What stops you from opening a local bitcoin exchange business?

[deezn9]

Besides the security issue of handling lots of money in public what's stopping people who are familiar with bitcoin from opening a 'local bitcoin guy' business charging 10-15% for changing cash into btc?  This would be the same service people list on Mycelium Local Trader and localbitcoin.com.

[Pursuer]

it is not an easy job to do. the security is the biggest one but it is just the start.
there are also legal issues that you have to think about like AML and all those acronyms for money laundering in businesses. also tax laws.

and after all this you should know how to advertise your business and make it profitable. in many countries just making the local exchange doesn't mean success!

[zahra4577]

Besides security and local laws,I thing it also requires good investment.I dont know hoe much but I think minimum you need around 10 BTV to set up an exchange

[Barbut]

You need money for that, except that security is one of the biggest problems. I don't think I'm smart enough for this, some better hacker would stole all I have, and what other people have.
This is not for everyone, people will lose more money in trying then profit from this business.
I will not try ever to run exchange site, or any site. Even if I do I will hire people to do things there.

[cpfreeplz]

So many things:

• Regulations
• Upfront cost
• Operating capital
• Risk of theft
• Barely anyone in my area uses bitcoins so I would be making nothing or next to nothing

Those are the biggest reasons in order from biggest to smallest but they're all very important.

[talkbitcoin]

Besides the security issue of handling lots of money in public what's stopping people who are familiar with bitcoin from opening a 'local bitcoin guy' business charging 10-15% for changing cash into btc?  This would be the same service people list on Mycelium Local Trader and localbitcoin.com.

the first thing that a local bitcoin exchange business needs is customers. and as long as i can't find enough people around me who know about bitcoin i don't think that is such a good idea.

apart from that, if there is enough people interested in using such service and i can get over the regulations and also the initial capital needed for starting it, i don't really see any other obstacle and i will surely do it.

[Juggy777]

You need a huge capital, plus good reputation and the hassles of law enforcement agencies. It's not a peice of 🎂 that you think and open up. You need to plan a he'll lot. Pay lawyers fees, set up charges, secure platforms. It's very risky and a pain job. Are you really sure you wish to do it?

[Denker]

For instance in my country localbitcoins is blocked.
There are ways to circumvent this blockade, but it's not really worth it when you're not living in one of the major cities, or at least close to it.Not enough demand!
Furthermore it can be risky as you never know who you are dealing with. I never had problems so far, but I was always buyer side so far and my seller has built up very good repuation over the years he is doing it now.
And of course you need some starting capital, for instance to get the coins cheaper on the exchanges and sell them for a few +% person to person.

[mindrust]

I guess it is the fear of getting robbed, beaten and shot in one night?

When the money is involved directly, it gets dangerous dramatically. You can sell so many stuff without a problem but selling money a bit different.

I don't even mentioned that the government will not like you. To open a local cash exchange, you need to get licences. You may not take much attention at first but when your business is big enough, the government will want its piece, or else jail time.

[calkob]

probably because there is no demand long term for such a business where i live anyway.  most people have only just heard about bitcoin.  why would they want to give over cash for something they cant even use in their local community?

[mobnepal]

I have thought about opening some sort of local bitcoin buy/sell site just like cashtocrypto and accept local payment gateway or local banks so issue regarding security of bitcoin may not become big issue for me as all process will be manual.

But i haven't opened that site till now because i still have some fear of getting investigated by government or getting my bank accounts/payment gateway accounts blocked which are linked to this site. There is no any clear explanation regarding bitcoin like cryptocurrency here in my country. However without site i am already doing buying and selling with good price margin, demand of bitcoin is quite higher right now here.

[BitcoinHodler]

you are talking about starting a new business first then it is about bitcoin. and a lot of people (me included) are not so willing to risk getting into a new business and risk starting a new one.

and although it can be good and profitable, a lot more than having a job behind a desk but it is not easy and needs a risk-accepting personality and also some capital which not everyone possess.

[croutonhexagon]

I had planned to open a bitcoin exchange website but what stopped me from opening is that only few knows about bitcoin and opening a exchange site is not a big deal but the problem is to win trust and popularity I have to spend lot of money and that too can't guarantee whether i could make profit or not.

[abel1337]

There are many reasons why I am not creating a exchange site. It is hard to make a script of a exchange site and you need to have a good domain and a anti ddos protection. Youll need to have a time to spend in our website and lot of money to have an alt coin on your site. You need to a trust from your customers.  Its hard but if your sites go famous you will earn a high profit

[CyberKuro]

You need money for that, except that security is one of the biggest problems. I don't think I'm smart enough for this, some better hacker would stole all I have, and what other people have.
This is not for everyone, people will lose more money in trying then profit from this business.
I will not try ever to run exchange site, or any site. Even if I do I will hire people to do things there.

Local bitcoin exchange business seems pretty good to do but some reasons we need to consider, the main considerations are the capital and security.
I think this requires a lot of money and the ability to secure, promote, and gain the trust of the people. but for the beginning you can start from the scratch where some people already did it, without site and just using facebook.

[pooya87]

Besides the security issue of handling lots of money in public what's stopping people who are familiar with bitcoin from opening a 'local bitcoin guy' business charging 10-15% for changing cash into btc?  This would be the same service people list on Mycelium Local Trader and localbitcoin.com.

funny you should ask :0
I have been thinking about this for a while and despite so many others here who say "capital" i have no problem with capital because i can start small and also i can take investors and there are already some friends that we are going to partner up.
the biggest problem is the regulations that i am so afraid of, and i am afraid it may change in the future like making bitcoin illegal and them i would be screwed!

[densuj]

Besides the security issue of handling lots of money in public what's stopping people who are familiar with bitcoin from opening a 'local bitcoin guy' business charging 10-15% for changing cash into btc?  This would be the same service people list on Mycelium Local Trader and localbitcoin.com.

Well in my experience, i have got problem there are no many people who know and understanding about bitcoins and other coins, of course they don't use bitcoins and the other problem bitcoin's price is too high so it will need much capital.

[MingLee]

No volume, not enough starting capital, and no real reason to make one, regardless of whether or not I would be able to set it up for free.

The volume in my area would be terrible, even online or whatever. Maybe make, at best, $5-$10 a week on fees.

[coynedterm]

Besides the security issue of handling lots of money in public what's stopping people who are familiar with bitcoin from opening a 'local bitcoin guy' business charging 10-15% for changing cash into btc?  This would be the same service people list on Mycelium Local Trader and localbitcoin.com.

actually the main problem is of only trust .
some months ago one of my friend started a site with buy a domain of .com but the main problem with his exchange site was the people ( 500 resister) who are using bitcoin and want fuat no believe at the site and about 4-5 deals in per month .
so the main things to be get trust and advertisement .

[harizen]

Besides the security issue of handling lots of money in public what's stopping people who are familiar with bitcoin from opening a 'local bitcoin guy' business charging 10-15% for changing cash into btc?  This would be the same service people list on Mycelium Local Trader and localbitcoin.com.

It's not as easy as buying candy in a store. There are lots of things people have to consider before making such business like that. First of all, they must comply with money and regulations of a certain country to make their operation legit as it involves money. Also you need a big capital here as a start and a good bunch of operational team which you will pays plus the advertisement you will make.

So for meantime, people can do a small exchange and promotes in social media. In some of our local bitcoin group, there are persons who are converting bitcoin into cash with a certain fee. Although it only has limits and can't performed a big amount conversion.