Mercatox: Another Reason Why Regulation is Inevitable

Mercatox, which is a small cryptocurrency exchange, currently has hundreds of rightfully angry customers. As if it is not bad enough that many customers have withdrawals from the exchange that have been "processing" for weeks, here are some not-so-fun facts that makes this very bad situation much worse.

1. There is no "stop" button for ending an attempted withdrawal on Mercatox.
2. There is no explanation on Mercatox re. how to stop a withdrawal and start it again.
3. Mercatox supposedly fixed their wallets a few weeks ago, but hundreds of customers still watch their withdrawals hanging in "processing", making them unable to get the coin or token to their non-exchange wallet.
4. There was briefly a post which showed a work-around to stop the withdrawal-- this was not posted by Mercatox, but it was posted shortly before Mercatox's supposed "fix" of its wallets, and once the fix was done, that post was useless.
5. "Support" at Mercatox stopped communicating to its distressed customers weeks ago.
6. Mercatox also stopped communicating with its customers in any way on its social media sites on January 19.
7. On January 19, their post on FB and Twitter was announcing a new coin being sold on the exchange. They are apparently capable of getting the new coin on the exchange, but they are either incapable, or unwilling to help their customers-- or at the very least, and no less reprehensible, they're unwilling to communicate with them any more.

I've heard the various excuses that apologists offer, many times over. "The influx of new users are to blame. They overwhelmed the exchanges." This was true, but you surely realize that after weeks of waiting for withdrawals to go through, with no help or even communication from the exchange, it starts to sound like you're blaming the victims by saying this. "You have to be patient." No. It gets to a point where I don't. This is my money we're talking about. Any company that sells itself as a finance company should damn well know that you don't mess with your clients money, like the centralized, Wall Street firms have, and if you do, and your customers find out, there's going to be trouble. "This is the wild west, get used to it or get out." I'm not interested in getting out, and I'm sure neither are you, and neither is Mercatox. How many crypto-business people have I heard saying how much they want crypto to get mass appeal. Well, now it's here. YOU-- the people who lead this industry-- better learn to deal with it, and deal with it in a way that's fair and that doesn't mess up people's lives. That's why financial regulations were enacted, post-Great Depression. Because a lot of people got screwed by banks, the super-rich, i.e., the people who were in control of the money. It happened again in the Great Recession --- during which, as I understand it, the concept of decentralized cryptocurrencies evolved as a response for people who want to get away from this recurring hyper-greed of the few who control the money system. Well, guess what. If we allow that kind of ruthless hyper-greed to infest the businesses of crypto, like exchanges (remember Mt. Gox), we are every bit as screwed as 99% of people were and are under the centralized money system. That kind of thing cannot be allowed and cannot go unpunished.

One thing that doesn't -- or at least shouldn't change in a decentralized world is what is deemed an acceptable company-to-customer relationship. Leaving a legitimately concerned customer in the dark, with their money in limbo for weeks, and no response from support is an unacceptable way for any company to treat its paying customers. If it's a personnel problem, FIX IT. If it's a tech problem, FIX IT. And KEEP COMMUNICATING with your customers.

Do I think this Mercatox situation is going to turn into another Mt. Gox? I don't know. I'm writing this because neither I nor any other Mercatox customer going through this knows what is going on with them. So, I want more people to know about this. I want my tokens which have been swirling in the Mercatox bowl they call "processing" for the past three weeks. I want them to finally appear in my MetaMask wallet where I tried to send them on 1/11/18. For now, it appears that all I (and the hundreds of other angry customers) can do is try to get more crypto-enthusiasts and investors to spread the word and hopefully shame Mercatox into finally doing the right things -- communicate with your customers, and HELP THEM.