Custody and cash · 22 / 86 · 3 min
KYC, freezes, and withdrawals
Know-your-customer checks are how a firm ties an account to a person. They are also how an account gets stuck. A freeze is the firm using its power to stop the money.
Documents are not a seed. A real check never asks for the seed to unlock a withdrawal.
A worked case
A withdrawal is large, so the firm asks for more documents. A stranger in chat says they are support and asks for the seed to speed it up. The freeze was the firm. The seed request is the theft.
Why it locks
A name mismatch, a large withdrawal, a deposit from a service they dislike, or a review queue. You may not get a clear reason on the day.
Plain language
Documents are not a seed. Never send a seed to pass a check. A real check asks for identity papers through the site you opened yourself.
If you need the money on a date, do not leave that withdrawal for the night before.
The freeze is the firm. The seed request is the thief.
Know-your-customer checks tie an account to a person. They are also how an account gets stuck. A name that does not match a bank payment, a large withdrawal, a deposit from a service the firm dislikes, or a queue: any of these can pause you. You may not get a clear reason on the day. The firm is using the power that comes with holding the money. That power is the product you bought when you left the coins there.
The second crime arrives in the pause. Fake support contacts the customer and asks for a seed phrase, a remote-control session, or a code, to speed the review up. Real reviews ask for identity papers through the site you opened yourself. They do not ask for the words that move every wallet you have. The 2020 Ledger leak is a useful companion: once a list of customers exists, the phishing does not stop when the news does.
If you need the money on a date, do not discover the queue the night before. And never send a seed to unlock a withdrawal. The withdrawal is stuck because they have your coins. The seed would give a stranger every other coin as well.
Read it yourself
These links are the record. They are not a recommendation, and they are not instructions. A news story or a court paper can still be wrong about a detail. The check does not change because a famous name is in the story.
Apply the check
Open a question. The line is about this topic. It is not a verdict that anything is safe.
The firm, which keeps the deposit while it reviews.
The firm's compliance desk.
The firm. A seed sent to a stranger lets the stranger do it instead.
Check yourself
Can an exchange stop a withdrawal after KYC was approved?
Yes. Approval is not a promise that every future withdrawal clears.
After this you can expect a firm to be able to pause a withdrawal, and never send a seed to unlock one.