Vault of Satoshi Is Shutting Down

Here's the email I received:

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Important News about Vault of Satoshi - As well as a new 25% or $250.00 Inactivity Service Fee being implemented for every Currency Balance you hold with us – Beginning March 15th, 2015.

As stated on our Website, Reddit and many CryptoCurrency news outlets, it is with great regret that we announce the closing of Vault of Satoshi. We will be closing February 5th, 2015. Although new deposits will no longer be accepted, rest assured, you will have plenty of time to finalize any trades and withdraw any outstanding funds with all of the convenience and expeditiousness that you’re used to. Please ensure that all of your withdrawal requests are submitted by February 5th - any fiat (cash) funds held on or after March 15th will be unobtainable as we will be closing our bank accounts on March 15th, 2015 and will not risk putting our staffs personal Bank Accounts at risk of being closed for money transmission (Canada’s Banks are not CryptoCurrency Friendly)

We expect there will be some speculation as to why the Vault is going to be sealed forever, and we’d like to reassure the community that it has absolutely nothing to do with insolvency, stolen funds, or any other unfortunate scenario. To this day we are proud to have run the first full proof-of-reserve exchange in the industry, with strict compliance and security regimes. Our decision stems from opportunities presented by a new business that has forced us to reexamine our priorities.

Our founders and team of developers began work on a new, non-cryptocurrency project about 6 months ago, which has since become quite successful. We are forced to make a choice on where to expend our efforts, as we simply do not have time to continue operating both businesses. We feel splitting our focus would be a disservice to the customers of Vault, so although our competitors may lack some of the features, currencies, and innovations that Vault brought to the Canadian market, they will serve you well for your basic exchange needs.

We are still true-believers, and think Satoshi Nakamoto has set in course something that will change the world for the better. Thank you loyal Vault customers for joining us on one of the most exciting adventures of our time! There’s no doubt that this is just the beginning, and we will continue to watch from the sidelines as history unfolds, with Bitcoin becoming more understood, accepted, and appreciated every day.

Service Charges

It is in your best interest to remove all of your funds held with us, as soon as possible. We will be posting this message on our website and Reddit later today which we hope will get picked up by the appropriate new outlets.

It is very important that you remove your fiat either by buying Bitcoin (fast and easy) on our Site or, do a withdrawal request on our website for your Cash/Fiat Balances. Fiat/Cash MUST BE WITHDRAWN BEFORE February 5th, 2015. After February 5th, customer support will be very minimal and infrequent as well as the tellers will be concentrating their efforts on shut down. Any customer funds left inside Vault of Satoshi (fiat/cash, crypto/bitcoin) beginning March 15th will incur a monthly penalty on every currency balance in your account of either

- - $250.00 (or the equivalent value of the cryptocurrency balance)

OR

- - %25 of the total balance of each currency you hold with us.

(We will use whichever of the two is higher).

July 31st, 2015 the servers will be turned off, the company will absorb any balances left behind as of this date to cover any outstanding debt incurred from holding the funds.

This Service charge is basically a 'Get your money out of our Exchange' as soon as possible, otherwise we would have to deal with customer funds for years to come, and we simply do not have the money or the time to do so. We have given our users two-months to take them out without incurring penalties. These fees will cover the operating costs of Hosting as well as the same Systems Security staff we currently have on payroll until the servers are shut down July 31st, 2015.

Some will view these service charges as ridiculous, irresponsible or even vicious, however - we disagree. We have never been a 'Wallet Service' or a 'Bank' to hold your funds until the end of time - you trusted your assets with us to trade them, and that is all.

If you signed up for this and have no idea where to put your Bitcoin, we suggest that you visit https://bitcoinpaperwallet.com and create a paper wallet (it is really easy) and withdraw your Vault Bitcoins to the paper wallet. If you need to withdraw your cash/Fiat balance and need a wallet, you can visit: http://www.instructables.com/id/Paper-Wallet/

If you signed a friend up with us, please be courteous and pass the news on to them, and perhaps help them withdraw their funds – we don’t want to scare any new people away from the Currency of the Future.

Sincerely,

The Vault of Satoshi Team

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