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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

Apologies - completely missed the posts. Some new developments are in the pipe and (we hope) the feedback raised so far will be addressed. When is this coming? The developments are in QA at the moment...but all I can say with certainty is 'soon'

I cannot comment on your accusations, however if Mt.Gox were to disappear overnight it is doubtful the remaining contenders would be able to pickup the slack. Mt.Gox is a result of inadequate or inexperienced competition in a relatively new market. Much as many people here dislike traditional currency markets, they've had many talented individuals over many years to get them working. If you consider the banking system alone; 100's maybe 1000's of disparate banking networks globally all gradually harmonizing to permit the transfer of value. The magnitude of such a task is mind boggling. The fact you can get money from A-B without having to bring it over in a sack is quite the modern marvel.

As your article intimates; designing robust, reliable, scalable software is not simple, quick or easy. Software surprises you in ways you never thought possible, and massive scalability brings a whole new dimension to those surprises. Mt.Gox is not perfect, but calling for its head serves no useful near-term benefit for Bitcoin or it's adoption as a truly global medium for the transfer of value.

As a side note; that's a nice suit.

The problem isn't specifically Mt.Gox, it's the fact they like just about every other FIAT<->Bitcoin business, were wholly unprepared for the onslaught in demand. I cannot help but notice that Bitstamp (an often vaunted alternative) is as I write this, also offline.

Bitcoin as a technology seems pretty robust and fairly scalable but it is the supporting businesses that provide migration to and from traditional currency networks into Bitcoin and its derivatives that are the weakest link. There is no denying alot of this has to do with greed, FIAT<->Bitcoin businesses see huge profits if they realise the significant potential volume that has landed on their doorsteps, the only problem is their infrastructure (much like the recent upward swing in Bitcoin pricing) cannot sustain indefinite growth. Something has to give, and that something is more often than not the software underpinning these businesses. If a few of these businesses managed their numbers rather than operating an open door policy, it would be a win win for everyone. On the one hand some potential customers will be unhappy, but they at least don't lose any money and can always apply again. Likewise, the business can then scale its infrastructure gradually ensuring its existing customer base retains access to a functioning market... which is kind-of the whole point of this exercise.

 

  

You may want to post in this thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=128314.0 - I believe their support personnel actively monitor it, so you may receive a more timely response than posting here.

Maybe the payment cutoff time is a factor. Certainly in the UK, under the Payment Services Regulations 2009, the banks are obliged to credit the money as soon as it arrives*. I guess interpretation of the EU regulations may vary from country to country.

Edit: *Well, the same or next business day if the payment arrives after the cutoff time.

Just so you are aware, the maximum time between a SEPA payment order being raised and the value of the order being credited to the beneficiary account is no longer than one business day - ref: http://www.gtb.db.com/content/en/858.html. In some cases same day credit transfers are available when a payment order is made before a specified time. If you're waiting longer than 1 business day (that's Monday to Friday, with payments on Friday arriving on the following Monday), you shouldn't be.

An interesting series of videos posted by another individual in another thread: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE8i-4HpKlM (Applies to the UK banking sector)

Companies House is the registration point for all companies in the UK: http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/

The register is publicly searchable here: http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk//wcframe?name=accessCompanyInfo or you can use third party sites like Duedil: https://www.duedil.com/ which tend to collate information from multiple sources and so may provide you with a more detailed picture.

I believe (and I'm not BitPay either) that they ensure that the merchant and the seller get whatever is quoted in the 15 minute window - hence the reason its only valid for 15 minutes. So - if you buy a $75 printer @ 1 BTC - the merchant gets $75 and you pay 1 BTC, even if BTC rises or falls. I believe that merchants can also choose to denominate their account balance or a portion thereof, in Bitcoin minus the ~3% transaction fee. Of course, any merchant holding Bitcoin is effectively agreeing to take on the market risk (rises - great, falls - not so great). How BitPay handles refunds I am unsure...

