Exchanges currently charge a small percentage of traded value both in fiat and Bitcoins as fees. In the example of MtGox, they earn
BTC0.006 and $0.6 if a Bitcoin is sold/bought for $100.
I find this rather unhealthy for the Bitcoin economy; it forces exchanges to trade Bitcoins themselves. If anything falls short of a 100% profit margin, exchanges have to cash out their Bitcoins frequently to pay for expenses, which makes things quite messy.
Why not impose an asymmetric fee? i.e. Approximately 1.2% in fiat, instead of 0.6% both ways. So if I sell
BTC1 for $100, I get around $98.8, and the buyer gets his whole
BTC1. Here are some effects on several parties involved:
- Reduces uncertainty for exchanges, and more subtly so for other people
- Increases apparent costs for merchants, while decreasing apparent costs for consumers
- Does not affect speculators (who buy Bitcoins and sell them at later date)
- May distort demand/supply slightly
There seem to be both advantages and disadvantages, but I think for most of us it is good in making things clearer.
Does anyone else here think this could be a viable idea? Not that I have any power over any Bitcoin exchange, but for me it would be nice to see this change.
