Whether you are a newcomer or an old hand in the cryptocurrency world, there are many confusions regarding withdrawal issues. Newcomers are afraid they can't withdraw money, while veterans are worried about encountering dirty money.
If newcomers are only making small transactions, there is no need for such worries. After all, the domestic OTC market is peer-to-peer (C2C) trading; there are people who want to buy and people who want to sell, so there will always be C2C trading methods. Currently, the C2C trading markets of Binance and OKX are still stable, so find merchants with high credibility and don't be greedy for small profits; you can use it with peace of mind.
Next, let's focus on the issue of old hands in the cryptocurrency world being concerned about withdrawal bank cards being frozen, which is the worry of receiving dirty money.
The following text is lengthy but contains all useful information; specific cases can be consulted with me for resolution.
Table of Contents
1 What is Dirty Money
2 Characteristics of Dirty Money
3 How to Deal with Dirty Money Issues When Cashing Out
4 How to Handle Frozen Bank Cards
5 Advanced Thoughts
6 Summary:
What is Dirty Money
If the buying price in the C2C trading market is lower than the selling price.
In theory, you can buy 1000 USDT at a price of 6.34, then sell 1000 at a price of 6.38, netting 0.04 * 1000 = 40 dollars = 280 yuan. You can continue to arbitrage like this.
But the market is not foolish; the arbitrage opportunities have long been eliminated.
The reason for this issue is that the merchants who use fiat currency to buy USDT (i.e., offering 6.38) have dirty money, so they are willing to buy USDT at a price higher than the market to offload their dirty money, and you become an accomplice in money laundering.
Before 2018, the C2C market was relatively normal. Later, telecom fraud and various dirty money schemes started trying to pass through the C2C market in cryptocurrency. The investigation of dirty money is now quite strict, and any card that has dirty money flowing through it will be frozen for investigation.
Characteristics of Dirty Money
It's very much like an infectious disease. Highly contagious, and it's latent, so it can't be seen on the surface. This brings two characteristics:
1. As long as this card receives dirty money, it will be contaminated and may be frozen. Transferring from this card to any other card will infect the new card.
2. Before the freeze, you won’t know which card or money has problems; you only find out after it’s frozen, so it’s a bit unpredictable.
How to Deal with Dirty Money Issues When Withdrawing
1. When withdrawing, find merchants with high trading volume, long registration time, and normal prices (selling price lower than market buying price); do not be greedy for small gains:
Generally, merchants with more than 2000 transactions, registered for more than a year, and with selling prices lower than buying prices are safer. Those with small transaction volumes, registered for less than a month, and those with top prices almost always have issues.
2. Use an infrequently used empty card to receive money, with not too much on a single card. Try to transact with only one merchant for each card, isolate the funds for 1-3 months before transferring to the main card after it hasn't been frozen. Because we don’t know which merchant has problems, it’s purely probabilistic, so we need to minimize losses in case of freezing. Using this isolation method, even if one card is frozen, it’s not a big issue; just wait for it to be resolved.
Advanced Thoughts
1. If you have a lot of money and have a demand for US dollars, you can open an account at the US dollar exchange Kraken, withdraw USDT to cash out into USD, and then withdraw to your USD card.
2. Some people immediately pay off credit cards/loans, or invest in financial products, or enter the stock market after receiving money; this type generally has a lower probability of being frozen.
3. Using a bank card is better. Alipay and WeChat cannot reduce the probability of being frozen.
