Howdy folks,
I’m in a real pickle, and I need possibly legal assistance. I also tried in r/legalssistance, but nobody is posting. Here’s my issue:
First off, I’m a US citizen that’s been out of the country for almost a year (first to avoid covid, then to avoid any potential fiascos around the election, and then to describe a new species and publish some range extensions).
I have a small amount of bitcoin sitting in a Circle account. I set the Circle account up a few years ago while I was recouping from Lyme disease at my folks’ house in NY (Lyme sucks, watch out for ticks, and always get a Doxy prophylactic if you get an attached tick). I’ve since moved out of state. I did an address change, but never thought to update it with Circle.
Fast forward to now, my mother asks me over the phone if she should open an envelope I got from Circle. It turns out they’ve stopped being a bitcoin brokerage (for some time) and they are on the verge of transferring my BTC to the state of NY as abandoned property in the beginning of March. There is a phone number on the form I can call as well as a USD amount that’s less than half of the valued BTC I have on there. I called the number and it’s for a company that handles the abandoned property transference. She says that I have a few weeks and to get on my account and transfer out the BTC to a private wallet. She also says if I get the letter filled out they’ll send me a check. Clearly I want the BTC, not the USD value from a few weeks ago. As well, their website clearly states that people with BTC in their account cannot convert it to cash, but can only transfer it out to another wallet. There are also holding fees, etc.
I immediately try and log on but quickly realize a huge problem. I no longer have the number associated with the 2FA I set up with my account or if I did use my current number then it doesn’t work internationally (I don’t think this is the case, as I get 2FA texts from my bank, etc, here). There is an option on the site if you’ve lost your device/number by submitting pics of your ID and a pic of you holding your ID. I did this, but the ID is of course in my new resident state. I get an immediate automated reply on 2/17. I respond with a letter stating this issue needs ASAP attention. I get nothing back. I write several emails and get nothing back. Some sleuthing nets me a phone number which I call and leave a detailed message on. The next day I get a reply saying that they had listened to my message and-
“Please note that your funds are in the process of being escheated to the state of New York.
When funds are escheated as unclaimed property, the state is responsible for holding these funds
on your behalf indefinitely.”
But no help in resetting my phone number to get into the account.
Best solution is I can reset the number associated with my account, log in and transfer my BTC to a wallet. The company seems completely unwilling to address this though.
If in fact they’ve converted my BTC to USD (is that legal without some sort of expressed permission?) do I have any recourse to sue for the actual amount of BTC I had as opposed to the converted value from USD from a while ago? And if they’ve done it before the deadline given to me on both the letter and the date given to me on the phone do I have any recourse there?
It’s been a week since I first emailed the company and I am no closer to getting on to my account. I have a little over a week to get on before the deadline.
I’m a conservation biologist and this would be a huge chunk of change for me that I was counting on having in the future. Losing a majority portion of that because of a weird confluence of timing and events as well as Circle simply not feeling like responding to my request to reset my number is nuts.
I’ll take any sound advice and gladly take any suggestions for legal rep from a lawyer with some experience in this field if you guys think it’s necessary.
Any help welcome!
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