Bear Market Revenue Stream? Bitstamp Charges Inactive Users Dormant Fees

Bitstamp, a well-established exchange with over 10 years of operating history, recently announced that starting from August this year, they will impose a monthly €10 inactivity fee on certain inactive accounts to offset the costs of maintaining inactive accounts on their books.

Bitstamp Inactivity Fee Rules

While this rule may result in a reduction of users' assets, it only applies to eligible inactive accounts, defined as those that have not traded, deposited, withdrawn, or staked assets in the past 12 months starting from August 1, 2022, and have a total balance of less than 200 euros.

Once deemed inactive, a monthly inactivity fee of 10 euros will be charged at the beginning of each month. Initially deducted from the euro balance, if the euro account balance is zero, it will be deducted from other fiat currencies or equivalent cryptocurrencies. Furthermore, even if the account becomes active in the future, previously charged inactivity fees will not be refunded.

Regarding this policy, Bitstamp stated that they do not wish to charge fees to users, but retaining inactive accounts also incurs costs.

"In order to continue providing high-quality service to all users, we have made the difficult decision to implement the inactivity fee," Bitstamp said.

Throughout its 10 years of operation, Bitstamp has never charged users such fees, perhaps the bear market has had some impact on its revenue stability. With the implementation of this policy, users with small holdings who prefer long-term HODL may need to find alternative places to store their assets if they wish to avoid deductions.

Bitstamp Cancels Inactivity Fee 7/7 Update

Following the release of the inactivity fee regulations, the Bitstamp community strongly reacted to this.

In response, Bitstamp officially stated that they have listened to the community feedback and have decided to cancel the implementation of the inactivity fee policy.