BlockFi Review: Is it Safe? (May 2022)
BlockFi Review
In this BlockFi review, we will be examining whether or not BlockFi is a trustworthy Lending Platform.
+ Get $250 BTC Bonus on BlockFi.
BlockFi Review: Background
BlockFi is a cryptocurrency custodian that allows its customers to take out USD loans against their cryptocurrencies. BlockFi was founded by Flori Marquez and Zac Prince in December 2017 and is based in Jersey City, New Jersey.
BlockFi Review: Safety
Money deposited with BlockFi is not as safe as being on deposit at a bank. BlockFi, or rather its custodian, Gemini, is not insured by the FDIC or SIPC, that being said, Gemini does take measures to protect your funds such as keeping the majority of funds in cold storage (i.e., offline). BlockFi also says that its client funds are placed ahead of any equity or employee funds in the event of a loss.
Gemini is a New York trust company regulated by the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYSDFS) and a licensed depository trust.
BlockFi Review: Interest Rates
Below you can check how much you can earn with your crypto deposits.
BlockFi Review: Features
BlockFi Review: Pros & Cons
BlockFi: Pros
- Trustworthy company
- No early withdrawal penalty
- No trading fees
BlockFi: Cons
- Mandatory KYC
- Monthly compounding interest instead of weekly
- Interest rates have been reduced on a regular basis and are now much lower than most alternatives
BlockFi Review: Verdict
BlockFi is definitely a well-established crypto lending platform.
It is backed by renowned ventures and it keeps innovating the ecosystem with new features.
The amount of control BlockFi holds over their clients’ assets, and their preference for selling and/or trading assets for profit make this a service best suited to individuals with a high aptitude for calculating risk.
Interest rates used to be very interesting but have been reduced on a regular basis and are now much lower than most of BlockFi's competition.
Also, we have received reports from multiple users about issues with BlockFi withholding their funds for no apparent reason,
Use the link below and get up to $250 worth of Bitcoin after you fund your BlockFi account with at least $100.
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Hello,
BlockFi.com locked my account with $25,000 inside, around 80 days ago, and they are not willing to process a refund. They are asking for a court order just for them to process a refund.
After seeing a bunch of info about the products BlockFi offers that seemed attractive at first glance, I decided to open an account. Within minutes the account was ready to take the money out from my bank. No photo identification required, by the way.
I started depositing money, and seemed easy compared to other services of this kind.
After a while, I thought it would be a good idea to secure some funds by processing two Crypto withdrawal requests.
I’ve been waiting for two days (the minimum waiting time offered for a Crypto withdrawal), but instead of processing my requests they asked me for verification via ID/Passport, photos/video using my phone..(a regular request of any CEX), but what’s strange, it’s that they will ask for Verification after they allow you to deposit large amounts of money, and not before, as any other service does. I wonder what would happen with your money in a strange scenario where (for some reason) you can’t successfully pass the Verification.
But… that was Ok. I successfully processed the verification within minutes.
Then, surprise….. Because I had two pending withdrawal requests for two different Crypto coins, even if one of them was for a very small amount being executed just for me to understand their withdrawal process, BlockFi asked me to get Verified once again. Not a different Verification process. Just the same one I had successfully executed minutes ago.
No problem! I did it again “You’re all set !”.
Within minutes, I got an email notifying that my BlockFi account was locked. No explanation other than asking to read their TOS, and the following notice….. “Should you be unable to retrieve funds through your bank, you must wait 60 days from receipt of this email before requesting a manual wire withdrawal to the source bank account. Please note that we may require identity verification to process the withdrawal. Note: Any requests made to BlockFi about your account funds will be ignored until we can process a return of funds which will only be eligible after 60 days. Do not reach out to BlockFi until after this date. ”
The 60 days have passed and even though I used every possible method to contact BlockFi, it doesn’t seem like anyone’s going to reply. (Several support tickets or by sending any kind of message using any possible form on their Help/Support pages, trying to call them using the phone number listed over their Help page, sending message via some of the previous support tickets that were used around two months ago to communicate with them..and more..
Let’s not forget that a considerable amount of money is still with BlockFi, and my account is still blocked.
If that can’t be called an extremely frustrating situation, I’m curious to hear another 🙂 .
——— UPDATE
Finally I’ve been contacted, being informed that they will return my money…soon.
This is definitely good news, but … I still find myself in a “strange” situation.
Let me explain: When BlockFi locked my account they said: “At this time, we are not able to return any funds to you directly. We’d recommend that you contact your bank and request that any ACH transfers you made to your BlockFi account be canceled and reversed. Should you be unable to retrieve funds through your bank, you must wait 60 days from receipt of this email before requesting a manual wire withdrawal to the source bank account. ”
I thought it would be faster to follow BlockFi’s advice by asking the bank to proceed as per their instructions,but a nightmare was about to start.
Shortly after asking the bank to return transfers made by me (no scam or hack involved), they decided that something is not right, ending by closing my bank accounts. PERMANENTLY.
So BlockFi will not be able to send a Wire Transfer as it will be automatically returned.
But when they blocked my account, part of the money was in Crypto balances. I wonder what are the terms used to close my positions. Crypto coins rates have changed in the past 70 days. Maybe they will process my original withdrawal requests via crypto? Or will they accept my request to send my money to another bank account in my name? Also I wonder how they could have sent a Wire Transfer to an account that does not accept wires (if they were sent to BlockFi from a NeoBank). Not the case here, but just wonder…
— UPDATE
BlockFi’s final word is: “Any funds on the account will remain locked until BlockFi receives a court order to refund the funds”
$25,000 of my money are locked and they also refuse a refund to the source bank account
Hi Gregory,
Sorry to hear that! Did they give you any reason? Do you have any idea why it might have happened?
Hi,
I have no idea. After checking reviews from other users over the web, it seems that I’m not the only one. They are very kind with the user till a withdrawal request shows up. At that time, the nightmare is about to start. I started filling complaints all over including with BBB and I should probably hire an attorney, although, that will cost me a lot. $25,000 is a large amount of money, but not large enough to open a lawsuit and pay a good lawyer. Maybe that’s the BlockFi’s trick???
That’s very upsetting, we hope you get it sorted soon, keep us posted, we’ll let you know if we hear of a possible solution
There is a pending complain opened via BBB, and they already contacted BlockFi, but there is a 14-day dead line for BlockFi to get back to us. Once I know something, I will let you know. Thanks for participation.
Thank you, Gregory, and good luck
Also, I don’t know how legal it is for them to hold the money for an indefinite period of time without offering any refund option. Via their Terms page, a situation like this is not clearly specified. I cannot find information about what happens to a blocked account, or any information that specifies that there may be the possibility for a court order to get the money back. But it says clearly that to allow you to place trading positions on their platform, you need to be checked beforehand. Their only argument for keeping my money locked up is that they couldn’t verify me. As I said above I have been checked several times. And if they couldn’t verify me, how could I repeatedly deposit money and buy Cryptocurrency?????? It makes no sense, right?
By the way: Check on this (based on their Terms): “Please note that no technology can be considered completely secure or impenetrable and internet protocols and other public and/or proprietary technology used or accessed by the Online Platform may be vulnerable to exploitation or compromise by persons engaged in hacking or criminal conduct. Subject to applicable law, BlockFi shall have no liability to you for any such exploitation or criminal conduct by third parties” – That means they won’t take any responsibility if a hack occurs in their system. If a hacker manages to access BlockFi’s platform, forget about your money…
Very strange indeed, doesn’t sound right