Cashflow Concerns, limiting Cash withdrawals

To those who use AltCoinTrader as their local crypto exchange,

We are all aware of the fact that AltCoinTrader is not the most sophisticated exchange that exists. The biggest thing going for them is they have a monopoly in SA for being the only exchange where you can get your hands on some AltCoins. The AltCoinTrader platform, which I presume was an in house developed platform without the basic functionality of having a live orderbook, has been my go to exchange to trade alt coins in SA, however that was till this morning.

Logging in this morning to withdraw my cash, only to find a "new" updated withdrawal system. Apparently they have now implemented a new tiered FIAT withdrawal system, which limits a fully verified user, FICA approved etc, to a maximum FIAT withdrawal of R200k. But wait, if you make use of the second factor authentication you can increase your withdrawal limit to 1m, and only if your second factor has been implemented longer than 30 days. All of this has been implemented with zero communication to their existing customers.

So here i am, crypto is tanking and suddenly AltCoinTrader out of the blue decide to restrict their withdrawals, mmmm warning lights are going off. I got on the phone, called them and quickly got through to Petunia at support, I asked to speak to her supervisor, I think her name was Andilho, and she unconvincing and incorrectly explained to me that the withdrawal system has been updated for security reasons and that I could simply activate two factor authentication and i would be able to process a withdrawal exceeding the R200k limit. I followed her steps and I was unable to withdraw the cash.

This is my dilemma. 1) Why would enabling the second factor authentication provide an extra layer of security for FIAT withdrawals? There are two layers of security that need to be broken for someone to access your FIAT and crypto funds. Login credentials and access to your email. However FIAT can only be withdrawn to a bank account that is in your name, so if someone is able to access your account and email they not going to be interested in your FIAT because that is "safe" but rather in your crypto. Okay but let's assume their have been incidents where someone's account has been hacked and they were able to withdraw FIAT to the hackers bank account, this would be due to a failure of AltCoinTraders system to verify the account holders name, and the onus would be on them. So I don't believe this has been done for security reasons. 2) Crypto has tanked considerably these past few months and AltCoinTraders trading volumes have followed suit. Does this mean their is drama there? I'm not sure, but the fact that they have decided to limit FIAT withdrawals is a strong indicator that they experiencing cash flow problems. And now the buck has been p****d to their customers. This concerns me. Have they over extended themselves? 3) Lastly, AltCoinTrader might be the only exchange that takes a percentage fee of the cash deposits and cash withdrawals. Okay it is limited to R250, but it does make you think. This is their vision which can be found on their website; "The Altcointrader team is composed of dedicated professionals that share a common vision and enthusiasm for cyrpto and for bringing this amazing technology to the community."

So i struggle to see this vision in their fee schedule. Does is cost more to process a withdrawal of R5,000 vs R100,000? It costs me R8,50 to withdraw cash from Luno, regardless of the amount. An exchange makes their money through trading fees, period. So i would like to better understand their philosophy behind this.

Looking forward to their response. I've listened to Richard de Sousa on the radio, and his interview on TV, it would be refreshing to see his enthusiasm reflected in how AltCoinTrader approach the level of service that is expected of a market competing exchange. Competition is a healthy catalyst, and I'm keen to see some of that in the SA crypto market.

Stephan Boessenkool