Bitcoin Forum

Economy => Service Discussion => Topic started by: zakalwe on March 24, 2014, 08:35:20 PM



Title: Bitcoin-central
Post by: zakalwe on March 24, 2014, 08:35:20 PM
Hello all,
I am (I should say was) a "lucky customer" of bitcoin-central. I have just discovered that if I want to withdraw bitcoin, I have to wait for 10pm - 11pm. Yes you read well, they only proceed between this hour. Furthermore, this happens only if your request happens within 5pm, otherwise your withdrawal will take place between 10pm - 11pm of the NEXT day.

I thought they were joking. They were not. They say it's because of security.

The last time I heard these kind of b.....okay, I try and behave. The last time I heard such answers, it happened from....guess who? Yessssssss MTGOX! So you understand me if ALL my alarms ring like the Titanic sirens.....

I LOVE bitcoin and cryptos because they can move value in time zero (more or less). And what do they do? They annihilate it!

LOL!

A little note: they are a branch of paymium, which is a payment institution of France.

Bankers..........

I am literally amazed.

Of course I am moving all my bitcoins and fiat well away from them.


Cheers.


Title: Re: Bitcoin-central
Post by: counter on March 24, 2014, 08:39:20 PM
Thanks alot for posting the experience you having with Bitcoin-cenral.  I hope this isn't a sign of bad things to come but it was a great idea to post a thread and get a discussion going before hand.


Title: Re: Bitcoin-central
Post by: Ultros on March 24, 2014, 08:44:08 PM
Never got any problem with BTC-central. Yes they are slow, but rarely (if never) late.


Title: Re: Bitcoin-central
Post by: EuroTrash on March 24, 2014, 08:56:46 PM
This one should be moved to Service Discussion.

Apart from that, I have no problems with bankers holding and maybe insuring bitcoin deposits for people who are unwilling or unable to manage their own security.


Title: Re: Bitcoin-central
Post by: zakalwe on March 24, 2014, 09:00:20 PM
This one should be moved to Service Discussion.

Apart from that, I have no problems with bankers holding and maybe insuring bitcoin deposits for people who are unwilling or unable to manage their own security.

I would agree with you if they wouldn't mess it up. Would you accept to manage YOUR bitcoin only in that hour window? They must to change it. Until now I had zero problems with them, but this is not tolerable in my opinion. It's too big.


Title: Re: Bitcoin-central
Post by: zakalwe on March 24, 2014, 09:01:01 PM
Never got any problem with BTC-central. Yes they are slow, but rarely (if never) late.

Try to withdraw bitcoin and let me know what happened.


Title: Re: Bitcoin-central
Post by: zakalwe on March 24, 2014, 09:03:10 PM
And I guess they should inform their customer that they process bitcoin withdrawals only during one hour.


Title: Re: Bitcoin-central
Post by: Ultros on March 24, 2014, 09:03:55 PM
Never got any problem with BTC-central. Yes they are slow, but rarely (if never) late.

Try to withdraw bitcoin and let me know what happened.

Did it multiple times. Got my bitcoins in 24h max, no problem.

It's clearly said in their FAQ. They withdraw once every day (monday to friday).


Title: Re: Bitcoin-central
Post by: thezerg on March 24, 2014, 09:20:19 PM
I have no experience with bitcoin-central, but given all the recent coin losses on exchanges I'm ok with daily BTC withdrawals.  If some exchange wants to essentially have a hot wallet of size zero, and personally humanly, OK distributions from a cold wallet once a day then I think that's probably a good idea. 

You shouldn't be holding your coins on an online exchange anyway.  You can still spend coins that you are holding personally instantly so the only people this will inconvenience are arbitragers.



Title: Re: Bitcoin-central
Post by: zakalwe on March 24, 2014, 09:24:19 PM
I have no experience with bitcoin-central, but given all the recent coin losses on exchanges I'm ok with daily BTC withdrawals.  If some exchange wants to essentially have a hot wallet of size zero, and personally humanly, OK distributions from a cold wallet once a day then I think that's probably a good idea. 

