choosing a CC Exchange

planteria

working on something with some people i work with, and looking at the various Cryptocurrency exchanges.

have a LNS Hardware Wallet, and Sterling bank accounts, debit card and credit cards.. no Euro or Dollar accounts, though these could be set up if necessary.

Coinbase is getting a lot of attention, but i understand that they're not great value.. and i'm not bothered about using an app. access via a bog standard macbook on a website is fine.

Kraken and Gemini seem slick, but are not offering transactions in Sterling, so i assume there is an exchange rate as well as purchase trading fees.

Bitbargain seems a decent option, but they only allow access to Bitcoin and Litecoin, it seems.

what Exchanges do people here recommend?

onomatopoeia99

Have been looking into bitstamp, though they only offer USD and EUR, but seem to have much lower fees than coinbase.

Have recently got an acount with revolut for accepting EUR transfers, though haven't actually tried it yet.

I've held my BTC since I mined them almost four years and not looking to get out any time soon, nor to become a "day trader" type, just want to be ready if I decide the price is right to sell up.

planteria

agreed.. i have looked at Bitstamp, since bowlhead mentioned them in this thread: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5734347

i'm surprised they don't offer sterling transactions, as their principal office is in London, isn't it? if you were buying on Bitstamp would you just purchase in dollars, and use a UK debit card, accepting that there will be an exchange rate - presumably with some margin?

and yes, good luck:).

anyone any other suggestions, perhaps including exchanges which offer Sterling transactions?

elephantrosie

has anyone used gdax? same company as coinbase

bowlhead99

Bitstamp are primarily based in Slovenia, starting like many other exchanges as 'couple of guys in a garage' before expanding with demand and adding a UK and Luxembourg corporate entity on route to getting their financial services licence. They are not really 'based' in London, just they have a UK registered address at their law firm's office for their UK co. As FCA decided they didn't want to license bitcoin exchanges a few years ago, they spent a couple of years getting regulated as a payments services provider by Luxembourg instead.

I've only ever put money in or out via bank transfer as I have dollar and euro bank accounts. They do take credit cards but I don't know what their commission fee is for a purchase via that route. Quite high I expect as they will incur fees from the card service providers.

Also most credit cards charge a 2-3% currency rate load over the underlying spot rate provided by Visa, MC etc (though you may have a no load currency card as I do from Nationwide and Lloyds) so if you are looking to use a card rather than bank transfers to do foreign currency transactions on bitcoin sites - or indeed any kind of sites - be smart in what card you use.

Kraken is another large and professional site charging around 0.25% or less in fee commission on trades. As with Bitstamp their main fiat withdrawal options are USD or Euro bank transfer so you would face conversion fees from your bank if you only have GBP accounts. They offer some other currencies such as JPY or CAD but I expect that doesn't help you.

On a global scale, sterling settlement is something of a niche requirement. You can of course generally deposit & withdraw cryptocurrency for free so once you are 'in the ecosystem' you can find the most advantageous venue for your trades rather than stick with whomever helped you tto do the initial purchase.

With the massive press coverage of sky high BTC and crypto prices in recent weeks, many of the exhanges are struggling to handle volumes of new customer documentation and have delays on payment processing both in and out, as most businesses are not set up to handle that sort of spike in customer base.

Bitstamp:
https://www.bitstamp.net/article/update-high-demand/

Kraken:
https://blog.kraken.com/post/1399/degraded-service-upgrade-next-week/
https://blog.kraken.com/post/1413/update-on-system-performance-and-upgrade/

Coinbase:

Partially Degraded Service: Wire deposits and withdrawals may be delayed by up to 5 business days. Rejected & reversed wires will now be processed within 48 business hours. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

https://status.coinbase.com/

adindas

If you purchase bitcoin from Coinbase, BitStamp, Kraken which wallet do you use, your own personal wallet with your own Secure key or web base wallet ??

If using personal wallet what is the best way of doing it with no risk of loosing the ability to trade it or loosing access at all, due to software incompatibility for instance ??

planteria

thank you bowlhead.. if i could purchase using creditcards with no fees i would be all over it, as a stoozer. but cost efficiency is the way here. would it be worth opening another account, such as a dollar account with Lloyds? https://international.lloydsbank.com/products-and-services/current-accounts/?WT.ac=Retail_Nav_ICA

i assume you are asking bowlhead, adindas. i have an LNS wallet.

adindas

planteria wrote: »

thank you bowlhead.. if i could purchase using creditcards with no fees i would be all over it, as a stoozer. but cost efficiency is the way here. would it be worth opening another account, such as a dollar account with Lloyds? https://international.lloydsbank.com/products-and-services/current-accounts/?WT.ac=Retail_Nav_ICA

i assume you are asking bowlhead, adindas. i have an LNS wallet.

Thanks. I am asking each member who has knowledge about this.

I read about LNS wallet in here :
https://steemkr.com/cryptocurrency/@steeleminer/protect-your-cryptocurrency-with-a-hardware-wallet-ledger-nano-s-review

It seems to me like an encrypt USB stick. WIth Memory sticks, it sometimes happens that you can not read it anymore e.g. non compatibility with OS, physical memory damage, etc. With physical damage it could still be prevented by backing it up. But we have seen some old type of USB stick does not show in your computer. I do not know if there is any chance this sort of thing happen with LNS wallet ??

What happen in the future if your LNS wallet can not be read by the computer or there is a physical damage ??

fun4everyone

adindas wrote: »

What happen in the future if your LNS wallet can not be read by the computer or there is a physical damage ??

When you initialise your wallet it gives you 24 random words. Those words, in the correct order, can recreate your LNS on any compatible wallet. You write them down and keep them completely safe, seperate from your LNS in case of the situation you describe.

Superburge

I am having real problems with Coinbase. I have sent a SEPA payment via Barclays and was re-credited €8.80 on 19.12.17. HOWEVER - My bank account it STILL NOT VERIFIED and I do not understand why. As such I am unable to withdraw to my bank ? I have contacted coinbase via their online email system at least three times with no response. Result is my account is still not verified and I have lost big opportunities to capitalise on my investment. Can anyone please help me - I am in real desperation here.... Thanks.

planteria

are you having problems with Bitstamp now bowlhead?