Cryptocurrency

[ChimpMaster]

Well done you - got back into to some BC at 3550 -

Nice bounce on LTC too - well done Scoots. Take the 25% and wait for the downturn again I'd say.

[Jog On]

"Most Draconian Measures Ever": China Expands Bitcoin Crackdown Beyond Exchange Trading | Zero Hedge

This isn't good:

According to the WSJ, regulators have decided on a "comprehensive ban on channels for the buying or selling of the virtual currency in China" that goes beyond plans to shut commercial bitcoin exchanges. The still unofficial policy was communicated to several industry executives at a closed-door meeting in Beijing on Friday, "according to people who were at the meeting."

I wonder if other interested governments are watching this closely in a "Cyprus 50k bail-in" kind of way...

[Lance]

"Most Draconian Measures Ever": China Expands Bitcoin Crackdown Beyond Exchange Trading | Zero Hedge

This isn't good:



I wonder if other interested governments are watching this closely in a "Cyprus 50k bail-in" kind of way...

It's great if you sold out 2 weeks ago. I'll see how this pans out and then may well buy back in.

[FrontEnder]

getting close to $4000 again.

[Lance]

getting close to $4000 again.

this 'bubble' is taking some popping

[scooterscot]

JP Morgan not trading bitcoin eh? Feckers playing the game at both ends.

https://www.nordnet.dk/mux/popups/ma...1&limit=100000

[vadhert]

This was obvious from Dimons recent outburst.

Going by his 2015 outburst, How would he sack a trader that was trading an asset that had grown over 1000% to his latest outburst?

You can always trust a banker hey?

[pjclarke]

Good exchange for the UK?

So, having dipped my toe in, got my wallets, got a few mined coins, made a few minor trades, I'm now ready to load up with a few £K worth of BTC, LTC and ETH.

Nightmare. Maybe I am not doing it right. Of the sites and exchanges I've looked at, you either face costs for currency exchange from USD or EUR, and/or high prices or bank transfer fees and/or tulip websites.

Not to mention the ID verification and security stuff. I gave up in frustration trying to get Bitstamp's 2-factor security to work, the process seems unnecesarily labyrinthine….

So I have tried …

Bittylicious

Pros - if it worked as advertised, would be a slick way of buying BTC for GBP quickly. But the website seems flaky, it says my limit is X but when I try to buy says I can only have (X/4) until I jump through some more ID verification hoops.

No currency fees or commission, costs are built into the price.

Cons - Expensive, one punter reckons you pay a premium of £200 per BTC for the 'convenience' Website not going to win any prizes for ease of use.

LocalBitCoins

In theory a good idea, a platform to match up UK buyers and sellers and act as an escrow service for a modest fee. Maybe it's my lack of nerve but I bottled it at the idea of transferring a few K into a complete stranger's bank account.

Pros: Seems legit, but after Mt Gox …..

Bittrex 'Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes' When you do get in, contracts seem few and far between.

Bitstamp. As mentioned 2-factor was a nightmare for me so I can't get in right now. From memory they use Simplex for bank transfers, who charge 5% of the transaction cost. That's £100 on a £2,000 deal.

I will persevere, but why does it have to be so hard? My impression is of a market that has a long way to go for the ordinary punter in terms of ease of use, fees and trust. Not to mention the danger that your bank/credit card may close your account if they detect you've been buying crypto.

Also, on their 'Why are we so expensive?' page

Bittylicious have this

The Bitcoin network has a concept of*transaction fees, which originally was designed to be a small fee for transactions to be sent and included in a Bitcoin block. These have been*rising*an incredible amount recently, and each transaction often costs around $2 or close to £2 to send. For small trades, e.g. a £20 trade, this can be 10% of the costs before the broker even has to factor in their risk costs, FX costs, bank transfer costs, our commission and their profit. Please expect small trades to have a very large margin on them until a solution to the*scaling crisis*is found.

So I'd welcome any recommendations for a trustworthy, efficient, economical exchange for use in the UK. I'd love to love crypto but I'm just a non-specialist punter with limited free time.

[FrontEnder]

I don't think there is anything that has both ease of use and low fees. I used Coinbase for my recent purchase of £500 of bitcoin using a credit card as it was the quickest way to get it and bitcoin had just dropped to $3000. It was more like £470 worth by the time I'd moved it to my wallet, but the value had risen so that it was £500 worth after a few hours and now it's £560 worth.

So if you make sure you buy low, the fees should be less of a concern. I think the most efficient way will be to deposit the money on an exchange. Then hold it as FIAT until the time is right to buy.

The ID verification is a good thing, it means they're doing the appropriate AML/KYC checks that would be required for any other type of financial exchange.

The first I bought was on localbitcoins, just £100 to dip my toe in the water. Probably the cheapest way, but it did feel incredibly shady chatting to some anonymous stranger telling you where to transfer the money.

[BrilloPad]

This was obvious from Dimons recent outburst.

Going by his 2015 outburst, How would he sack a trader that was trading an asset that had grown over 1000% to his latest outburst?

You can always trust a banker hey?

A pity he did not say the same about credit instruments in the early naughties.

And he spoke about instruments with no intrinsic value. Like the dollar. Maybe JPM should switch to just commodity trading. For other commodities.