You shouldn't be holding your coins on an online exchange anyway.  You can still spend coins that you are holding personally instantly so the only people this will inconvenience are arbitragers.



I use to have more litecoin than bitcoin. The ones I had there was only for trade.

But I could need them quickly. The cold storage and the one hour window in my opinion is an alibi. The same the banks use to have. You can't have this behavior in bitcoin world.



Title: Re: Bitcoin-central
Post by: zakalwe on March 24, 2014, 09:24:46 PM
Never got any problem with BTC-central. Yes they are slow, but rarely (if never) late.

Try to withdraw bitcoin and let me know what happened.

Did it multiple times. Got my bitcoins in 24h max, no problem.

It's clearly said in their FAQ. They withdraw once every day (monday to friday).

My bad, I didn't read the FAQ.


Title: Re: Bitcoin-central
Post by: zakalwe on March 24, 2014, 09:26:22 PM
I guess we need a decentralized exchange. Absolutely. And quickly.



Title: Re: Bitcoin-central
Post by: Paymium_Support on March 25, 2014, 03:59:21 PM
Hi zakalwe !
Paymium / Bitcoin-Central support here.

I'm sorry to learn your unsatisfaction towards Bitcoin-Central, however I'm afraid there is a bit of misunderstanding in your OP.



I have just discovered that if I want to withdraw bitcoin, I have to wait for 10pm - 11pm. Yes you read well, they only proceed between this hour. Furthermore, this happens only if your request happens within 5pm, otherwise your withdrawal will take place between 10pm - 11pm of the NEXT day.

I thought they were joking. They were not. They say it's because of security.


Bitcoin withdrawals are verified and processed once a day on weekdays. That is because we run a manual check of every withdrawal request to ensure maximum security.
We have no hot wallet.

Let me walk you through the scenarios :
- BTC Withdrawal < 1BTC : verified and processed by night on weekdays.
- BTC Withdrawal > 1BTC : verified and processed by night on weekdays, provided you have 2FA set up on your account.
- BTC Withdrawal > Very large BTC sum : we might reach you by phone just to make sure before sending out the coins :)

Our FAQ is available here (https://bitcoin-central.net/page/help).
If you would like to know more, feel free to read this post : Security, solvency and transparency of a Bitcoin exchange (http://blog.bitcoin-central.net/2014/03/01/security-solvency-and-transparency-of-a-bitcoin-exchange/)


A little note: they are a branch of paymium, which is a payment institution of France.

Bankers..........

Paymium is the company behind Bitcoin-Central, operating since 2011.
Paymium is a small-sized company with experienced and passionate people. We are not bankers.

We do have a licensed Payment Institution partner (Lemon Way) to operate within the bounds of law in the EU.
Each customer account is linked to a payment account held for you by a licensed Payment Institution partner: you send euros to an account owned by you to purchase bitcoins.
Bottom line is : we don't have your Euros deposits on our corporate bank account.


By the way, Thursday, we hosted our first in-house Bitcoin meetup. We had a great turnout, over 70 people showed up. So if you're in Paris, come and meet us !
https://i.imgur.com/sFJq0Z2.jpg


Let me know if you need more info or if you have any comment. We welcome your input.


Kind regards,

Support team
Bitcoin-Central by Paymium (http://bitcoin-central.net)


Title: Re: Bitcoin-central
Post by: testsetest on March 30, 2014, 05:25:33 PM
@Paymium_Support , @davout

I have been a US customer of bitcoin central for several years now, before you switched your terms of service to only accepting eurozone clients. You had previously verified my identity, accepted my bank transfer, and allowed me to make purchases on your exchange before changing your ToS.

I've been attempting to secure a mechanism to access my coins since last fall (October) via your support email and recently a ticket in your support system but have not been able to do so. Initially you said a mechanism to do this would be available via the website and then you were doing it manually, but haven't received any ETA as to when to the transfer is expected (I last contacted you about a month ago).

