The digital currency exchange space is growing increasingly sophisticated, and users are expecting more from their exchanges. A recent example of what happens when those expectations aren't met is the surge of customer complaints about digital exchange, MyCrytpowallet, which has reportedly shut out customers from accessing their funds and digital assets for a year.
The exchange reportedly welcomed 20,000 users in its first three months of operation but in early 2019, "a dispute with NAB ...saw the company’s accounts frozen" and later that year "further issues with its technology partners... forced it to suspend withdrawals from the exchange."
According to the Sydney Morning Herald:
In August 2019, the company told its users its issues had been fixed and the business was operating as normal. However, over a year and a half later, many users are still in the dark, unable to access their funds or trade their crypto and left out of a market boom that has seen the prices of many cryptocurrencies soar.
It continued:
Some users have seen their funds ‘disappear’ when attempting to transfer them, while others have been unable to trade due to issues with the business’ two-factor authentication systems. Some users have also cited failures with the business’ website, with pages failing to load or appearing to not exist in the first place.
Concerns are certainly warranted given the agony that ACX exchange customers have been going through in response to the ACX's similar long running silence.
The good news is that in response to media pressure, it seems that MyCrytoWallet has begun to respond to customers on Twitter and has provided a support email for those who couldn't seek help through "the company’s support website (which) appears to be inactive."
Perhaps this sudden spark of communication from the company has something to do with complaints to ASIC. Reportedly:
the corporate regulator has received and is assessing a large number of complaints from users (which) may result in a formal investigation by ASIC.
"May" is a fairly loose word to support the headline over at SMH. A spokeswoman for the exchange has recently made a series of comments suggesting that "the company was “completely unaware” of users reporting issues ...the business was “operating smoothly with no issues” and "it was “absolutely impossible” for the company to cease trading without authorities being notified."
It is, of course, entirely possible for businesses to cease trading without authorities being notified, as the ACX example shows. Hopefully the exchange will be able to address the concerns and complaints raised and help lift the bar for customer experiences in the digital asset space.