Binance Woes and Decentralized Exchanges

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So... I got an email from Binance this morning. In it they said that I have been identified as a "US person", and so as a result they are closing my Binance account. The email says that as an American, I have to use Binance.us and I can't appeal this decision. So... that's a good way to begin the day. Good news, everyone, eh? (said as sarcastically as possible)

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Of course, yeah, I mean that is why they started Binance.us, to keep Americans in a walled garden at the behest of the US gov, but I am in Japan so I've been able to get past this so far and I thought I'd be able to continue getting past it. I guess no more. They are evidently looking at other data and not just location to determine if someone is an American.

Will I open a Binance.us account. Uhm... no. My options are dwindling though. I can't use Coinbase. Long story short: they got confused by me being in Japan and blacklisted my SSN. Oh well. I think there are a few Japanese exchanges that I have until this point been ignoring. Guess I'll be looking into them now. I'd just as soon skip all exchanges anyway. Are we at a point where that's possible?

I did a DuckDuckGo search and came across a decentralized exchange called Bisq. If you are on a Mac, you can easily install it via Homebrew (if you already have Homebrew installed, just type this in the terminal: brew install --cask bisq). If you are on Windows, get it here. It looks interesting. It runs over Tor, so it is slow as hell. Unfortunately, also, trading is limited: it only trades BTC for fiat. I'll explore it anyway and maybe try to make a trade.

Does anyone know any other decentralized exchanges?

Anyway, if you are also an American who doesn't live in America and are smugly still using Binance as I was, confident that you were free to do what your fellow countrymen couldn't, watch out: they may get you next like they got me.

❦

Hi there! David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. He blogs here and at laspina.org. Write him on Twitter or Mastodon.
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15 comments
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You received an upvote of 89% from Precious the Silver Mermaid!

Please remember to contribute great content to the #SilverGoldStackers tag to create another Precious Gem.

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(Edited)

Try Kucoin, is smaller than Binance, but it is still doing the job.
Also, Metamask, you may still need to transfer on BNB like LEO or SPS, then exchange into what you want.

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I've used Bisq from the beginning! It's a great decentralized option, and they're coming out with a 2nd version this year. Their approach to disputes has also been very effective so far, albeit time-consuming (I've had 2 resolved).

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And as a US person living in the USA, Binance US is pretty useless anyway. Essentially, they are doing all they can to block people in the US from being able to transact (conveniently) in crypto. These days, I mostly use swap services like simpleswap.io from where I can make sure I only ever send USDT/USDC to Coinbase so everything there is 100% dull as dishwater.

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I don’t use exchanges but I’m in the US. They all suck here in my opinion. Good luck

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Use Thorchain for permissionless swaps between major blockchains like Bitcoin, Litcoin, Ethereum, BSC, etc.

Otherwise use Uniswap for ERC20 trades, or its equivalent for tokens on other blockchains.

You can also use services like simpleswap dot io or changenow dot io to swap between blockchains (fees are a little higher).

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Boy oh boy...
What news!
Here's to a busted Friday, there are better things!
Keeping my fingers crossed for you to get through this okay!
!gif stay strong
!LUV

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What can I say? Some things just don't change.

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Very interested to hear what you find out. The available options keep shrinking.

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I was pretty sad when they shut down my out of country account too. I never got around to signing up for a US one. I don't know if I can help you as far as decentralized exchanges go. A lot of people have been saying good things about MEXC, but I can't use it because I am in the US. The three main options here are Coinbase (Which we know is off the table for you), Crypto.com, and Kraken.

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I havent opened any exchange account in Japan, and can you recommend anything legit and somewhere trustworthy? 😉👍
!BEER

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That sucks, as Americans we are getting screwed on crypto marketplaces. I don't know any good options at the moment either, if you find anything promising let me know!

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