I understand that as a small business you are busy / have lots of happenings, but as an early customer I have to say I am a bit disappointed about the lack of transparency. Especially with news such as the mt.gox affair popping up every so often, and the volatility of the bitcoin market, I'd assume that legitimate businesses and exchanges would want to do their upmost to preserve their reputation / resolve situations quickly.

I'd be happy to reply to this thread once this situation is resolved and I've confirmed I have the bitcoins in my possession. Thank you for your time.


Title: Re: Bitcoin-central
Post by: Paymium_Support on March 30, 2014, 06:18:37 PM
@Paymium_Support , @davout

I have been a US customer of bitcoin central for several years now, before you switched your terms of service to only accepting eurozone clients. You had previously verified my identity, accepted my bank transfer, and allowed me to make purchases on your exchange before changing your ToS.

I've been attempting to secure a mechanism to access my coins since last fall (October) via your support email and recently a ticket in your support system but have not been able to do so. Initially you said a mechanism to do this would be available via the website and then you were doing it manually, but haven't received any ETA as to when to the transfer is expected (I last contacted you about a month ago).

I understand that as a small business you are busy / have lots of happenings, but as an early customer I have to say I am a bit disappointed about the lack of transparency. Especially with news such as the mt.gox affair popping up every so often, and the volatility of the bitcoin market, I'd assume that legitimate businesses and exchanges would want to do their upmost to preserve their reputation / resolve situations quickly.

I'd be happy to reply to this thread once this situation is resolved and I've confirmed I have the bitcoins in my possession. Thank you for your time.

Hi testsetest !


Our support team isn't available at the moment (since it's sunday evening).
Could you send us a private message with your BC account number (BC-UXXX...), your name or your signup e-mail, and we'll check your ticket first thing tomorrow and come back with an update.
Sounds like a plan ?


Kind regards,

Support team
Bitcoin-Central by Paymium (http://bitcoin-central.net)



Title: Re: Bitcoin-central
Post by: testsetest on April 09, 2014, 03:26:56 PM
I'd be happy to reply to this thread once this situation is resolved and I've confirmed I have the bitcoins in my possession. Thank you for your time.

As promised paymium / bitcoin central forwarded the bitcoins last Friday evening.

Overall this took a little while longer than I'd hoped, but in the end they were courteous & fulfilled thier obligation so no harm no foul.


Title: Re: Bitcoin-central
Post by: btcfre@k on April 09, 2014, 04:18:29 PM
im not a big fan of davout and paymium.but if you dont wana get GOXED thats the rules.b-c is pretty safe,but i admit would be great if they manually withdraw 4 or 5 times every days..on btc-e you got money hold...thats not better.


Title: Re: Bitcoin-central
Post by: samson on April 09, 2014, 04:24:48 PM
Welcome to the future. With so many hackers targeting Bitcoin exchanges lately I think this is a good step and will almost certainly protect you from losses should an exchange become compromised.

The 'best' hackers in the world appear to be targeting Crypto exchanges and they are doing everything they can to steal all your money.


Title: Re: Bitcoin-central
Post by: NLCOINER on April 18, 2014, 10:01:59 AM
Be Careful!

Watch out with these thieves running Bitcoin-Central!

http://thebitcoinnews.co.uk/2014/04/13/bitcoin-central-net-insolvent-the-french-bitcoin-association-and-the-relation-to-mtgox/

Whole thread about their previous business where they stole A LOT of Bitcoins!

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=167215.msg6278648#msg6278648

You have been warned, before they get "hacked" again and take your Bitcoins!


Title: Re: Bitcoin-central
Post by: Paymium_Support on April 18, 2014, 10:59:04 AM
I'd be happy to reply to this thread once this situation is resolved and I've confirmed I have the bitcoins in my possession. Thank you for your time.

