I think this is a serious issue. Moderators, Mediators and developers should revise their stance on this. Below is my reasoning and proof.
The banks is some countries, keep a kind of blacklist/greylist of IBAN accounts. Usually these IBANs belong to Crypto Exchanges or businesses that are Crypto related. Transfers going out to these IBANs are sometimes completely blocked or in some cases monitored/reported to the authorities (tax authorities usually). People sending to the blacklisted/greylisted IBANs usually get flagged. I would not be surprised if some banks would go even further to close their clients’ accounts, based on the “evidence” that the clients sent -or tried to send- a transfer to a blacklisted IBAN.
To support my claim, I am posting below a screenshot of the bigest bank in Greece completely blocking a transfer to an IBAN belonging to Kraken. The block occurs even before the transfer is actually initiated!
For those we don’t understand Greek, here is the actual text, if you want to pass it to an online translator:
ΠΡΟΣΟΧΗ: Πιθανό πρόβλημα στην επικοινωνία. Εάν πραγματοποιήσατε συναλλαγή παρακαλούμε ελέγξτε τις κινήσεις και το υπόλοιπο του λογαριασμού σας προτού προβείτε σε επανεκτέλεσή της.
Ο ΛΟΓΑΡΙΑΣΜΟΣ DE31700222000071788512 ΕΙΝΑΙ ΜΠΛΟΚΑΡΙΣΜΕΝΟΣ
Pay special attention to the last sentence is caps where the useful information is.
We all know this is considered an IBAN discrimination and is not allowed (see h++ps://ec.europa.eu/info/law/single-euro-payments-area-regulation-eu-260-2012/monitoring-and-enforcement_en for details). But they do it nonetheless. Remember that not all countries operate with the same rules and don’t enjoy the same freedoms.
It has also come to my attention that people face similar issues when receiving SEPA transfers coming from certain IBANs, belonging to exchanges. The transfers are either delayed, blocked, returned, flagged, reported to the authorities, or a combination of these.
Why should bisq care?
Multiple reasons:
- Bisq users should have a choice to avoid the trouble their bank might cause them, when their bank flags a SEPA transfer coming in from or going out to an exchange
- Some trades will not be able to complete, since some banks are blocking SEPA transfers to Crypto exchange IBANs (case when Bisq users want to use their bank accounts to buy crypto in Bisq and they happen to have traded with an exchange without knowing it)
- Some trades will take a very long time to complete, since some banks are delaying (or blocking until you provide them extra documentation), or even just return SEPA transfers coming from Crypto exchange IBANs (case when Bisq users want to use their bank accounts to sell crypto in Bisq and happen to have traded with an exchange without knowing it)
- I expect that more banks will engage in such bad (and unlawful) behavior in the future, before things start to get better.
- Increase the number of mediation requests (and ofc unhappy users of Bisq)
What I think Bisq developers should do
Bisq should not block exchanges. Instead, request exchanges to note this information somewhere publicly visible. That way their trade counterparties will know that in advance.
It might also me a good idea to have a feedback button that users can click or fill after a trade, to privately “flag” a Bisq account as an Exchange account. If enough Bisq users “flag” an account as an Exchange account, then that information becomes visible to all other users (this might need additional consideration to not be abused).
I think Bisq developers should consider the above information and act as they think is appropriate. I expect that this forum and the information in it is monitored by the dev team. If it’s not, feel free to draw their attention to it with any means you see fit.
Edit: After posting I realized it’s an older thread >.< I don’t know if anything has changed since.