A few days ago I was amazed to find out that my Binance.com account was restricted to withdraw-only. When I tried to exchange spot currency, Binance kept redirecting me to account verification, which subsequently could not be done because the controls were locked. However, I successfully completed the verification about six months ago, when I opened my account.

This was very disturbing because my wallet contained about 1200 BUSD, which is a currency that is not as widely accepted as BTC or ETH. Without the ability of  exchange, the withdraw choices were limited.

Quite quickly I found a tutorial on how to make a video where the user has to read the text Today is blah blah date, I’m applying to unlock my account…, which I found somewhat humiliating – with my ID in hand I felt like a convict in a photo shoot. Then followed a search for a procedure to actually deliver the video to Binance. I found that the only option was chat. This can be accessed from the footer of the site, using the Support > Submit a request link.

After submitting the link to the video, I received an unpleasant reply, and I quote:

Dear User,
After careful consideration, it’s determined that the original outcome should be upheld. Unfortunately we are unable to release any information at this moment without a formal request such as a subpoena from a government or law enforcement agency. We understand that this might not be what you’d hoped for, but we came to this outcome based on our Terms of Use, Internal Policy and risk assessment.
It’s with great sorrow, that we inform you that we won’t be able to offer you additional support on this topic.
If you need more information on our terms of use: https://www.binance.com/en/terms
We wish you nonetheless all the best in your endeavors.

After three hours of intermittent chat, I found that the effort was futile, that the account remained limited and that the exchange from BUSD to ETH within Binance was impenetrable. When asked why my account was restricted and if it would be unlocked again in time, I received only another variant of the same answer:

Dear user, We need to inform you that unfortunately, we can’t offer you Binance services anymore – either due to an internal risk assessment or a geographic restriction. We are not able to share any details about this decision but the decision is final. We are sorry for the inconvenience. Thank you for your patience and understanding in this matter.

I think they should have at least sent me an email in advance to give me time to take the necessary action. But I only received the notification in the form of a message that is only visible after logging into the app and clicking the bell, which I haven’t logged into in about a month. With this move, the Binance platform lost all trust with me.

Fortunately, I found a way how to convert  BUSD to ETH externally, but that is not a subject of this article.

So I quit Binance, involuntarily, but what can one do. I got the money out of them somehow, and I guess I’ll never know the real reasons behind the account limitation. Fuck it, life goes on… Be safe!