[Update: Bankruptcy Filed] BlockFi Pausing Withdrawals

Update 11/28/22: BlockFi has now announced Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Original post: BlockFi has announced that it is suspending operations (including withdrawals) due to the situation surrounding FTX & Alameda. Some readers will have BlockFi accounts due to the various promotions previously offered. Hopefully readers have withdrawn funds once the bonus had posted.

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Jack
Jack (@guest_1499325)
December 1, 2022 06:41

Can I still make deposits at least?

Sunshine
Sunshine (@guest_1497794)
November 29, 2022 02:07

Anyone know if USD on Coinbase is 100% safe?

I got rid of all my crypto.. but I still keep a few hundred USD on Coinbase in case I need to buy some crypto quickly to send.

Another Jeff
Another Jeff (@guest_1497850)
November 29, 2022 07:09

Who knows? Do your part to help bankrupt Coinbase!

Josh
Josh (@guest_1497753)
November 29, 2022 00:11

Is my stock money safe in sofi?

FJBiden
FJBiden (@guest_1501529)
December 3, 2022 23:40

Terrible bank, I would never trust them.

Harcourt Fenton Mudd
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (@guest_1497577)
November 28, 2022 17:54

Why isn’t Sam behind bars right now?

cu
cu (@guest_1497633)
November 28, 2022 19:14

He is the second largest donor to the democrat party, second only to Soros, so the corruption runs deep.

Ash
Ash (@guest_1497766)
November 29, 2022 00:48
  cu

Hey CU, SBF directly donated to democrats, his CFO donated almost an equal amount to the reds.

J2
J2 (@guest_1497790)
November 29, 2022 02:01

Nuff
Nuff (@guest_1498080)
November 29, 2022 15:16

35.9 million to democrats and 21.6 million to republicans. I wouldn’t call that an “almost equal” amount, but they did contribute to both.

Yukun
Yukun (@guest_1497711)
November 28, 2022 22:18

Well, for one thing, he’s in the Bahamas. Which isn’t the United States. Being arrested also requires one to be charged with a crime. Which hasn’t happened.

jim crypto
jim crypto (@guest_1497805)
November 29, 2022 02:37

imo being in the crypto business is a crime. might as well be human trafficking. same moral level .

ymmv
ymmv (@guest_1497992)
November 29, 2022 13:10

lol sorry about your brain

Hadah
Hadah (@guest_1497754)
November 29, 2022 00:11

He is well connected.

Xatos
Xatos (@guest_1498272)
November 29, 2022 20:40

^Which is precisely the problem with some individuals…

jay
jay (@guest_1497554)
November 28, 2022 17:19

Buy a Trezor or Ledger or Cold Card. Crypto is not meant to be held by centralized exchanges. You are supposed to take control of your own money. Be your own bank.

Andy
Andy (@guest_1497771)
November 29, 2022 01:06

Or just use real money.

Gaga
Gaga (@guest_1497795)
November 29, 2022 02:10

Until you lose the Trevor or misplace the key

Hadah
Hadah (@guest_1497814)
November 29, 2022 03:24

Okay but how does one “take control of your own money” when that money can be up 100% one year and down 80% the next year. That isn’t even the realm of “control”.

It’s like being locked into a mortgage that is $200 a month in January but $20,000 a month in December. Then thinking your in control because your name is signed on the mortgage agreement.

jd
jd (@guest_1497830)
November 29, 2022 05:06

He’s talking about literally controlling it, like the equivalent of stuffing money under your mattress or burying it in your yard. Just don’t hide it in a coffee can and then throw it out with the trash like that one guy did with his hard drive.

K.M.
K.M. (@guest_1497497)
November 28, 2022 16:14

is there cold storage software for a computer? or is cold storage only a device like a usb stick?

sg77
sg77 (@guest_1497524)
November 28, 2022 16:42

You can use software on a regular computer as a cold wallet, if it’s a separate computer that you never connect to the internet. But that’s inconvenient for transactions. The advantage of hardware wallets like Trezor is that transactions are easier while still giving good protection.

(Or, even using software on an internet-connected computer (a hot wallet) would be safer in some ways than leaving your money on an exchange, but then you have the risk of being hacked/malware.)

Tim
Tim (@guest_1497588)
November 28, 2022 18:07

If you don’t have a lot of crypto holdings, a phone app crypto wallet is safe enough. At least it is for me. For iOS, the Edge wallet is well liked.

TDD
TDD (@guest_1497457)
November 28, 2022 15:30

OK serious question. It seems like each of these “established” crypto exchanges are falling. Everyone is questioning the health of PUBLICLY TRADED Coinbase. Lets just assume for a moment that they will have a problem. For those of us with some money in Coinbase, but wish to hold on to the crypto in an exchange (as opposed to cold storage) where should we move the crypto? One of the many healthy Fintech banks offering crypto trades (CashApp, Sofi, RobinHood, WeBull)?

Ashley
Ashley (@guest_1497469)
November 28, 2022 15:44

Ideally you have a cold wallet that you hold your crypto on outside of exchanges

Sam F.
Sam F. (@guest_1497632)
November 28, 2022 19:12

Does the Coinbase Wallet count?

