Bitcoin Forum

Ok, here's the situation. It is currently "difficult" for people in the UK to get involved in these cryptocurrency without having pay at least 25% more than what they are currently worth through websites such as localbitcoin and bitcoinbargain. How hard would it be to create an exchange website like btc-e and MTGox that accepted UK balance transfers and other payment methods such as PingIt. An exchange where people in the UK, Europe etc could withdraw their money simply, without having to go through multiple transfer routes with high fees. There must be a reason why these websites don't exist yet and why you can't simple withdraw your funds straight into your bank account. Any advice would be greatly appreciated :)

Honestly, I've been looking into this and I think it's a question only a professional financial advisor could answer, so far I haven't really seen much of anything from UK politicians about this, that might have something to do with how they all seem to be above 50+ in age and barely manage to use twitter never mind have any knowledge on digital currencies.

The short answer is obviously very difficult, else it would exist.

Intersango had an exchange, but they got through 2 or 3 bank accounts in the UK before being shut down.

No idea what you are on about with the 25% though. bitstamp.net is very efficient, just a £9 charge to wire money to them with SEPA transfer. Give them a go. Its only 25% if you want to deposit £40 or something  :)

I think I might contact some PHP developers and see how hard it is to create a currency exchange website. I literally cannot understand why no one has created a UK version of those websites yet.

Not sure you would get an answer out of financial advisers. They tend to be geek without imaginations, not likely to inhabit the bitcoinosphere

FCA authorization and AML/KYC procedures. Code is nothing to do with it. It's cost us £25,000 simply to put an application in with the FCA.

The short answer is obviously very difficult, else it would exist.

Intersango had an exchange, but they got through 2 or 3 bank accounts in the UK before being shut down.

No idea what you are on about with the 25% though. bitstamp.net is very efficient, just a £9 charge to wire money to them with SEPA transfer. Give them a go. Its only 25% if you want to deposit £40 or something  :)
[/quote]

Thing is though they take 3-4 days before the funds are available and currently that can make a huge difference in value.

You are thinking bottom up instead of top down. Exchanges / exchange ideas fail in the UK because no banks want to deal with you. Don't waste your money on programming anything unless you have knowledge of all the paperwork you would have to do for each customer / transaction, that's if you could ever get a bank account in the first place. The UK is even more regulated than US / many places in Europe, hence no exchange. Nothing to do with PHP.

Just to update, margins are currently down to less than 5% on Local Bitcoins in the UK and have been for a couple of days now. Bitstamp is also cheap if you can wait for the coins.

Thing is though they take 3-4 days before the funds are available and currently that can make a huge difference in value.
[/quote]

When I put money in last month, it was 1 day. They must have got bogged down with all the new customers. In which case, its a bummer, but currently no way round it. Its never too late though, put money  in now, wait for another  crash and buy. Don't wait for the crash ..............

Damn you FSA ruining everyone's fun :( Ok what about creating a site like localbitcoin that's prices reflected the main exchanges more accurately?

Why not just use localbitcoin? You can't force prices on private exchanges done in person, that's for the "local market" to decide.

But like we said, what's wrong with bitstamp? Put money in today. The world will still be spinning Monday.

This thread answers a few questions...

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=49862.0

try bitcoin.de

Its the damn paperwork! :(

If you can talk a bank manager into not being scared off when a government official starts sniffing around your website and business practice, you've got a chance, but the reality is, that the UK doesn't like bitcoin!

I find localbitcoins is the best there is in the UK at the moment, although I also buy from the exchanges, and getting funds into OKPay can take a while!

;(

I think the best option is to wait until there is a stronger exchange in the EU

We are always going to be a few years behind the US with this!

Ok what about creating an online wallet that allowed to store BTC/LTC/FTC/NVC etc etc. One wallet to rule them all.....

Exchanges / exchange ideas fail in the UK because no banks want to deal with you.

this is what I did Monday 15th April:

07:00 using "transferwise" moved £ from my uk bank to "bitcoin-central" cost £1. confirmation came about 11:00hrs. Confirmation of receipt at bitcoin-central funds cleared at about 16:00hrs. Placed an order for bitcoins which was filled immediately @ euro=76 for 1 btc. transfered btc to wallet took 40 mins. job done. reg.





      tips:    1HuDKnHJy73CC2QjbqRrixTEzHd3EFEfRs

There's been a couple of threads on the topic of the lack of a UK-based exchange just in the last week:

The UK Public & Bitcoin
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=176717.0 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=176717.0)

How to solve UK Bitcoin Exchange Problem?
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=177059.0 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=177059.0)

Seems to be a general consensus that keeping the banks and the regulators happy may just be too hard/expensive.

Having said that, if buying bitcoins is treated broadly like sending foreign currency abroad then it occurs to me that there's tons of tiny little money remittance places all over London (often run out of the back of an ethnic food store / internet cafe) that let you send money internationally (often to somewhat unstable countries!) - surely they can't all have paid vast sums of money to register with the FCA?

their market depth is 0.  There are two asks at $99/btc and nothing more.  Trade volume ~0!

Adam

I have done this in the past, and while the saving for the transfer is good, the choice for buying bitcoins is awful - so effectively, you are still getting stung - just by someone else!

And another one here ...

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=158010.0 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=158010.0)

The demand is definitely there, anyway!

That's USD, their UK customers would likely trade in EUR or maybe GBP

It is unlikely you will see a UK exchange until such time as guidance is issued by the FSA with regards to 'virtual currencies'. Some more information here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=158010

An unofficial part of their job is keeping the established banksters' fun going.

Are there any cracks in the regulatory framework? Isle of Man, Guernsey, etc?

could always ask the prince of sealand.... jk

Id like to see a uk exchange as well, save all this hassle...failing that, just the ability to use US with gbp directly would be nice

What about the TransferWise plan - use it with Bitstamp ... it's pretty straightforward and will save you a fair bit of money on charges and exchange rates.

If you choose priority payment it always arrives the same day for a small fee, and still a lot cheaper than UKASH or using blockchain.info or any of the other solutions, all charging hefty fees...

always lands quickly with Bitstamp and it works with other exchanges as well. I've been sending about £1k at a time and payed about £16.85 for the service last time with "priority" same day transfer... but it would be about £5 for the exchange serice and upto 48 hours if I didn't choose priority.

Links here:

http://transferwise.com/u/211f

guide

http://bitcointransfer.blogspot.co.uk/