Underage User Breaking Exchange ToS Loses Majority of Bitcoin Balance

Breaking the Terms of Service of any financial platform can lead to account termination, and this is no different in the world of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. One Reddit user had his 1Btcxe account suspended for being an underage user when the company asked for additional verification. Moreover, they froze a lot of funds as a result, which is rather unexpected.

The Struggle of Underage Bitcoin Users

According to the information this particular Reddit user provided, 1Btcxe froze his account containing a total of 21.9 Bitcoin. This person used that particular platform for trading for quite some time, and never faced any issues. That was until the company asked for additional documents to verify his identity, which they are entitled to do at any given time.

As it turns out, this person is only 16 years old, which makes it illegal for him to trade Bitcoin against USD on this platform, as it is a clear violation of their TOS. 1Btcxe Demands all users be at last 18 years of age when dealing with Bitcoin and fiat currency trades, in accordance with local regulation and legislation.

In the end, the user retrieved 3 Bitcoin from his 21.9 BTC balance on the exchange,  and the rest of the money was never heard from again. This has some people quite upset, as exchange should not make money unavailable to its users. Then again, people who store their Bitcoins on an exchange platform, especially knowing they are underage and breaking TOS, will not get much sympathy from these companies.

That being said, there is the question of how Bitcoin exchange platforms such as 1Btcxe deal with these types of issues. Should every platform initiate identity verification procedures from the moment people sign up to the platform, rather than doing random security checks when user volume passes a certain threshold?

Moreover, what about Bitcoin users who are under the legal age? Converting funds to and from fiat currency will be all but impossible for them, due to companies requiring users to be 18 years or older. Using a custodian to manage funds would mean giving up full financial control while creating a trust issue as well. Some solution has to be found sooner or later for underage Bitcoin users.

Source: Reddit

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