Type of refusal

Non-delivery in crypto accounts

Non-delivery in crypto accounts rarely looks like theft. The platform shows a balance, confirms it exists, then blocks the transfer: a withdrawal stuck in review, an address rejected, a wallet locked for verification that never finishes. The asset is visible and inaccessible at the same time. That gap is the subject of every crypto and platform account claim we handle.

The contractual mechanism used

Almost every platform refusal is written into the terms of service before the account is ever opened. A clause lets the operator pause withdrawals for a compliance review, cite a security incident, or invoke a broadly worded force majeure provision that covers market volatility as well as war. Some agreements go further and reserve unilateral discretion over whether a withdrawal request is processed at all. The clause is rarely read closely when signed. It becomes the entire dispute once the user tries to leave. Comparable delivery-side refusals are traced in this account of non-delivery disputes, and the applicable service sits under refund and delivery claims.

The document that decides the framing

What decides the case is not the balance shown on screen, but how the platform's documents describe holding it. If the terms say coins are held as custodian for the user, the claim is proprietary: the asset is not the platform's to spend, and it survives insolvency differently than a debt would. If the terms only promise to deliver an equivalent amount on request, the claim is contractual, a debt ranking with other creditors. The two documents can read almost the same to a non-lawyer. They are not the same case. This distinction sits behind the overview on the non-delivery refusal page, with further reading in the insights collection on this refusal type.

The cross-border question

A crypto platform is rarely resident where its users are. Terms usually name a governing law and forum, but the assets that matter for enforcement, bank rails, custodial wallets, corporate entities, sit wherever the operator actually keeps them. A judgment reached in the user's home jurisdiction only moves the case forward if it can reach those assets, a separate question from winning the claim itself. What differs by place is set out on the UAE crypto account page and the UK crypto account page. General mechanics for frozen balances are under platform and frozen account services. No part of this work is paid on a contingency basis, and the firm behind it can be checked against the public registry linked in the footer.