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Source of Funds
Source of Funds
Rick Alexsson avatar
Written by Rick Alexsson
Updated over a week ago

Table of contents:

As a regulated multi-functional cryptocurrency exchange platform, at CEX.IO we are required to review the activity of our customers, to help protect them and CEX.IO from any potential misuse of our platform and/or their profiles. Across our organization, we take a proactive approach towards this by ensuring our service and tools are used in a compliant manner, as our top priority is to protect and serve our customers at all times in a safe and secure environment. A testimony to our success is that since being founded in 2013 we have built a robust relationship with multiple banks.

Occasionally, a member of our Compliance Team will ask for additional documents to verify the Source of Fund (SoF) for your account.

Source of Funds (SoF) refers to obtaining the origin of the funds or assets which are the subject of the business relationship between CEX.IO and its clients. By asking for the necessary information the CEX.IO Compliance Team is able to identify and establish the fund’s origin as well as the method or circumstance in which the funds were acquired. We ask this as part of our KYC(Know Your Customer) process to ensure that the client’s funds remain safe and compliant within our platform.

Why do we ask to confirm the origin of funds?

CEX.IO was one of the first platforms to make fiat to crypto transactions available. Since our inception, we’ve chosen to be a regulated cryptocurrency exchange. This allows us to provide our customers with secure and reliable services, offer a range of payment methods (including debit/credit cards and bank transfers), and comply with regulatory requirements and standards in the jurisdictions where we provide service.

CEX.IO follows a strict AML/KYC policy to ensure a safe trading environment on the platform. We’ve built robust relationships with dozens of reputable banks across key markets. Most of them implement AML/KYC procedures before doing business with any entities. This helps to discourage unlawful transactions and improves account and wallet security.

KYC (Know Your Customer) refers to a set of procedures and processes that a company uses to confirm the identities of its customers. It involves collecting and verifying government-issued identity documents, phone numbers, physical addresses, email addresses, and utility bills — any information that can prove customers are who they say they are.

AML (Anti-Money Laundering) rules and regulations apply to financial and legal entities. AML is designed to prevent financial crimes, such as making money illegally and moving illicit funds. Define the customer's location and residence to provide you with the service in accordance with the applicable local regulations. That's why we ask every customer to identify the country of residence at the step of registration.

To comply with AML policies, CEX.IO needs to identify customers and monitor incoming and outgoing transactions. The process is generally divided into four levels:

Verify the customer’s identity. This in fact is nothing more than gathering some personal information and supporting documents such as your government-issued ID and proof of residency.

Define the customer’s location and residence to provide service in accordance with applicable local regulations. This is why we ask every customer to identify their country of residence during registration.

Continuous monitoring of transactions. This includes identifying suspicious activities. The criteria for suspicious activities vary from country to country but generally is any operation that is unusual for a particular customer.

Risk management. CEX.IO takes a rational approach to AML/KYC by identifying real risk factors rather than simply satisfying regulatory requirements.

Acceptable documents for Source of Funds

Please see the table below of acceptable documents in order to confirm SoF, the document given should also match the following criteria, please note that the list below is not exhaustive:

  • The document should clearly show the user’s name, dates, and amounts.

  • The SoF should reflect your recent transactional activities, which show deposits, withdrawals, and trading activity (if applicable)

  • Should be in a pdf format. If you are providing a screenshot of your trading activity then this does not apply.

Type of Source of Funds for FIAT currency

Suggested evidence

Personal Savings/ Bank Statements

  • Last 3 months bank statements showing sufficient account balance covering your recent transactions.

Salary

  • Payslip (no older than three months);

  • Salary statement (no older than three months);

  • Employment contract;

  • Tax return (most recent) including

  • Bank statement displaying the payment

Business Income/Profits

  • Business tax return;

  • Tax statement for self-employed;

  • Financial statement and a document showing ownership of the business;

  • Bank statement for a business account (no older than three months) and a document showing ownership of the business

Pension

  • Pension details;

  • Fund statement (if available); including

  • Bank statement displaying the payment

Government Benefits

  • Details of the government benefits; and

  • Bank statement displaying the payment

Income from investments (e.g., shares, bonds, investment funds)

  • Payment receipts containing information of the buyer and seller as well as a

  • Bank statement displaying the payment

Income from the sale of real estate or other property

  • A copy of the contract of sale or

  • A copy of the land registry/Certificate of Title (or its equivalent) or

  • A letter from a real estate agent or lawyer confirming the sale of the property and

