Anonymous
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October 14, 2010, 01:13:51 AM |
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I was looking for a way to open a European bank account from Australia and stumbled over this site as a bonus- http://www.currencyfair.com/index.jspIts a p2p currency exchange site. Rather than having to pay massive bank rates when you exchange from one currency to another you can use this site to swap currency and save heaps. Now I still need to find a bank account in Europe but when I do it means exchanging for euros or any other currency just got a whole lot cheaper and a lot more convenient. I also sent them an email asking if they would be interested in setting up a bitcoin exchange as well. ![Smiley](https://bitcointalk.org/Smileys/default/smiley.gif) From their about page: We're the four executive Directors of CurrencyFair and we're a blend of nationalities; Irish, Australian, Irish/Australian and Welsh.
We've always needed to exchange currency because of who we are, where we've worked and where we have mortgages and as three of us are ex-bankers (sorry, sorry, sorry) we know what a worldwide racket currency exchange is. So it wasn't difficult to work out that the best way to exchange currency was to do it with our mates. Which is what we did whenever we could.
Then one day we thought "Let's build a currency exchange on the internet. It will be where people buy and sell currency from each other. Not from a bank".
What mates don't ever do is rip each other off and that was the premise on which we set up CurrencyFair. Call us hopeless idealists, call us dreamers and fools (and several of our wives do) but the vision is for a website that guarantees a fair exchange every exchange. No-one will ever get ripped off here. That's a promise. To me it looks like a perfect match for bitcoin.
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nelisky
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October 14, 2010, 01:46:04 AM |
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This really, I mean *really* looks great, thanks for sharing! Now, if they'd allow direct transfer to another registered user account, using the same currency, mtgox would have a great payment processor for people around the world in all currencies to transfer money in and out using bank accounts (i.e. zero chargeback)
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Anonymous
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October 14, 2010, 02:07:48 AM |
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This really, I mean *really* looks great, thanks for sharing! Now, if they'd allow direct transfer to another registered user account, using the same currency, mtgox would have a great payment processor for people around the world in all currencies to transfer money in and out using bank accounts (i.e. zero chargeback)
Yes that was what I was thinking. Then there is no need to reinvent the wheel!
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Bimmerhead
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October 15, 2010, 08:55:14 PM |
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Oh that is really excellent. What a terrific site they've got. I emailed them re: bitcoin as well.
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Anonymous
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October 15, 2010, 10:47:26 PM |
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Oh that is really excellent. What a terrific site they've got. I emailed them re: bitcoin as well.
One of the owners got back to me and he is evaluating bitcoin over the weekend. If they decide to go ahead with a bitcoin exchange it would require support to get them set up and exchanging btc for all other currencies ,which I expect would be forthcoming .
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Bimmerhead
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October 15, 2010, 10:59:30 PM |
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Just having the exposure on their site will be almost as beneficial as the ability to trade currencies.
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Anonymous
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October 15, 2010, 11:22:17 PM |
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Just having the exposure on their site will be almost as beneficial as the ability to trade currencies.
Yes thats a good point.
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FreeMoney
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October 15, 2010, 11:33:53 PM |
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The global foreign exchange market is closed at the weekend which means you won't know if you're getting a good deal or not. We therefore keep the marketplace open roughly in line with the global market which means we're shut from 20:00 on Friday until 23:00 on Sunday (Dublin time). However we reserve the right to be flexible around these times! This is from the FAQ. Seems lame to me. You won't know if you are getting a good rate so you can't trade at all? You'll know exactly the rate you are getting, which is all you ever know. edit: I like the idea though, not trying to be a downer. And bitcoin listing there would be huge.
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Play Bitcoin Poker at sealswithclubs.eu. We're active and open to everyone.
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Anonymous
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October 15, 2010, 11:52:29 PM |
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The global foreign exchange market is closed at the weekend which means you won't know if you're getting a good deal or not. We therefore keep the marketplace open roughly in line with the global market which means we're shut from 20:00 on Friday until 23:00 on Sunday (Dublin time). However we reserve the right to be flexible around these times! This is from the FAQ. Seems lame to me. You won't know if you are getting a good rate so you can't trade at all? You'll know exactly the rate you are getting, which is all you ever know. edit: I like the idea though, not trying to be a downer. And bitcoin listing there would be huge. Unlike those noobs at the global foreign exchange bitcoin never sleeps. ![Tongue](https://bitcointalk.org/Smileys/default/tongue.gif) Perhaps these are issues that can be worked around.As they say they are flexible on times. Wasnt bitcoin market closed at certain points ?
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FreeMoney
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October 16, 2010, 12:07:38 AM |
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The global foreign exchange market is closed at the weekend which means you won't know if you're getting a good deal or not. We therefore keep the marketplace open roughly in line with the global market which means we're shut from 20:00 on Friday until 23:00 on Sunday (Dublin time). However we reserve the right to be flexible around these times! This is from the FAQ. Seems lame to me. You won't know if you are getting a good rate so you can't trade at all? You'll know exactly the rate you are getting, which is all you ever know. edit: I like the idea though, not trying to be a downer. And bitcoin listing there would be huge. Unlike those noobs at the global foreign exchange bitcoin never sleeps. ![Tongue](https://bitcointalk.org/Smileys/default/tongue.gif) Perhaps these are issues that can be worked around.As they say they are flexible on times. Wasnt bitcoin market closed at certain points ? It closes, not for a whole weekend though. It's pretty terrible to me. It's open almost exactly the same hours I sleep 3am-10am. People live all over the globe, who knew?
