped together.
On paper, referral payments and my DCA look the same.
Hey Jon, that waiting period dates back to our first few months after launch in 2020! Have had instant ACH settlement since November of December 2020
Not sure what you're talking about, man. I used Swan for DCA up until you guys switched to Fortress. You have had the 10 day waiting period for a lot longer than just your first few months after launch.
I just tried to make a purchase and It says it right on your website.
"Bitcoin purchases of $ 2500/month or less will be available for withdrawal after ten days."
Hey BlokhainB, we'll figure out what happened here and make it right! Flagged to support. DM me on X or email me if any issues remain. It'll be worth the move -- much better functionality on Bakkt, incl limiit orders and other features we know you want.
Working with tech support now. Been a long time customer with no issues I’m just amazed at what’s going on here
Now it gets worse! See the e-mail today! WTH…
“ On or around November 22, Fortress charged Swan Personal and Entity accounts an “admin fee” for exiting to new platforms. The fee ranged from $0 up to $125 per account, deducted in USD or Bitcoin depending on account balances.”
You’ve got to be kidding me. How is that legal…
@BlokchainB not getting better. I had a note to move my sats to cold storage and be done with Swan a few weeks back, but have been busy. I use River now.
What transactions do you see on each side? Has Swan been making unauthorized withdrawals? Or simply they they've been withdrawing from your savings account when it should have been checking?
On swan side it’s saying ACH complete from my checking act. Coins will be unlocked in about 10 days. On my bank side it’s shows pending negative balance on my savings account. Why I’m dumbfounded by this
Did they pull from checking and it overdrafted and pulled the funds from savings as overdraft protection?
Did you see their email today?
I gave up after the last custody partner fiasco and mining whatever TF that was.
The mining stuff was cool. I support more mining always.
However the drama at Swan (apparently?) has been unnecessary
Never had a problem with strike or cash app.
And it gets better!
The truth comes out!!
Seems like better service than most, at least they corrected the mistake... Good luck getting a response from other Bitcoin companies.
This is a true statement
I have always use cash app.
Robosats. Little bit more hassle, maybe. But it works, and it's not KYC.
Yeah I was on crappy exchanges, then swan, now a river. I love River plus the cash you have pays a BTC dividend as is FDIC insured. PF course I send to cold storage as well
Try River
Thankfully there are also providers like River, CashApp, Coinbits or bold.
River is great... I also moved my fiat savings account over to grab the 3.8% paid in Bitcoin.
I really should proofread my posts😅 lots of typos in this one. Drawbacks of using mobile for long from writing
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Too much work to DCA. I was DCA with bisq using money orders and it was a pain in the ass
I was a international customer at Swan until they stopped providing services for non US people. I must say coming from Swan Robosats was flawless. Particularly so if you use USD as a currency.
This is cool
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I would like to use Robosats, but if I am paying with a kyc fiat account whats the point?