2023-12-11 19:07:58
There was bitcoin, there is no bitcoin. More and more outraged users are reporting that their Bitcoins stored on Wirex have simply turned into fog. The platform refers to the user terms and conditions, and clients are puzzled by the often multi-million HUF management costs. Are customers being careless or are Wirex playing tricks?
More and more Hungarian crypto users are contacting us or complaining on social media platforms about the fact that their bitcoin stored on Wirex disappeared overnight. In most cases, it is not a matter of a few zatos, but even millions of forints worth of cryptocurrency. The first thing that comes to mind for many is the cyber attack, but the situation is that the money is deducted by Wirex as storage costs. But how is this possible? The key word is inactivity.
Many people – including many Hungarians – keep their money as HODL on Wirex and do not move it. He doesn’t initiate any transactions, he doesn’t pay anywhere with the card that can be applied for the account, since he thinks of bitcoin as a long-term investment. The catch is that neither Wirex nor other centralized exchanges should hold large sums, especially not in the long term. Anything can happen, see the collapse of FTX, a possible cyber attack, and then we haven’t even talked about the service providers’ often shocking conditions of use, which is also the cause of the problem in the case of Wirex.
A “sleeping” account costs a lot
The fact is that Wirex is 30 points, 5080 words (not long) it says in the terms of use, which imposes a storage fee on inactive accounts. This would not even be new, as several service providers or even banks have already launched something similar. The only problem is that in the case of Wirex, there is a lot of money involved. The amount in question can be as low as 0.003 BTC per day if the account remains inactive for 18 months. If we calculate this to dollars with today’s bitcoin exchange rate, then up to $130 DAILY can be deducted from the balance. If we multiply this by 30 days, we have $3,900 to spare. It’s blood-curdling, that’s a fact.
The storage fee applies to “dormant” accounts, i.e. accounts that have been inactive for a long time. There are two different levels: accounts inactive for 9 months and up to 18 months. The storage fee for fiat accounts is $5 per month. However, in the case of cryptocurrencies, in addition to the fixed fee, it is an amount equal to 0.20 percent of the balance. Accounts inactive for more than 18 months are charged 0.003 BTC/day. Wirex notifies the customer of the incurred cost 30 days before the first fee is deducted, but several people complain that they did not receive any warning. From experience, we say that this e-mail almost always ends up in the spam e-mails of the inbox, even though the warning was sent to the users.
By the way, Wirex would like to encourage its users to use their account continuously with the “trick” of the storage fee. Of course, several people complained to the interface’s customer service and wrote about scams and fraud, the only problem is that there is no mention of this, although it is debatable how fair it is to deduct such a large amount from customers every day. Wirex advises users to initiate only one transaction, be it a deposit, withdrawal, transfer or whatever, as in these cases the account will remain active and no storage fee will be charged. However, millions of forints worth of BTC have already been deducted from many in the name of “storage fee”.
Banking regulations do not apply to Wirex
One of our dear Readers informed us that he had already consulted a lawyer in the matter, as more than HUF 10 million had been deducted from his balance. Of course, he complained to Wirex’s customer service, but he was told that the terms of use describe in black and white what fees the service provider can demand from users. If you haven’t read it, that’s how you did it.
Desperate users often refer to the European regulation of banks and financial institutions, the only problem is that Wirex is not a bank, so no one will initiate bank proceedings against it. Although everyone would obviously fight with their last strength to get their money back, there is not much chance of that. The first complainants indicated as early as 2021 that their carelessness had cost them a staggering amount, unfortunately, a legal battle cannot be won with this. When someone opens an account with them, they accept the terms at the same time. And it clearly describes what costs can be expected if you do not comply with certain stipulations.
We can only recommend to all our readers that before registering for any payment platform or exchange, they carefully read the terms and conditions, especially the “fee” section, in order to avoid unpleasant surprises. Our other advice – which we keep saying – is that anyone who wants to HODLER and wants to hold a larger amount for a longer period of time should keep their crypto in a wallet without a custodian. We have written about these wallets countless times, you can find more detailed information in the following articles:
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