Jack
Jack (@guest_1497661)
November 28, 2022 20:25

That’s not a cold wallet… That’s a hot wallet.

NoFi
NoFi (@guest_1497679)
November 28, 2022 20:56

Meanwhile blockfi wallets are smoking, sizzling, deep-fried wallets

jim crypto
jim crypto (@guest_1497801)
November 29, 2022 02:35

Ideally, you hold no crypto, its junk

Elliot
Elliot (@guest_1497473)
November 28, 2022 15:49

I would not suggest keeping any crypto in any centralized exchange for longer than is needed for a transaction. Treat CEX’s like public restrooms: go in, do business, get out.

Google “hot wallets” if you don’t want to use a Ledger or Trezor for cold storage. There are a lot of options available but off the top of my head look at Metamask, Brave, Trust, Coinbase Wallet, Exodus, etc

Jb
Jb (@guest_1497738)
November 28, 2022 23:26

Mac is that you?

Joh
Joh (@guest_1497475)
November 28, 2022 15:51

Those entities primarily hold crypto through clearing agents. Tmk none have the capibility to custody crypto that wasnt directly purchased on their respective platforms.

sg77
sg77 (@guest_1497511)
November 28, 2022 16:30

Cash App can send/receive bitcoin. I think Robinhood now can too. (But still, I wouldn’t want to leave large amounts there.)

Swastik Agrawal
Swastik Agrawal (@guest_1497477)
November 28, 2022 15:51

None of these FinTech banks are better than Coinbase in any way

Papalo Fritólo
Papalo Fritólo (@guest_1497492)
November 28, 2022 16:08

Why would you want to hold crypto? Cats outta the bag now. It’s lame.

jim crypto
jim crypto (@guest_1497802)
November 29, 2022 02:35

always was lame, its just that they found buyers that were even lamer

Peek
Peek (@guest_1497494)
November 28, 2022 16:11

After seeing exchange after exchange fail (Voyager, Celsius, FTX and now BlockFi) I would expect no exchange is safe. The small amount of crypto I still hold is in a cold wallet other than a tiny amount I got for free from Alto that’s in an IRA on their platform. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Gemini or even Coinbase fail at this point. Either get it moved to a wallet or cash it to a more traditional investment like an ETF in a brokerage account. No exchange is safe.

sg77
sg77 (@guest_1497591)
November 28, 2022 18:12

Voyager/Celsius/BlockFi were a separate category; they explicitly said they were lending out your crypto and you might not get it back. FTX was different since they claimed to not lend out your money; the issue there is fraud or negligence. But FTX always seemed shady, and wasn’t subject to much regulation.

Coinbase and Gemini I would at least trust more than those other companies. Maybe Gemini is safest since they’re a “trust company”, a “fiduciary”, and “Qualified Custodian”, that are supposedly subject to a bunch of regulations. (Gemini had the “Earn” feature that lent out your crypto, but only for people who opted in to that; theoretically the failure of Earn shouldn’t affect other Gemini customers, though there’s still a risk that the company was lying to regulators.)

Peek
Peek (@guest_1497628)
November 28, 2022 19:08

This is true, Gemini and Coinbase are the only two that can operate in NY AFAIK. They are still exchanges though which means they are centralized, going against the whole idea of crypto. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out and who is left standing.

Harcourt Fenton Mudd
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (@guest_1497575)
November 28, 2022 17:53

don’t know of any

B
B (@guest_1498266)
November 29, 2022 20:36

The pure exchange ones might be safer than the lenders.

If you hold mainstream ones you can also consider using CFTC regulated futures to track them.
There will be additional costs, tax consequences and you may need to keep rolling them to maintain exposure.
But this should be much safer than any fintech or crypto exchanges due to CFTC. More so because the margin you put up is just a small % of the notional value and it is difficult to lose more than that. (if you think losing 40% sounds terrible, ask the BlockFI bag holders would they like 60% back?)

DaveIgnacio
DaveIgnacio (@guest_1497450)
November 28, 2022 15:23

Still waiting for the Solana and Tether rug pulls. Will bring BTC down to 5-6K

John M
John M (@guest_1497447)
November 28, 2022 15:21

The 3% in my savings is looking better and better.

Ashley
Ashley (@guest_1497470)
November 28, 2022 15:45

Especially with that sweet Ally 1% bonus,

Josh
Josh (@guest_1497751)
November 29, 2022 00:09

Hmm?

The Man
The Man (@guest_1497441)
November 28, 2022 15:13

Welp.. there guys the 4k I had in Blockfi… Last year around the same time worth 13k.. should’ve got out.
Serious question though, any chance I will see that?

Steve
Steve (@guest_1497445)
November 28, 2022 15:16

Honestly, the best case is cents on the dollar. That is the ‘best’ case.

John
John (@guest_1497478)
November 28, 2022 15:52

Unless someone decides to “save” crypto again dont look forward to anything but air.

Naddi
Naddi (@guest_1497618)
November 28, 2022 19:01

You never had $13k. You always had $0 all along. It’s only now that it’s properly marked to market.