Since the beginning of April, the number of complaints from customers of monobanks that work with cryptocurrencies has increased, about the blocking of accounts unilaterally without prior notice. There were at least six such public claims on profiled financial sites.
For example, client Danylo reported that he conducts trade on the P2P market through the Telegram bot and sells NFT collections on the Get Gems website (for sales, he receives funds in TON cryptocurrency). And he does not understand why the bank blocks his account, seizes personal money, and then forcibly closes the account.
At the same time, most often the transaction amounts do not even come close to UAH 400,000 - mandatory in Ukraine for control within the framework of financial monitoring, according to current legislation. Most often it is about 50-60 thousand hryvnias.
"The day before yesterday, I withdrew the amount earned on the crypto exchange, which according to the laws of our country is not taxable, and my account was simply blocked without any explanation. In response, they told me that I am a risky client," says the complaint filed in Kyiv.
But the client of monobank from Kremenchuk reported that he had time to withdraw his 48,000 before the account was blocked after transactions with cryptocurrency and confirmation of the source of the funds.
Artem, a user of monobank in Kryvyi Rih, clarified that the bank freezes personal funds of clients for a period of 3 to 60 days, and then stops the service.
"Monobank blocks all users who make transfers or receive funds from people who may be connected with cryptocurrency, and as a result terminates the contract unilaterally. Accordingly, we understand: even if you did not carry out such operations, you can still be blocked", - it is noted in his negative feedback.
Every time monobank managers explain their actions by the requirements of the National Bank, its financial monitoring rules. They say that they are simply obliged to check all payments, but they do not explain why it is transactions related to cryptocurrencies that come under suspicion. Although they note that the criteria used for checks are confidential information.
"The bank makes a decision about the possibility of service by analyzing information from various verified sources. Colleagues also analyzed the provided additional documents. Based on this analysis, the bank can make a decision to refuse service. We cannot tell you the exact reason for the refusal due to the bank's policy," monobank said in its reply.
Financiers urge people to wait for the verification to be completed and promise to return to their service in due course. Although this may not happen.
"More than a year ago, due to the sale of cryptocurrency, my account was blocked. During this time, I have already reached the age of majority and would really like to resume cooperation with your bank and open an individual entrepreneur, because you have the best conditions for both customers and FOPs." - said in a public request to the bank Andrii Dolhykh. However, monobank's response contains a refusal: "Unfortunately, we cannot continue your further service at our bank."
It must be said that account blocking after transactions with cryptocurrency also occur in other banks, similar cases, for example, have been recorded in complaints from FUIB customers. However, there is also confirmation of unlocking, as, for example, in the story with a user under the nickname AkkermanChange from Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi. He said that in order to unlock the account, he appeared at the bank's branch and "provided a full video recording of entering the exchange application, which shows the open transactions for orders, showed the entire history of the chat and the responses of the exchange's support." After that, the bank returned him access to the FUIB application and accounts. This proves the lack of uniform standards among different banks regarding financial monitoring and verification of transactions with cryptocurrencies. Everyone has different requirements and rules.
