How safe are these "so called" Bitcoin Banks?

[bitbaby]

I recently saw someone advising services like these to newbies who asked "where to invest" and I just wanted to know what are your views on such services which are now advertising themselves as Bitcoin Banks and offering interest to people to keep their coins with them?

[The Sceptical Chymist]

I have yet to see anything like a real bank for bitcoin that's legitimate.  There was Bitcoin Savings and Trust (remember that?), but that's the only one I recall that was trying to do what big banks do, and it obviously turned out to be a scam and a half.  There may be advertisements and such on the Ponzi section of this forum but I don't know of any real opportunities and I'm not even sure if anything like that is going to or even can happen.  As it stands, btc's market cap is <10 billion and that's not a lot.

[BTCBinary]

That's a good question. Judging by history and by history repeating itself over and over, there is no way I can Trust an exchange or any bitcoin financial service. I simply have to learn to live with that and be prepared for their wrong doings

[Kprawn]

The whole point of Bitcoin in my opinion is to get rid of the old model and replacing it with something better... if we apply the same old fiat model to Bitcoin, we will repeat the

same old mistakes made before. I will not trust any centralized institution with my money again, after what I have seen happening in Greece. You earn interest on your Bitcoin

investment by buying low and hoarding and selling high or spending it when the price is higher.  ....We have seen what happens with companies who "keep" your coins.

[franky1]

I recently saw someone advising services like these to newbies who asked "where to invest" and I just wanted to know what are your views on such services which are now advertising themselves as Bitcoin Banks and offering interest to people to keep their coins with them?

if businesses are calling themselves "banks" they they need special BANKING licences.. this is over and above just money service business licences and normal financial regulations.. being a bank is the hardest thing anyone can ever legally attain... and requires a few billion dollars input to get a BANKING licence.

so anyone claiming to be a bank is a fraud..
try searching out their regulatory status
try searching out their background

investigate them and you will see they have holes

[bitbaby]

I have yet to see anything like a real bank for bitcoin that's legitimate.  There was Bitcoin Savings and Trust (remember that?), but that's the only one I recall that was trying to do what big banks do, and it obviously turned out to be a scam and a half.  There may be advertisements and such on the Ponzi section of this forum but I don't know of any real opportunities and I'm not even sure if anything like that is going to or even can happen.  As it stands, btc's market cap is <10 billion and that's not a lot.

Well it was advised here first but is removed probably due to referral links and now is here Archive!

And I don't know much about the site so I googled and turns out it was advertised right here on the forum Archive!, so just wondering how safe it is, maybe I should put some money into it myself?

I recently saw someone advising services like these to newbies who asked "where to invest" and I just wanted to know what are your views on such services which are now advertising themselves as Bitcoin Banks and offering interest to people to keep their coins with them?

if businesses are calling themselves "banks" they they need special BANKING licences.. this is over and above just money service business licences and normal financial regulations.. being a bank is the hardest thing anyone can ever legally attain... and requires a few billion dollars input to get a BANKING licence.

so anyone claiming to be a bank is a fraud..
try searching out their regulatory status
try searching out their background

investigate them and you will see they have holes

Well, not exactly as banks but as "first savings account for Bitcoin"

[franky1]

magnr is a scam and they fled already
bitbond and btcjam are slowly failing too

your best bet is just to hoard the bitcoins on your own private keys and wait for the deflationary nature of bitcoin to make the fiat value of them increase.

[bitbaby]

magnr is a scam and they fled already
bitbond and btcjam are slowly failing too

your best bet is just to hoard the bitcoins on your own private keys and wait for the deflationary nature of bitcoin to make the fiat value of them increase.

I thought they were unsafe too, maybe they shouldn't be advised as safe investment then. Especially not to newbies who are just entering into the Bitcoin world and are not aware of things are not what they seem.

[DeathProxyX]

I recently saw someone advising services like these to newbies who asked "where to invest" and I just wanted to know what are your views on such services which are now advertising themselves as Bitcoin Banks and offering interest to people to keep their coins with them?

