Bank asking for KYC info when cashing out large amounts?

Cashing out large crypto positions can be surprisingly difficult even for legitimate holders. This is especially true for early adopters who used multiple exchanges over the years, including platforms that no longer exist.

Even crypto-friendly banks remain highly cautious due to regulatory pressure and historical associations with illicit activity. In many cases, the hardest part isn’t converting crypto to fiat it’s getting the fiat accepted and deposited safely without triggering a freeze or rejection.

A few things are critical to prepare in advance:

Document your entire transaction history and provenance (sometimes going back a decade).

Maintain a clear audit trail of wallets, counterparties, and exchanges.

Anticipate complex compliance reviews that are often misunderstood by front-office staff.

Without proper preparation, it’s common to face weeks or months of delays, repeated document requests, or outright refusals.

One overlooked problem: early wallets are sometimes flagged as “tainted” because of exposure to exchanges like Mt. Gox, BTC-e, or Cryptsy. Blockchain forensic tools such as Scorechain assign risk scores to this historical activity even if all funds are perfectly legitimate today. Addressing this requires clear documentation and, in some cases, assistance from a regulated intermediary who can contextualize the forensic hits.

I work professionally in this space (Swiss-regulated financial intermediary) and have helped clients manage these exact challenges from tracing the source of funds to onboarding with private banks. Happy to share more detail if you’d like; feel free to message me privately if you have specific questions.