Consumer complaint received 2018-01-14
Company: SHAPESHIFT AG
State: CA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Foreign currency exchange
Issue: Confusing or missing disclosures

Complaint:
I am writing about a recent experience with Shapeshift, an online digital currency exchange in XXXX. I made an error recently using Shapeshift which involved accidentally selecting the wrong type of currency in an exchange transaction, and losing the equivalent of XXXX USD. Although the error was my own, I am submitting this claim in the hope that Shapeshift shares responsibility as well in that they set up a platform that facilitates these errors. Furthermore, Shapeshift has also established a pricing structure that allows them to earn XXXX EUR per user error through their support center, and they currently have a two-week backlog of support requests. I view this as a cryptocurrency version of retail banks coming up with ways to push customers into overdraft fees and then charging them as much as possible for those fees. This does not sit well with me, and I want to be reimbursed. 

Shapeshift markets itself as " The XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX on XXXX. '' However, errors are happening all the time on Shapeshift and people are losing enormous sums of money using Shapeshift. The majority of the mistakes are taking place because users are accidentally selecting the wrong currency when they exchange currencies online, and then Shapeshift is charging users to reimburse them for their mistakes. Furthermore, because of the nature of the Shapeshift website, the mistakes are actually very easy to make on the part of the users : imagine exchanginXXXX XXXX to XXXX on a website where all you have to do is click a big square " XXXX '' icon and a big square " XXXX '' icon to select your currencies for conversion and then click exchange. Fast, simple, easy. 

The only problem is that the icons have large " XXXX Cash '' and " XXXX XXXX '' icons right next to them that are the same color, and the " XXXX '' icon also has an " XXXX XXXX '' icon next to it, etc. As a user, if you get any of the icons wrong before you copy and paste your addresses for an exchange, then you will instantly be forced to pay XXXX EUR to Shapeshift to get your funds back ( at best ) or you will have lost your funds completely ( at worst ) if the funds go to an irrecoverable address. Shapeshift has created a sort of gauntlet disguised as a user-friendly app-formatted website in which any misstep on the part of the user will allow them to pocket XXXX EUR from the users. 

The specifics of my experience : XXXX XXXX I sent XXXX XXXX to Shapeshift to be converted to XXXX, which was then to be sent ( as XXXX after being converted ) to my online wallet at XXXX. This amount is equivalent ( or was at the time XXXX roughly equivalent to {$57.00} USD. 

However, I made a mistake during this transaction : rather than selecting " XXXX XXXX '' from the list of available currencies to send, I selected " XXXX. '' Unfortunately, because of the mistake, the funds that I sent to Shapeshift never actually reached Shapeshift, but instead, they just disappeared. 

In a number of email interactions and social media interactions, Shapeshift declined my request to reimburse me for my lost funds because my loss was due to my own error. I have not ever disputed this. However, the experience does not sit right with me, and I remain convinced that Shapeshift has established a system that makes these user errors the norm rather than the exception and that these errors have become part of the Shapeshift business model. 

I view a two-week service backlog and a XXXX EUR extraction fee as evidence that Shapeshift facilitates user errors in order to earn profit, and this is right.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation