A few weeks ago i stumbled upon bitcoin after reading a few articles and news-segments. It didn't take long for me to start reading up, and as i kept reading, i was completely overwhelmed by the sheer brilliance of the bitcoin concept. Needless to say, i have built a very solid understanding of bitcoin in its entirety, and i follow several forums, youtube channels, news-sites and so forth, making sure i catch the latest news and discussions.
About one week ago i decided it was time to invest in bitcoin, and i started looking at the exchanges in order to decide which one was most suitable. What i found out was quite demoralizing and frustrating. As most of you probably know, sites such as Coinbase, Mtgox and Bitstamp require a very tedious and demanding process in order to complete a transaction for bitcoins. I won't go into specifics, but it obviously takes a lot of time and effort in order to get your account verified, your transaction approved, and eventually your exchange completed.
It was not until i found a site based in my home country, Norway, that i was able to easily transfer funds to my newly created account and proceed to exchange my local currency for bitcoins. All in a matter of two days, without any verification requirement or tedious process. I cannot emphasize how thrilled i was when everything came together and i was able to almost effortlessly purchase bitcoins.
The point of this thread is not to discuss my personal transaction history, but rather to bring up a very important issue. As far as i can tell, most exchanges (especially the major ones) all require this type of tedious and demanding process of verification and long waiting times in order to transfer funds to your account. This is a major issue for most people, and it creates a barrier of entry in to bitcoin that is simply too steep for the general public.
Here i Norway we can use
www.justcoin.com, which basically lets us complete all necessary steps as follows:
1. Create account name (e-mail) & password
2. Enter full name, address, telephone number and date of birth
3. Enable two-face authentication through your mobile phone (download Google Authenticator App)
4. Transfer funds from your online bank-site by manually entering Justcoin's information and transferring desired amount.
5. Wait 1-2 bank-days (Monday through Friday)
6. Justcoin verifies the transaction by making sure the name of your account corresponds with the name of the bank-account owner
7. Success, you now have desired amount in your Justcoin balance, ready to be instantly exchanged to bitcoins
Why cannot the major exchange sites such as the previously mentioned ones use this type of system? Why would there be a verification requirement and up to one week wait-time for approvals and confirmations?
I know these sites are all based in different countries that use different rules and laws, however i highly doubt the differences makes for such large gaps in difficulty and waiting times?
Please discuss.
