What happened with Circle?

[Sir Alpha_goy]

Circle is out of the Bitcoin game?

 

https://www.wired.com/2016/12/future-bitcoin-not-digital-currency/

Circle will no longer allow customers to buy and sell bitcoin.

[olubams]

Circle is out of the Bitcoin game?

 

https://www.wired.com/2016/12/future-bitcoin-not-digital-currency/

Circle will no longer allow customers to buy and sell bitcoin.

I read the news some days ago and I must say they must have given it a lot of thought to conclude that is the nest course of action for them. That being said as well from what I read, what they concluded is giving up on Bitcoin and not the technology behind bitcoin and hopefully they will continue to develop that new found course for the benefit of everyone including those of us who understand nothing about digital currency other than Bitcoin...

[harrymmmm]

Circle is out of the Bitcoin game?

 

https://www.wired.com/2016/12/future-bitcoin-not-digital-currency/

Circle will no longer allow customers to buy and sell bitcoin.

I read the news some days ago and I must say they must have given it a lot of thought to conclude that is the nest course of action for them. That being said as well from what I read, what they concluded is giving up on Bitcoin and not the technology behind bitcoin and hopefully they will continue to develop that new found course for the benefit of everyone including those of us who understand nothing about digital currency other than Bitcoin...

'People' are saying they have stopped conversions to and from bitcoin.
Other uses (deposits, withdraws, payments etc.) are still available.

[pawel7777]

Here's the relevant thread in service discussion:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1707321.0

...
'People' are saying they have stopped conversions to and from bitcoin.
Other uses (deposits, withdraws, payments etc.) are still available.

You can no longer buy/sell bitcoins, but you can still store them on Circle. More info:
https://support.circle.com/hc/en-us/articles/217972003

If you have any bitcoin balance, you can convert to your local currency, but after that, you can't convert back to bitcoin.

What's funny, I converted to fiat few days back, but yesterday I've sent small amount of btc to my old cirlcle address, just to see what will happen. It went through fine and got auto converted to fiat. So it looks like you still can sell bitcoins there, providing you know the right address. But wouldn't recommend doing that for high value txs.

[shinratensei_]

Circle was closing it several days ago. And their users are unable for send or receive Bitcoin right now. And the Circle CEO was releasing a statement about bitcoin will useless ten years later and it was earmarking for closing his service before.
I think they can be competing with the other service. 

[rapazev]

probably something with regulation.
i dont know for sure, but since most countries are against bitcoin i think it's probably harder to get licenses to work when you work with bitcoin.

[Yakamoto]

Circle decided to bail out of the Bitcoin economy for some reason, I do not believe it is very clear right now but I assume it has something to do with their power status decreasing and they're no longer as big of a player as they used to be.

Their CEO did seem kind of salty about Bitcoin, but I don't know where that hostility came from.

[bL4nkcode]

Circle is out of the Bitcoin game?

 

https://www.wired.com/2016/12/future-bitcoin-not-digital-currency/

Circle will no longer allow customers to buy and sell bitcoin.

I heard this news also few days ago and its really sad that one big company (I guess) stop using bitcoin as one of their payment method and its really frustrating, but its a big loss to them, they will lost customers also especially to those bitcoin users. And don't really know what's the reason behind the decisions of their CEO about this, anybody? tell us about this.

[Conus]

It is bad for business that this company is out. It is bad for bitcoin in general, for if a number of companies like this go out, then others will get scared and follow to collect while they can.  Just IMO

[manbitcoinlover]

It is bad for business that this company is out. It is bad for bitcoin in general, for if a number of companies like this go out, then others will get scared and follow to collect while they can.  Just IMO

Maybe, but for right now there is no reason to panic or worry about financial institution investing in bitcoin. Just because circle decided to bail out with its +100 million dollars and stop bitcoin transactions does not mean other businesses will follow.
For example, in South Korea a new blockchain, consortium launched. Where many South Korean financial firms invested in the creation of it. So, back to circle, just because one big player went out, does not mean other worldwide businesses will stop meddling with BTC.

[Wind_FURY]

Circle is out of the Bitcoin game?

 

https://www.wired.com/2016/12/future-bitcoin-not-digital-currency/

Circle will no longer allow customers to buy and sell bitcoin.

