Bitcoin Forum

Please give me your impressions with Bitstamp, are they safe and reliable for trading?

Relatively speaking yes, good interface

Moving btc out is better and easier than Gox and most other exchanges

Moving fiat in is the standard amount of pain

They seem reliable haven't really seen anyone complain about a hacked bitstamp or other scams.

Does anyone know which percentage of their bitcoins Bitstamp is keeping in cold storage?

In case of an inputs.io-like SNAFU, which % of your coins do you think you'll see back?

Also... When an exchange like that get owned (as obviously happens once in a while) and see their bitcoins stolen, will they use your account balance in EUR / USD to reimburse everybody?

(btw I opened an account there and scanned my driving license and an utility bill and I'm now verified)

they're pretty safe, so far I haven't heard that someone complained about them :)
they're a leading exchanger along with MtGox so spot on ;)

They have probably the least complains in this forum out of all the exchanges. I guess that says something  :P

I think so. It's one of the very few Bitcoin companies I'd currently trust.

So far, from the feedback here for the past 3-4 months, Bitstamp seems to be more reliable as compared to Mt Gox and BTC-E. Just keep it in mind that they are based in Slovenia.

So what?

Agreed, I'm very active in newbie area, but have never seen a single complaint against Bitstamp. Keep seeing bad reviews about MT.gox and btc-e every other day.

This (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/12/slovenia-banking-debts-fears-eu-bailout) might explain.... perhaps.

If an EU bail out occurs then that means agreeing to tough banking regulation terms.

I'm worried that they might be building up alot of good will and trust. Then one day bang, they hack and pack up and go.

At least the person who is running the exchange is well known.

Is his real identity known? Can you give me some info on him?

The real identity of the person who ran Litecoinglobal was also known. But in the end everyone lost money in that also.

Oh! That's not good news!
_____
I thought that you had problems with Slovenia because it's an eastern European country. Mistrust against those countries are still common (at least where I live).

Very likely. I doubt they are keeping people deposits separate from their business expenses. So they basicaly hope not everyone request withdraws of entire ballances at the same time

Other than a paper wallet in your pocket, nothing is 'safe'. As far as websites go, these guys are one of the better places to go at the moment.

Nothing is perfectly safe anywhere.
Even your paper wallet could get lost , you might drop it , it can get soak somebody could steal it from you.
There is no perfect way in which to hold your coins , and there is no perfect way in which to hold anything of value.

This I have to agree, but paper wallets is the most secure one if done right

/bad for identification documents/

My friend had problems when they requested his identity card scans. As allowed in their ToS/conditions, we'd put a gradient watermark on them in the areas with no information.
This was in case of a major leak/hack, to avoid the misuse of the documents.

They refused them systematically, even with transparent watermarks, citing their own ToS !!!


So we went elsewhere.

Did they give any explanation for that?

They refused it because of their ToS. Haven't you read what she wrote ?

What if she cites their own ToS, and asks about the reason?

What are you trying to say with this , cause the way you're saying it doesn't help that much?

How long a go did you open your account and wait to get verified? I opened mine a while a go and am still waiting... :(

~Foyz

It took me slightly more than a week.

I opened the account first then realized I needed to scan papers... No scanner here so I only got my scans 3 days later.

From the moment I uploaded the scans on Bitstamp.net it took me 3 days to pass from "PENDING" to "VERIFIED".

I'm now waiting to see how long a deposit (using EU SEPA wire transfer) takes to reach them (not too much money at first: nothing that I cannot afford to loose).

What's the point of putting watermarks in areas without informations anyway   ???

If you are ready to send your documents to them they should be moderately good. Wires and SEPA take sometime but better than some other exchangers.