LOL! Where to invest? It seems the tale of Pinocchio  

[franky1]

Well, not exactly as banks but as "first savings account for Bitcoin"

well there were a few total scams that actally used the term 'bank'
but thats another story best left in the past, and am glad some of those died already

now as for 'magnr', they are a scam and they fled already
bitbond and btcjam are slowly failing too

your best bet is just to hoard the bitcoins on your own private keys and wait for the deflationary nature of bitcoin to make the fiat value of them increase.

asking any stranger you have not met to play the markets for profits on your behalf.. even if they genuinely do play markets instead of running.. does not guarantee profits.
and if they do run.. good luck finding them to slap them with a wet fish (court order).

these parasites never ask for large amounts of $5k plus in bitcoin. they prefer the noobs who throw less than $500 of bitcoin. because they know when the scammer runs its not financially viable for the victim to raise thousands of dollars to take them to court just for a sub $500 loss..

so again dont trust people promising guaranteed profits
dont trust people who are not licenced but pretend to be financial businesses
dont trust people unless you KYC (Know Your CORPORATION) (yes i know C=customer.. but it works both ways)

[Amph]

you can say that coinbase is bitcoin bank and it is very safe, since they offer insurance and they are auto-regulated

xapo also offer insurance, any other is not safe enough

[target]

why don't they just keep it on their wallets after all, bitcoin's value will eventually go up. so theres no need for interest as they'd grow on their own.
bitcoin bank is probably just somehow like exchange sites that suddenly scam users by not alllowing them to withdraw.
If you'll be once again lured to this stuff, you're fooled twice.

[pawel7777]

The only legit ways I know to earn profit (non-fixed) on your BTC deposit are: investing in bankroll of dice sites (there are 3 that I personally find trusted to some degree) or provide auto-renewing loans for margin-traders (Poloniex allows this), but due to free market the interest is very low.

[Indianacoin]

Since bitcoin is highly volatile, do you really need any banks for this?

I don't think so. Nowadays the so-called banks are easily robbing your money out of the thin air. (think about their high fees then you will understand what I am talking about)

Just follow this universal principle : Hold your coins in your wallet and sell them when the price reaches its peak.

[bitbaby]

Well, not exactly as banks but as "first savings account for Bitcoin"

well there were a few total scams that actally used the term 'bank'
but thats another story best left in the past, and am glad some of those died already

now as for 'magnr', they are a scam and they fled already
bitbond and btcjam are slowly failing too

your best bet is just to hoard the bitcoins on your own private keys and wait for the deflationary nature of bitcoin to make the fiat value of them increase.

asking any stranger you have not met to play the markets for profits on your behalf.. even if they genuinely do play markets instead of running.. does not guarantee profits.
and if they do run.. good luck finding them to slap them with a wet fish (court order).

these parasites never ask for large amounts of $5k plus in bitcoin. they prefer the noobs who throw less than $500 of bitcoin. because they know when the scammer runs its not financially viable for the victim to raise thousands of dollars to take them to court just for a sub $500 loss..

so again dont trust people promising guaranteed profits
dont trust people who are not licenced but pretend to be financial businesses
dont trust people unless you KYC (Know Your CORPORATION) (yes i know C=customer.. but it works both ways)

So very true. Respect for you sir.

you can say that coinbase is bitcoin bank and it is very safe, since they offer insurance and they are auto-regulated

xapo also offer insurance, any other is not safe enough

Yes but afaik they are not asking people to keep their coins with them by offering them interest. Or are they?

I do consider coinbase safe for buying/selling bitcoins but do they offer insurance for if there is loss of coins kept in their custody? Because banks do that.

[NorrisK]

Don't go near any service that calls itself a bitcoin bank. They are not regulated and go against almost everything that bitcoin stands for.

The nice thing about bitcoin is that we are not dependent on banks anymore if we don't want to. You are better of earning interest in other ways.

[BillyBobZorton]

As safe as regular banks, you are just trusting them that they will not fuck up, which all eventually do, so I would keep my coins myself which is one of the main points of Bitcoin to begin with.

[franky1]

should you trust banks..

well CNN just said this warning for the actual regulated and licenced banks
http://money.cnn.com/2016/01/12/investing/markets-sell-everything-cataclysmic-year-rbs/

so if you cant trust institutional banks that cannot hide behind IP proxies and WHOIS-guards.. then you definitely should not trust untraceable services offering guaranteed profits... but only if you just leave funds with strangers and dont touch for .... ever

[mr angry]

Hal Finney put stored his Bitcoins in paper wallets which he put into safety deposit boxes for his kids to inherit. That's safer than trusting some website that descries itself as a bank. It's not totally secure because safety deposit boxes in a bank might be opened by the government like when gold hoarding was made illegal in the USA.

[bearex]

I wouldnt really invest in them. They probably wont steal your Bitcoins, but i just like using my own wallet and not a third party bank.