Bitcoin Forum

Every single bitcoin exchange that supports transfers in the EU seems to do that through a Polish bank - even if there's no apparent connection between the exchange and Poland.

I wonder why. Are the SEPA transaction fees lowest there? Is there less bureaucracy? Why not some other EU country?

It isn't just the same country, it is the same bank, right?

Not true. Bitstamp.net is based in Slovenia, and one of the largest European exchanges to my knowledge.

Certainly Eastern European countries will be favoured as there are few fewer regulations there compared with the FSA of the UK say.

Slightly OT

It's the Slovenia bit that bothers me, I am a fan of Bitstamp, I use them, very useable site but Slovenian banks are not in the healthiest of condition.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article-2301214/Slovenian-bailout-inevitable-Second-tiny-EU-state-caught-fallout-Cyprus-banks-crisis.html

It is the Bank Zachodni WBK S.A. in Poland belonging to the Santander Group.
As to why it is chosen by the 2 largest Bitcoin exchanges and many more i can only speculate, because its certainly not the fees nor their services. There are many banks in Poland offering much less bureaucracy and better customer support.
It might be the loyalty, since MtGox took over an account there, while prolly being rejected by most banks back in the days.
It might be because its impossible to chargeback from them.
But most probably its a fact known just to friends of DPR. ;)

Which exchanges use that bank?  Just Mt. Gox, or does BITSTAMP use it also?

Bitstamp uses Unicredit Banka Slovenija

beat me to it

Bitcoin-24.com uses it

They all use the bank zachodni because german banks close bank accounts if you trade with the wrong bitcoin user. It happened to many and im glad i read about it before risking my account. It would mean a lot of work and trouble.
They do this because they fear connection to money laundering. In order to not have work they close the account. There are enough other users that dont mean a risk or work.
Heres a thread about it. Unfortunately in german: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=98434.0

If I use Unicredit bank account but from another country, would that still give me low fees on wires?

They are EU so SEPAs are free.

How can a bank know with which bitcoin user I traded? Where can I read such issues in English? Dealing with reputable exchanges is OK with the banks? Well, what is reputable.

Im not sure how the banks are handling it but i believe when a private persons bank account has unusal high transactions with many different actions they will be cautious. They will fear money laundering and will close the account because its easier to close the account than checking if its really money laundering. They have enough customers that wont make them such work left.

Then they check the other users that traded with that account and so on. If they make the work to ask back what it was about and they hear "Bitcoin" most banks will close the account. Bank Zachodni is a bank that wont close so fast. Thats why they is used for that.

I wouldnt advise using your normal bank account for transaction with private persons, only with exchanges. At least iam wouldnt want to risk losing the account i use for my daily live.

I will add something to this: Bank Zachodni actually charges about 1.20 EUR per each incoming SEPA transfer, which means they make a lot of money off people who have lots of incoming transfers, so that may be one of the reasons they are not closing these accounts - as the account makes them enough income to deal with it even if there is a problem.

For banks where incoming transfers are free of charge, such customers don't make them any money, and if they have more work with these accounts, they are actually losing money, so they're more keen to close the accounts.

Is there any service on the forum which "helps" to open a bank in Poland remotely ?

Yes, its called Ryanair ;)

Seriously, no bank in Poland, and probably most if not all other countries, will open a bank account to a foreigner who didn't come at least once to the bank branch physically.

There are banks which have methods of opening accounts without coming to the branch physically, but these methods work only if you are a local resident, as they require local ID numbers or similar stuff like that, that the bank can verify some way that you actually exist. Foreigners must just come to the bank branch physically, period. In most places of the world, except perhaps some typical offshore heavens where foreigners are the majority of their banks customers.

I only have read that most users used google translate to understand the forms. I doubt you have to visit them.

I have lived in Poland for about 10 years, it's possibly because of the sheer number of different banks, well over 50 last time I checked. With such compitition perhaps they have to offer something others can't/wont. Also Poland's MASSIVELY into tech, up there with the world leaders.

Although the sheer amount of banks, neither will accept bank account opening for foreigners online.
And concerning the fees: Polish banks or rather the regulators are pretty resistant to EU regulations, but by February they will have to comply and SEPAs will be free according to the regulation from 2009.

okay but, which banks are healthier in this times?  ::)

That bailout has been looming for over 2 years.
But although this is hard id atm go with an US bank(ofc not for btc).

That was 8 months ago and things didn’t look too healthy in Slovenia after the Cyprus crisis.

With other banks getting cranky about bitcoin since then, Barclays pingit>Blockchain, Transferwise’s bank stopping SEPAs to the exchanges, I’m beginning to think that their bank being in Slovenia might be a plus.

Though the EU-Area includes a number of countries. If might be hard to open an account for a US-Citizen but a EU-Citizen shouldnt have a problem.

No experience with that, sorry.
But a US citizen can still open a business in Poland and be governed by their laws.

Right... though i would think most users here would see opening a business as overkill. Or is it that bad with banks in other areas of the world?

You can always go offshore, but as far traveling costs and availability is a concern id rather stay in the EU.

Has Transferwise made an announcement concerning this or is this based on experience?
Not that i would trust them any more than PP, since they are based in the UK and although dealing through an Estonian bank your data goes straight to the US.

Both, a real shame, their fees for SEPA are very low.

https://transferwise.com/blog/2013-04/notice-to-bitcoin-users-april-2013

Maybe dumb question but when A bank close your bank account it means it eats your money or let you transfer your funds to your account held with bank B?

I believe the funds are locked until the problems are solved. Thats what happened to the bank accounts of bitcoin-24.com too.