  • Bank statement displaying the payment

Income from renting/leasing

  • Rental agreement and

  • Bank statement displaying the payment

A private loan from family members, friends/others

  • Loan agreement (if any) or documentation with details of the private loan detailing the source of the credit as well as a;

  • Bank statement displaying the payment

Loan from bank

  • The loan agreement and bank statement displaying the payment

Inheritance

  • A copy of the will or

  • Signed letter from a solicitor, grant of probate or letter from the executor and a

  • Bank statement displaying the payment

Gift

  • Documentation identifying the gift and the identity of the donor and

  • Bank statement displaying the payment

Others

  • Other official documents showing the source of funds (subject to discretion

Source of Сrypto funds

Subtype

Information/documents

Trading

Trading platforms

  • Screenshots or statements that show client's fiat deposits to accounts on other platforms (user's main places to trade).

  • Screenshots or statements that show client's trade operations (fiat to crypto) on other platforms.

  • Screenshots or statements that show client's crypto withdrawals from other platforms to CEX.IO account.

  • Screenshots that confirm ownership of the accounts that are used to send funds to client's CEX.IO account.

Exchange

  • Screenshots, statements, or emails that confirm purchase.

  • Screenshots, statements, or emails that confirm withdrawals to client's CEX.IO account addresses.

OTC

  • Bank statement that confirms source of wealth.

  • Bank statement that shows movement of the funds used for crypto trading.

  • Documents, statements or screenshots that confirm trading activity.

  • Other documents that can be used to clarify client's trade turnover, total net worth, nature of client's activity, basic KYC information on this partners, etc.

  • Appropriate supporting documents.

Mining

With personal hardware

(less than $20,000 in hardware)

  • Screenshots that show client's mining client.

  • Screenshots that show client's hashrate or payout history.

  • Screenshot that shows address of crypto wallet for mining reward payouts.

  • It is necessary to roughly estimate total value of mining equipment.

  • Bank statement for a 2-3 month for an employed client, and a statement for a 3-6 month for an unemployed/self-employed client.

  • Optional: screenshots that confirm transfer of mined coins to CEX.

With personal hardware

(more than $20,000 in hardware)

  • Screenshots that show client's mining client.

  • Screenshots that show client's hashrate or payout history.

  • Screenshot that show address of crypto wallet for mining reward payouts.

  • It is necessary to roughly estimate total value of mining equipment.

  • Bank statement for a 2-3 month for an employed client, and a statement for a 3-6 month for an unemployed/self-employed client.

  • Documents (receipts, statements, or screenshots) that confirm mining hardware purchase by our client (not any other person or legal entity).

  • Bank statement that shows withdrawal operations correspondent to mining hardware purchase sums and dates.

  • Optional: screenshots that confirm transfer of mined coins to CEX.

Cloud mining

  • Screenshots that show client's mining client or cloud mining account.

  • Screenshots that show client's hashrate or payout history.

  • Screenshot that show address of crypto wallet for mining reward payouts (may be combined with one of the previous screenshots).

  • Bank statement that shows client's savings or income.

  • Bank statement that shows withdrawals correspondent to payments for cloud mining services.

Other

Other

  • Documents that explain nature of income, amount, date of payments, relationship with payer.

  • Appropriate supporting documents.

  • Optional: bank statement for a period of user's activity on CEX.IO.

Why does my account have limited functionality?

At CEX.IO keeping our customers’ accounts and their funds safe is our top priority. In order to keep your money and personal details safe, we review customer accounts as and when necessary using systems that we have developed.

CEX.IO is a regulated global crypto exchange company that is governed by different regulatory bodies across multiple countries. In order to meet our regulatory requirements and as well as for the interest of protecting and safeguarding our customers, the systems that we use on occasion may freeze an account.

Our Compliance department is responsible for the detection, monitoring, and prevention of unusual activity. When required our Compliance Team will reach out to you to provide some details and/or documentation to get you up and running as quickly as possible. The cooperation of our customers is very helpful and can speed up the process when such a request is made and would appreciate it if you would respond to us as quickly as possible. The purpose behind this is to protect you (the customer) and the business from any unusual or untoward activity, we work cases on a priority basis.

