BPH bank suspended Polish Bitcoin Exchange BitMarket.pl’s accounts.At first, BPH had said that the suspension was a result of a technical problem but admitted the real reason later.
The bank claimed that they closed the account because the exchange had outstanding debt and lack of credentials.BitMarket.pl informed that it realized on 26th January that its BPH accounts were closed.Michal Pleban, founder of BitMarket.pl, said in an interview that the reason provided by the bank was not the real one. According to him, the bank took such a decision because it was prompted by a query filed by the Polish district attorney’s office.
The query filing was about a specific transaction conducted on the exchange which allegedly transferred stolen funds. He stated, “For that reason, the bank decided to close all our accounts and refuse our business.”Pleban also complained that no notification was sent to the exchange from the bank or any other authorities, before abruptly shutting the bank accounts.He mentioned he was unable to view the query, which eventually provoked the bank to freeze BitMarket.
pl’s accounts with BPH.Pleban added that BPH’s compliance team made a big mistake by closing the accounts before disconnecting the IT connector.This led to the transactions being channeled to the accounts which have been disabled already. The bank assured that the transactions would be returned to the senders ultimately.
When BPH was contacted for more information on the issue, the bank did not respond. CEO of the Polish bitcoin exchange, Pleban, stated that the team decided to create another company to take BitMarket.pl’s ownership.He also shared that they are thinking about opening a new account with another local bank.
He stressed that his exchange is trying to normalize operations. He said, “This should take no more than two weeks. In the meantime, we have re-enabled electronic fiat transfers which will be warehoused at the payment processor until a new bank account is opened.We also re-enabled crypto deposits, and all withdrawals are performed normally from my own personal account. Normal (non-electronic) fiat transfers will be re-enabled once a new bank account is established.
”Pleban is also considering the possibility of taking legal actions against the bank. His lawyer is already preparing all the necessary paperwork.The exchange is clearly disappointed by the sudden closure of their bank account and will take actions soon.In the meantime, they are finding another bank to continue operations. He said, “I am currently on a quest to find a bitcoin-friendly bank in Poland.
”BitMarket.pl was launched in March of 2014. The Polish exchange had promised to offer superior security after the industry had experienced a range of attacks on different local exchanges.The exchange has successfully served for almost a year now. It is disappointing that BPH shut its accounts without any explanation or notification.
