At CoinJar, we are committed to providing a secure and compliant platform for you. Adhering to regulatory standards is crucial in the cryptocurrency space to ensure the safety of all CoinJar customers, trust in cryptocurrency, and the overall integrity of the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

Why does CoinJar need to do this?

CoinJar, Inc. is registered as a Money Services Business (MSB) with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) in the United States.

As an MSB, CoinJar must comply with stringent federal laws and regulations designed to prevent financial crimes such as money laundering, terrorist financing, and fraud. These include:

• The Bank Secrecy Act (BSA)
• The USA PATRIOT Act
• The Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020
• Economic and trade sanctions administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)

Under U.S. law, CoinJar must implement a comprehensive BSA/AML/OFAC Compliance Program, which includes:

• Verifying customer identity before providing services (Know Your Customer or KYC)

• Collecting information about the nature and purpose of customer accounts and transactions (Customer Due Diligence or CDD)

• Applying Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD) for higher-risk users, such as Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs)

• Monitoring transactions for unusual or suspicious activity

• Filing Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) with FinCEN when appropriate

• Screening users and transactions against OFAC sanctions lists

• Cooperating with U.S. law enforcement and regulatory authorities when required

• Retaining records in accordance with applicable U.S. regulations

We provide information in our Terms of Service outlining where we may ask for additional information.

Why doesn't my bank request this much information?

The risks faced by banks and cryptocurrency exchanges differ significantly. As an example, banks employ stringent tracking for transactions, attaching identities and account numbers to each transfer. Conversely, the inherent anonymity and immediate, global transfer capabilities of cryptocurrencies present unique challenges in tracking and recovering illicitly transferred funds.

To address this, we sometimes ask for more information than a bank would - and it's why we engage in comprehensive due diligence from the point of your account being created. This helps us ensure robust preventative measures against misuse, and enhances the overall security of CoinJar. Our approach is pivotal in adapting to the decentralized nature of cryptocurrency and the associated risks, aiming to safeguard assets before any potential misappropriation occurs.

What happens when CoinJar asks me to provide more information?

When CoinJar requests additional information from you, it's to help to keep you safe from the risks of financial crime, and ensure we adhere to BSA/AML regulations.

This process, which is essential for verifying your identity and evaluating potential risks, involves you providing further personal details or documentation. In some cases, these requests for additional information can include but are not limited to:

• the nature and purpose of your account and transactions
• the ultimate destination of your funds
• intended recipients or senders of transactions
• additional Know Your Customer (KYC) documentation such as driver’s licenses or passports, or ID selfies, to verify the beneficial owner's identity

Where we ask for evidence documents, we may ask for documents including but not limited to:

• recent bank statements
• pay stubs
• account statements from other cryptocurrency exchanges
• evidence showing your source of funds or wealth

In other cases, we may ask if someone has helped you set up your account, and we may ask you to confirm if you understand that cryptocurrency transactions are irreversible.

By helping us with these requests, you play a part in fostering a secure, trustworthy environment and upholding the cryptocurrency ecosystem's integrity. These proactive measures help protect your assets and reinforces the safeguards against unauthorized transactions on CoinJar.

How do I know a request for more information is legitimate?

You should always verify a request for information is legitimate. You can read more on our Knowledge Base article below:

How do I know a request for more information is legitimate?

How is my information stored?

CoinJar's Privacy Policy outlines how this information is stored securely.

Why have restrictions been applied to my account?

From time to time, we are obligated to apply restrictions to your account for a variety of reasons. These restrictions can be automatically applied by our systems or manually applied by CoinJar's Security Team.

For security reasons, we can’t disclose the criteria that may result in an account restriction being applied, however we will advise you what type of restriction you have on your account where possible so you can appropriately make use of your account.

Applying restrictions is part of our commitment to continuously adhere to relevant regulations in the regions we operate in. Our primary concern is the safety and security of your account, as well as that of CoinJar. In some cases, we're not able to provide further information on the reason our systems have applied restrictions, and in some cases we're not able to remove the restrictions on your account. 

If you feel restrictions have been incorrectly applied or should be removed, please contact support@coinjar.com so we can review the restrictions.