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Play Bitcoin Poker at sealswithclubs.eu. We're active and open to everyone.
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Anonymous
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October 16, 2010, 02:18:46 AM |
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The global foreign exchange market is closed at the weekend which means you won't know if you're getting a good deal or not. We therefore keep the marketplace open roughly in line with the global market which means we're shut from 20:00 on Friday until 23:00 on Sunday (Dublin time). However we reserve the right to be flexible around these times! This is from the FAQ. Seems lame to me. You won't know if you are getting a good rate so you can't trade at all? You'll know exactly the rate you are getting, which is all you ever know. edit: I like the idea though, not trying to be a downer. And bitcoin listing there would be huge. Unlike those noobs at the global foreign exchange bitcoin never sleeps. ![Tongue](https://bitcointalk.org/Smileys/default/tongue.gif) Perhaps these are issues that can be worked around.As they say they are flexible on times. Wasnt bitcoin market closed at certain points ? It closes, not for a whole weekend though. It's pretty terrible to me. It's open almost exactly the same hours I sleep 3am-10am. People live all over the globe, who knew? Obviously the global financial markets arent global lol
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mtgox
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October 16, 2010, 06:55:05 PM |
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Do they allow you to send money between accounts or only do currency exchange?
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nelisky
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October 16, 2010, 08:15:49 PM |
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Do they allow you to send money between accounts or only do currency exchange?
That was my thought exactly. I sent them an email: It's not possible to select a specific user to trade with, as the exchange process is anonymous and allows for partial matching etc. We don't intend at the moment to change this. We are, however, working on allowing direct CurrencyFair account to CurrencyFair account transfers (pretty much exactly as you describe), and plan on introducing this in the near future.
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Anonymous
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October 17, 2010, 01:22:57 AM |
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Do they allow you to send money between accounts or only do currency exchange?
That was my thought exactly. I sent them an email: It's not possible to select a specific user to trade with, as the exchange process is anonymous and allows for partial matching etc. We don't intend at the moment to change this. We are, however, working on allowing direct CurrencyFair account to CurrencyFair account transfers (pretty much exactly as you describe), and plan on introducing this in the near future.
That would be nice. One of the owners replied to an email I sent and they are evaluating bitcoin over the weekend and are considering adding it. Most of the owners are Aussies and Irish. ![Smiley](https://bitcointalk.org/Smileys/default/smiley.gif) The only thing Im wary about is when I joined up you need ID to do so. Im still weighing up whether it is worth the hassle of doing so. I guess if bitcoin is to go mainstream at some point this issue is going to raise its head. I dont really like the idea of having to produce government issued ID to prove who I am to swap currencies though.
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Bimmerhead
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October 23, 2010, 07:41:44 PM |
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Has anyone heard back from Currencyfair on their evaluation of bitcoin?
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grondilu
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October 23, 2010, 08:48:34 PM Last edit: October 23, 2010, 09:02:17 PM by grondilu |
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This site is a good idea, but it seems to be tightly watched by Big Brother : 16.1 As a Payment services business CurrencyFair is regulated by the Irish Financial regulator. The Financial Regulator and the Regulations requires Payment Institutions, amongst other things, to apply anti-money laundering and counter financing terrorism procedures aimed at detecting and preventing financial crime. Our staff are fully conversant with Anti-Money Laundering guidelines and are aware of their responsibilities in the monitoring and reporting of any actions that raise suspicion or give cause for concern.
16.2 CurrencyFair may utilise the services of a third party in order to confirm your identity as part of the registration process.
16.3 CurrencyFair reserves the right to collect identification from you prior to the depositing funds and placement or matching of an order. In general, CurrencyFair collects identification in the form of a copy of a passport/drivers licence and a utility bill showing your current residential address dated within the last three months. Remember that at origin, Paypal was intended to be a free method of exchanging money between individuals. It's much less ambitious now because of heavy power of financial regulation. All these regulation conditions have a cost. Somebody has to pay for that. And it will be you. My opinion is that everything which is web-oriented, should be avoided when it comes to exchanging money.
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Scarecrow
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May 14, 2011, 09:11:37 PM |
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Resurrecting this old thread because it has some potential. I use CurrencyFair to change money from GBP to Euros and can vouch that the service and system is excellent.
In my case I linked my UK bank account and my Euro bank account but I can add others like a USD account. I deposit GBP, offer for exchange to Euros and when that’s done the money sits in my account as Euros. When I ask for it to be sent to my Euro bank account it costs 3Euros charges for any amount and arrives in a couple of days.
Maybe if I added an MT Gox bank account number the money would go straight to them in USD.
Opening an account with CurrencyFair requires that you provide full verifiable ID.
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AntiVigilante
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May 14, 2011, 09:29:33 PM |
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Remember that at origin, Paypal was intended to be a free method of exchanging money between individuals. It's much less ambitious now because of heavy power of financial regulation.
All these regulation conditions have a cost. Somebody has to pay for that. And it will be you.
My opinion is that everything which is web-oriented, should be avoided when it comes to exchanging money.
Web oriented is also the biggest possible backlash community the manipulators will ever face. Let's fix it not abandon it.
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marcus_of_augustus
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May 14, 2011, 09:36:39 PM |
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Opening an account with CurrencyFair requires that you provide full verifiable ID. ... there's the rub. You got Big Brother's money and then you got bitcoin. .... BB's money costs too much.
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zby
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May 14, 2011, 09:46:50 PM |
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I used http://www.ukforex.co.uk - they offer minimally better rate now, but charge about 7GBP for the transfer it it is less then 3000GBP.
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