As each individual case is treated in a bespoke manner, certain cases may take longer than others due to the extent of the work required for it to be resolved.

With a significant customer base globally, ranging from individuals to businesses any reviews which need to be conducted will individually be considered by an experienced Compliance Officer.

Like all systems, there are instances where an account can be incorrectly frozen and we take this as an opportunity to learn from it to prevent any further instances as part of our continuous improvement process.

How to restore the full functionality of my account?

All you need to do to verify your source of funds is to submit your application for Stage 3 “Enhanced verification” following the link: https://cex.io/verification.

You can verify your account both on the web and mobile. We have prepared detailed instructions that can be found here:

If you have any questions, you can always reach us at our Help Centre.

High-risk services/platform

At CEX.IO we accept payments from multiple financial institutions and we do this by taking a risk-based approach ensuring we are conducting business in a compliance-driven manner.

In the interest of safeguarding our customers and the business, we have deemed the following platforms to be of higher risk and therefore we will not be accepting deposits from these services (subject to change). Please note that this table is not exhaustive and if you choose to invest with any of these platforms you are doing so at your own risk.

At CEX.IO we ensure to carry out due diligence to the highest standard and we also encourage our customers to conduct their own research.

Please be aware that your capital may be at risk.

Type of Service

Examples

Darknet market

(shadow market) and services

  • Hydra MARKETPLACE

  • Alfabay

  • Silkroad2.0

  • DeepSea Marketplace

  • Bypass Shop

High-risk Crypto platforms and/or crypto exchanges

  • BTC-e

  • WEX

  • Bitsane

Illegal gambling

  • CoinGaming.io

  • 1xbiT

  • Betcoin.ag

Services illegal according to jurisdictions

  • CryptiaExchange.com

  • Nobitex.ir

  • Wallex.ir

Mixing service (mixing of crypto funds)

  • Wasabi

  • Bitcoin Fog

  • Blender.io

Services used to block access to information

  • Cerber Ransomware

  • CryptoLocker

  • Cryptowall

Scam

  • PetronPay.com

  • GreenGoldOrg.com

  • TheFiniko.com

Why is it important to monitor transactions?

CEX.IO uses enhanced technologies for automated monitoring of all incoming and outgoing transactions to identify any attempts at suspicious payments, payments to or from the black market, or transfers of stolen funds. This is required by regulators and government institutions in jurisdictions where CEX.IO is licensed to operate.

Occasionally we may ask you to provide documents that prove the origin of the funds deposited into your CEX.IO account. This is a standard procedure for platforms that work with fiat money and doesn’t mean we’ve detected suspicious activity on your account.

By providing documented evidence to CEX.IO on the origin of your funds, we can respond to regulators and bank partners to safeguard the reputation of our customers and our company. Following a strict AML/KYC policy allows CEX.IO to process:

  • fast card deposits and withdrawals in different fiat currencies (USD, EUR, GBP);

  • international bank transfers via SWIFT in USD, EUR, and GBP

  • domestic bank transfers via ACH (for US residents), SEPA (for Eurozone residents), and Faster Payments (for UK residents)

  • deposits and withdrawals via other payment systems like Skrill and Epay.

Please be informed that we are not able to provide services to customers who cannot prove the origin of their funds. If you have no evidence of the origin of your funds or don’t agree to provide it, your account may be suspended.

We monitor transactions and take necessary measures as part of our regulatory and bank requirements in order to provide our services globally.

Why you should trust CEX.IO?

When providing data and documents to CEX.IO, you can be sure you’re dealing with a legitimate business:

CEX.IO exchange implements the highest security standards, including DDoS attack protection, two-factor authentication, SSL certificates, cold storage for cryptocurrency funds, etc.

Finally, CEX.IO possesses a Level 1 PCI DSS (PCI Data Security Standard) certificate allowing us to store, process, and transmit our users’ cardholder data. This means that the card data you submit on CEX.IO is strongly encrypted and safe. This is extremely important, as card payments are the most popular option on the platform.

We understand the value of anonymity that the cryptocurrency community stands for. Still, to stay compliant with AML directives and ensure we are acting legally, we are obliged to verify users and monitor all incoming and outgoing transactions. This is the only way to ensure a safe and healthy trading environment on our platform.

We’re constantly working on our AML/KYC procedures to comply as fast and easily as possible.

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