Made this guide: www.bitcoinuk.blogspot.com

So far the cheapest way that I found to buy btc from UK..

Hope it helps.

I assume it was plugged on the charger.

As for me, I just PMed aethero on IRC.


Note: Non-authed, but his nick is password protected. People should probably standby until an official announcement.

Here comes the cavalry... bids filling in nicely in triple digits.  Get ready for $150.

Coma.

While WikileaksDude is right in his answer, his attitude in responding is awful. Don't pay him any attention.

What the hell wikileaksdude - why would you be such a jerk about it?

Stop press:  Economics Expert in suit and tie on Sky News says "It's totally unsafe. [People considering putting money into Bitcoin] might as well burn their money in a pile as far as I'm concerned. Yes, Bitcoin has doubled in value over the last month but it has every sign of being a bubble."

SELL SELL SELL 

The UK public is very, very stupid and scared.  Not sure when it happened, but nobody seems to want to take a risk anymore, unless the government tell them its ok.

It does seem to me that selling bitcoin voucher books in the form of paper wallets would actually have legs.

Its also quite easy to prove that the wallets have credits in them (see what I did there?   with a blockexplorer on your phone

Maybe that is the future for uk bitcoins - under the radar inflation proof internet vouchers that are accepted internationally - and can be sold in a boot sale?!

The return of the green shield stamps ?

Agreed. Peer-to-peer exchange / LocalBitcoins / Bitcoin-OTC type stuff may have to take up the slack. It may already be doing so, for all we know.

Franky1: this is exactly what I thought when I wrote to HMRC, my aim was simply to get it in black and white so as not to get hit with it later.  But based on this letter from HMRC clearly there will be no certainty until there is some kind of legal precedent.  I plan to send them further correspondence on this subject and see what they have to say about themselves.  First I need to do more research and have lots of nice snippets from their own documentation.

I would have thought that coinlab got insurance on Lloyds of London because that is just about the only place in the world that would consider providing a high sum assured contract covering Bitcoins.

I also think the UK is suffering due to the hurdle you have to get over just to get involved in Bitcoin. If you can't get bitcoin quickly and easily, it limits the number of people getting involved. Then you get a chicken and egg situation - a well-backed UK exchange that could meet the regulatory burden would probably be successful. But without one, there are not enough UK users to justify setting one up.

The biggest problem is that this is seen as a financial product or sorts.
If it was a virtual product, like a phone credit, it would not have to go through all these hoops in Europe.

Maybe the real answer is that as users with a drive to make bitcoin work in the UK and the EU, its up to us to define its position, rather than wait for the banks and government to do it for us?

If we are calling it a currency, its financial, and its going to be regulated to death.

If we call it an e-commerce voucher, the cat is still in the bag?

This might have legs?

That's an interesting thought - how about a casascius coin that won't be funded until a certain date, that could dodge some regulations?   

would a UK version of coinlab require the same regulatory approval as an exchange? as I see it coinlab sell you a certain number of BTC at a set price, selling it as a commodity rather than being involved in a currency exchange. It would seem to me that would be much easier to operate as you would essentially be selling virtual goods as opposed to currency trading. I have seen an offer for a uk based site in the marketplace run along similar lines and was considering it's potential.

I think once coinlab in US starts running then UK will follow, coinlab is actually going to have insurance for holdings via Lloyds of london, so the city boys know all about it.

As a UK based bitcoin enthusiast, and someone with a number of years as a business advisor, I have been looking at the UK bitcoin market to find a way to take advantage of the opportunity.

The biggest problem is that the UK is getting very risk averse and so anything which can be regulated, tends to get regulated as soon as someone can lobby for it.  Its getting very expensive to get into any market which involves anything to do with the finance industry. It is possible to start up under the branding of a partner, however, with no such regulations for bitcoin, its a bit of a zombie industry.

I would like to see if its possible to start an exchange based on bitcoin trading being entertainment and gaming, but that then puts you under the gambling regulations, which are possibly even harder to work with!

The main problem with the UK is that it has two masters.  The EU sets its directives, and UK agencies interpret them into laws and policies.  When it comes to business, bosses have to worry about satisfying both the local enforcing agencies as well as national agencies; all of them have to find things to get involve with to justify their funding - allegedly!

Running a business in the UK is hard work!

I came to the same conclusion as already said, with selling and buying bitcoins in the UK.
It is not easy but the problem stems from regulation issues and the few that did got burned by that, or got burned by an insider scamming them.
I opted to go with a European based company (France) - Bitcoin Centeral, so at the least, it would be less of an issue also one to known to have a good reputation and cooperation with their bank. Something which has been an issue for some in the past where the bank renegades on wanting anything to deal with them, so forced them to shut down operations in their country usually.

I do wish there was a few more in the UK, but on the upside there is so many in the uk, it's not difficult to find a private seller/buyer and do trades directly.

Thanks! - We applied for FSA oversight (book of documentation detailing processes, extortionate legal advice which was pretty worthless frankly etc etc) - and as I mentioned above, they (the FSA) wouldn't give it to us only because Bitcoins don't yet fall within the scope of their definition of money - ergo not regulated by them. The registration fee and three months waiting did buy us an official response indicating that no oversight was currently required however, so it wasn't a complete waste of time.

Regarding the second set of regulations; we do fall under the MLR's and that number from HMRC is still pending (bureaucracy at its finest). Our entire business is compliant to the level of a 'Small Payment Institution' - that's why we ask a lot more information than some of our competitors. Again, it's not that we wanted to do - why would any business want to put potential customers through that? - but we we're not likely to be around very long if we don't.

It remains to be seen how the recent recognition of 'Virtual Currencies' in the US plays out over here - the UK (and Europe) tend to tow the 'special relationship' line, so my guess (and it is a guess) is that within the next few months 'guidance' will be issued by Brussels and consequently the FSA/other European Union countries financial regulatory authorities requiring all businesses in this sphere to become compliant. In many ways, this isn't unreasonable - I guess existing companies that currently deal in the money business but not specifically BTC look on and think "Why do I have to be regulated if they don't?" - it kind of levels the playing field a bit.