cryptocurrency
My crypto exchange closed my account for no reason, how can I defend myself against it?
<p>A couple of years ago, I opened an account in <strong>Bitpanda</strong>, deeming it a serious and professional crypto exchange.</p>
<p>In the last year I haven't carried out any operations, a few days ago I decided to go back to do some trading.</p>
<p>I had to supplement my account with new personal info, selfies and photos of my passport.
All approved, so I moved to the platform, click on deposit, where I noticed that the maximum deposit I could make was 0 euros. Then I tried to make a withdrawal, but that too was disabled.</p>
<p>So I contacted the support and this is what they told me:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>After a further check by our security department, we have to
permanently close your account for security reasons. Also, it is not
possible to create a new account or reactivate an existing one.</p>
<p>Please note that we cannot provide any further information on this
decision and will not deal with any complaints about it.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The bottom line is that they actually stole my money, for no reason, as I have never done any weird transactions.</p>
<p>Even if it's little money, it seems to me an injustice. <strong>Is there anything I can do about this action?</strong></p>
<p><strong>UPDATE 2 JAN 2023</strong></p>
<p>On December 29th, I opened a dispute and after 4 days with no response, I look at my ticket directly on the website, so what a surprise when I saw that my dispute was closed without any reason.</p>

<ol>
<li><strong>Think through what really happened.</strong><br />
You are using terms like fraud, while they <em>may</em> be thinking they're doing fraud protection, or otherwise following laws and regulations. You wrote that you didn't use it for a long time, could the credentials have been compromised?<br />
It sounds highly implausible that a platform would defraud a <em>single</em> user. Either there are many more people with similar stories, or your claim is a bit suspect.</li>
<li><strong>Think about what your goal is.</strong><br />
Reactivating the account, or getting the balance back? Is the balance big enough to spend time and money?</li>
<li><strong>Check with which legal entity you have a contract.</strong><br />
AFAIK BitPanda is Austrian, so they cannot refuse a GDPR information request on what they have about <em>you</em> all that easily. Consider communication in writing, by registered mail.</li>
</ol>

<blockquote>
<p>My crypto exchange closed my account for no reason, how can I defend myself against such a fraud?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Since you <a href="https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/87674/my-crypto-exchange-closed-my-account-for-no-reason-how-can-i-defend-myself-agai?noredirect=1#comment196668_87674">cannot find the contract</a>, it is unclear how exactly to proceed (at least for someone not enough knowledgeable on the matter) or the <em>competent authority</em> in the jurisdiction (Member State) at issue. But article 5.3 of the <a href="https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=celex%3A32002L0065" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Directive 2002/65/EC</a> provides:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>At any time during the contractual relationship the consumer is
entitled, at his request, to receive the contractual terms and
conditions on paper.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The exchange's response suggests that it terminated your contract despite your compliance with its requests for further information. That conduct appears to be elusive of its duty pursuant to art. 5.3 and other obligations.</p>
<p>The European Securities and Markets Authority has a brief guideline on <a href="https://www.esma.europa.eu/investor-corner/file-complaint" rel="nofollow noreferrer">filing a complaint</a>. In case that the exchange qualifies(?) as &quot;trade repository&quot; <a href="https://www.esma.europa.eu/supervision/trade-repositories" rel="nofollow noreferrer">see this link</a>. That being said, on most issues the ESMA ultimately directs clients to the Member State's <em>competent authority</em>.</p>
<p>Article 95 of the <a href="https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52020PC0593" rel="nofollow noreferrer">MICA draft</a> alludes to the publication of decisions regarding complaints against financial entities. Although it is still a draft, this provision is no different from enactments on other topics (financial and otherwise). Some research on decisions from the applicable jurisdiction likely will give guidance on how to proceed, since [quasi-]judicial publications often provide some procedural background of the controversy being decided.</p>
<p>Regardless of whether or not the matter presents all the elements of <em>fraud</em>, the scenario you describe sounds in --at least-- <em>breach of contract</em>.</p>