As promised paymium / bitcoin central forwarded the bitcoins last Friday evening.

Overall this took a little while longer than I'd hoped, but in the end they were courteous & fulfilled thier obligation so no harm no foul.


Hi testsetest,

Thank you for your kind reply.

Best regards,
Bitcoin-Central by Paymium (http://bitcoin-central.net) Support team


Title: Re: Bitcoin-central
Post by: Paymium_Support on April 18, 2014, 11:02:55 AM
Hi NLCOINER,

I'd love to help if you're experiencing an issue on Bitcoin-Central.
Please open a ticket once you're logged in : https://bitcoin-central.net/page/help/tickets (https://bitcoin-central.net/page/help/tickets)

Best regards,
Bitcoin-Central by Paymium (http://bitcoin-central.net) support team


Title: Re: Bitcoin-central
Post by: NLCOINER on April 22, 2014, 11:08:48 AM
Be Careful!

Watch out with these thieves running Bitcoin-Central!

http://thebitcoinnews.co.uk/2014/04/13/bitcoin-central-net-insolvent-the-french-bitcoin-association-and-the-relation-to-mtgox/

Whole thread about their previous business where they stole A LOT of Bitcoins!

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=167215.msg6278648#msg6278648

You have been warned, before they get "hacked" again and take your Bitcoins!

The main thief, David Francois (DAVOUT) is a moderator for the french part of bitcointalk.

This past wknd, in the following thread "somebody" deleted my post in which I warn others. I wonder who that somebody is??? Was it somebody who works as moderator on the French board???

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=109271.msg6336646#msg6336646


Title: Re: Bitcoin-central
Post by: BitcoinSitesOrg on April 25, 2014, 09:33:59 AM
Review of Bitcoin Central by BitcoinSites.Org bitcoinsites.org/bitcoin-central (http://bitcoinsites.org/bitcoin-central/)


Title: Re: Bitcoin-central
Post by: Phinnaeus Gage on April 25, 2014, 11:46:42 PM
Surely, this isn't the bank that's backing Bitcoin-Central, is it?

http://www.wonderbank.com/en/firm/news

Quote
lemon way’s brand identity sheet

Lemon Way is a software editor of mobile banking and mobile payment solutions, for the telecom, banking and finance sectors, including electronic payment and intermediary payment-processing companies.

Lemon Way also operates as an intermediary payment company (Payment Service Provider), using a light platform based on 3 key cornerstones : retailer bank, customer bank and « LemonWay.fr », the company’s mobile payment service. This electronic money chain handles mobile payment security problems and combats money laundering and fraud. « Lemonway.fr » offers payment accounts, which are accessible via a standard mobile phone or more sophisticated smartphones.

 

No cash, check, or credit card:

- “I leave my house with my mobile phone, which I never forget”

- “I can make purchases for small amounts without needing to enter a PIN number or a PIN code using a payment card”

- “With a NFC phone, I can pay in a few seconds, whilst choosing the payment source via a mobile payment application: my mobile account, my standard bank account - immediately debited-, or any other from 40 different payment methods.

Lemon Way is a real inter-banking hub, which facilitates payment between individuals, small shops and professionals, knowing that more than 60% of retailers are small businesses, and that most of small shops refuse credit card payment for less than 30 Euros amounts.

 

Pay your gardener, baby-sitter, children, cheese monger, osteopath, hairdresser, plumber, etc. with your mobile phone: All do not accept credit cards and consider checks too heavy to manage and cash painful and risky.

Mobile payment is the way of the future, Lemon Way is the partner you are looking for.

No wonder Paymium, et al. opted not to link to http://www.lemonway.fr/

Hell, Lemon Way doesn't even mention Bitcoin on its site: https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Awww.lemonway.fr+bitcoin&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS549US549&oq=site%3Awww.lemonway.fr+bitcoin&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i58.8545j0j4&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=122&ie=UTF-8

https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Awww.wonderbank.com+bitcoin&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS549US549&oq=site%3Awww.wonderbank.com+bitcoin&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i58.13758j0j4&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=122&ie=UTF-8

What kind of fuckin' racket are they running here?