I can't imagine the current trend is good for BitPay, WalletBit or any of the other payment processors. As a commodity; Bitcoin is great because the price keeps going up (for now...caveat emptor), but for merchants it must be off putting to see a complete lack of stability - unless you live in Zimbabwe of course. It would seem likely that the adoption rate by merchants might drop off somewhat until some sort of leveling out occurs.

I guess the main problem is waiting for the value to stabilize. I can't seen how many individuals or businesses would want to pay their bills at the present time when, for ever extra hour they hold their coins they appreciate by several cents. This current rise cannot be good for any merchants denominating their goods or services in Bitcoin or even just accepting payment in Bitcoin.

Perhaps we can help if you're in the UK and have a UK bank account. We do not accept UKash. If you want more information you can send me a private message.

I'm sorry you encountered an issue. Software being software, nothing is ever 100% perfect no matter how much testing it goes through. I've raised the issue to our development guys and they'll investigate and hopefully put a fix in place once they've identified the issue. Thanks for the heads up - the feedback is appreciated!

Thank you both for your feedback. I've passed it on to the developers!

I'm not entirely sure what you'd like me to say in this context? 18 is the age (in the UK) in which you are deemed an adult and therefore deemed competent to enter into a legally binding agreement. It's also the age at which you can start drinking... legally

That's our company policy I'm afraid

I can't comment on your specific order as I don't have the details in-front of me, but basically our system works like this: Our system works by effectively buying-by-proxy - and its correct that we are not buying in BTC/GBP. We can't - only GOX has a GBP wallet and that through the Japanese bank deposit. So initially we fill our wallets with whatever the best value currency we can get is (EUR or USD typically) from our bank.  We then take GBP value of your deposit (less fee) - multiply it by whatever the exchange rate is for that currency (this is the exchange rate we got when we made our deposit - not the inter-bank lending rate) and create a BUY order for the resultant amount in the required currency at the target exchange. We only complete an order when we've consumed the full amount of fiat that we calculated the order was worth in the currency the exchange wallet is denominated in at whatever price is necessary to fulfill it. So technically, all or part of the order could (though unlikely) end up paying the exchange high price for that time period. When the exchange spits out a value to tell us how many coins we received for X fiat - we send you that value and record the details (which you can view in 'Recent Transactions' on our site).

We are designed to be a fast, reliable (hopefully) mechanism for purchasing BTC - but not necessarily the cheapest.

Bitcoin does provide a great level of transaction simplicity and pseudo anonymity, but sadly Fiat <-> Bitcoin services (like ours) cannot - not if we want to be around for any length of time. Don't forget you're not interacting with just Bitcoin, you're interacting with the traditional financial system and all the requirements it imposes as well.

Our approach from the outset has been to treat our Bitcoin <-> Fiat service as requiring regulatory oversight (It was a gamble) and therefore the processes and procedures we've put in place are designed to meet that requirement - at least to the level of a 'Small Payment Institution'. For a comparison; check out the client registration requirements at equivalent companies in the same sector albeit providing traditional currency conversion services such as Transfer-Wise, Currency Fair and 1st Contact Forex. You are unlikely to find one that operates without either FSA or HMRC approval within the United Kingdom or that provides significantly less identity requirements.

As an aside; we sought FSA approval (you can read more about that here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=158010.0), but did not receive it because Bitcoin falls into the grey area with regards to their current definition of money - however everything we've put in place ensures that we meet this requirements when regulation becomes mandatory (I personally believe this will be in a matter of months given the exponential growth of 'Virtual Currencies' and the guidance issued by FinCen in the United States). I'd also add we still have an HMRC application still in progress. 

Its understandable that not everyone feels comfortable giving this amount of information to a third party; but it's a double edged sword. Wild west business ventures thrown up in a week are likely to last as long - with a generally rougher experience and no recourse for customers when things go wrong. When we say things like we have a 'segregated client funds account' - it means just that. But all this comes at a price. Obviously, if you judge it to be beyond what you're willing to pay there are thankfully plenty of other avenues available to perform transactions (but without as nice as an experience as ours ).

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.