Title: Re: Bitcoin-central
Post by: Phinnaeus Gage on April 26, 2014, 12:32:37 AM
Has anybody been curious as to why Bitcoin-Central no longer uses Aqoba, opting for Lemon Way as their banking partner?

Lots of the work that we do is unseen.

At Paymium we spent lots of time and energy talking about Bitcoin to our regulating bodies, the Banque de France, the ACP (French equivalent of the American SEC), TRACFIN (AML French supervising body) etc. We engaged all these resources with one goal in mind : get these people to know Bitcoin, advocate our beloved crypto-currency and listen to them, help them think until they finally reach the same conclusion as we did : there's nothing wrong with people being free.

There's nothing wrong with people freely exchanging value, we don't hurt anybody, we're not forcing anyone to use Bitcoin, we simply want to see our dream and the future of money become a reality.

After all this patient work and lobbying we're finally happy and proud to announce that Bitcoin-Central.net (https://bitcoin-central.net) becomes today the first Bitcoin exchange operating within the framework of European regulations. Since 2010 we kept learning, when mtgox got kicked out of France for not complying with the law we learnt from it, when our banks gave us a hard time we learnt from it, when we discussed with smart people on these very forums we learnt from it.

From monitoring the regulatory field we learned that TRACFIN knew about Bitcoin, that the ECB knew about Bitcoin. And that they were both worried.

So we felt that if no one went there, and told these people about Bitcoin, they would come to us anyway.

We're therefore extremely proud and happy to announce that Bitcoin-Central.net (https://bitcoin-central.net) will be raising the bar for all the other exchanges, at least the ones operating in Europe.

We're announcing today that Bitcoin-Central.net (https://bitcoin-central.net) is getting, through a partnership with Aqoba, allowed to operate like a bank, (or more precisely like a PSP which is basically the same as a bank, just without the debt-money issuing part).

Some people might argue that regulation is a bad thing. We respect this opinion, but we'll have to agree to disagree.

But this is not only some regulatory detail, it has dramatic implications for us, our users, and... our competition ;)

Let's go over a couple of them:
  • Our user's funds will actually be held at Aqoba's partner financial institution under the user's name, they will be separate from Paymium's funds (on the other hand, all of other exchanges funds for example sit in the same account, and are considered by their bank to be their corporate property)
  • Our user's accounts will be protected by the "Garantie des dépôts" which is the French equivalent of the American FDIC (the insurance cap applies to each account individually, and not to the sum of all user balances, so unless your EUR balance exceeds 100kEUR your fiat is 100% insured by the French taxpayer)
  • Each account will in a few months get its very own IBAN number, users will be able to use it as any other bank account, have their salaries and pensions sent there and have them automatically converted to Bitcoin if they so wish)
  • Each user will soon be able to order its own debit card that will use their EUR and BTC balance to honor purchases and cash withdrawals
  • We'll have direct access to the banking networks which will let us 100% automate all incoming and outgoing transfers
  • Corporations will have an actual financial institution talking with them if they wish to start accepting Bitcoin and be safe from a regulatory point of view
  • Paymium will have a much better legal standing and a much higher attractivity for second and third-round investors
  • Paymium will be in a much better position to make its vision become true : make all our transactions, be they denominated in crypto or fiat currency, flow through the pipes of the Bitcoin network

BUT, that doesn't mean more hassle for our users, since we know exactly what is legally required we can already tell them that a simple ID will remain sufficient to fully verify an account.

It's a big day for me and Paymium, and it's a major milestone for this community.


Title: Re: Bitcoin-central
Post by: NLCOINER on April 28, 2014, 02:32:44 PM
Everyone be warned!!!

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=587757.msg6439381#msg6439381

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=167215.msg6278648#msg6278648

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=587245.0