You are late with the news. All the people think that the Bitcoin and altcoin exchanges are making big money when in fact the opposite is true. Expect for more exchanges to close in the next few years. Doing business in that area has just become too competitive for all those exchanges to make money. Most of them will be gone within a decade.

[manbitcoinlover]

Circle is out of the Bitcoin game?

 

https://www.wired.com/2016/12/future-bitcoin-not-digital-currency/

Circle will no longer allow customers to buy and sell bitcoin.

You are late with the news. All the people think that the Bitcoin and altcoin exchanges are making big money when in fact the opposite is true. Expect for more exchanges to close in the next few years. Doing business in that area has just become too competitive for all those exchanges to make money. Most of them will be gone within a decade.

I feel like that is a good thing, in the end there might only be a couple of solid exchanges like 1-2 maybe three if more people increase their bitcoin consumption and use. The simple reason for that is not a downfall of bitcoin but because of scarcity. Even though circle was not a small exchange, in the future small exchanges would not be able to compete with bigger ones because not only of their knowledge and reputation but because of lack of business.

[mobnepal]

I think main reason for this shutdown is the low profit they were making dealing with bitcoin, in one of the article i have heard about them going to create centralized payment gateway so that they can earn decent profit with high fees per transaction just like by paypal, skrill etc. Bad for them that they may get bankrupt by creating centralized payment gateway where there are already many others to compete with them.

[Geremia]

Basically, Circle.com didn't want to be involved in the Bitcoin exchange business; they recommend Coinbase. (Unfortunately, Coinbase automatically closes my account when I link a bank account with them! Probably for the better, as they're under quite a lot of scrutiny.)

Any good alternatives to Circle.com or Coinbase.com is the U.S.?

Here's the message I got when selling Bitcoin with Circle.com:

You can no longer buy and sell bitcoin with us. But you have options! 🙌


    Convert to U.S. dollars to cash out (or use the app to pay friends and get paid)

    Move your money to any bitcoin address

    Continue to buy and sell bitcoin with our preferred partner, Coinbase

    Hold your bitcoin with us (it's fully insured)

cf. https://support.circle.com/hc/en-us/articles/217972003:

New Ventures of Old Bitcoin

Since we started, our vision has been to make money work like the internet: instant, global, secure and free. Now we’re making payments more social than ever and diving headfirst into next-gen blockchain technology, rather than the buying and selling of bitcoin itself. What’s this mean for you? Lots of options.
1. Sell your bitcoin and cash out

To get your bitcoin out of Circle, just go to Settings>Currency and convert your balance to dollars, pounds or euro (availability is based on where you live). You’ll then be able to cash out instantly.

Note: You must have a valid linked card or bank account to do this.
2. Send that bitcoin packing

Move your money to any bitcoin address — including any exchange or wallet of your choosing — anywhere in the world.
3. Buy and sell bitcoin with Coinbase

Use our preferred partner, Coinbase, to continue buying and selling bitcoin.
4. Store your bitcoin with us

You’re welcome to hold bitcoin in your Circle account and it’ll be fully insured, like always. You can also receive bitcoin to any address associated with your account.

Note: You can no longer buy and sell bitcoin through us.
5. Convert to your local currency to pay friends and get paid

Go to Settings > Currency and convert your bitcoin balance to dollars, pounds or euro (availability is based on where you live).

Note: Once you switch your currency, you can’t return to bitcoin and you can no longer send money to bitcoin addresses.

A few reasons this option is 💯:

    Send money just like a text or email (or better yet, receive it)
    Travel between $, £ and €. Best rates. No fees. No, really.
    Put your money where your text is in iMessage
    🍆 , 💩 and raccoons with grocery cart GIFs, for starters

[rapazev]

It is bad for business that this company is out. It is bad for bitcoin in general, for if a number of companies like this go out, then others will get scared and follow to collect while they can.  Just IMO

Maybe, but for right now there is no reason to panic or worry about financial institution investing in bitcoin. Just because circle decided to bail out with its +100 million dollars and stop bitcoin transactions does not mean other businesses will follow.
For example, in South Korea a new blockchain, consortium launched. Where many South Korean financial firms invested in the creation of it. So, back to circle, just because one big player went out, does not mean other worldwide businesses will stop meddling with BTC.

no need to panic, but still not good for bitcoin.
circle isnt a small company going out of crypto market... we are talking about a considerable amount of money. so, at least in a short term, it's bad for bitcoin. especially because every time a company stop using bitcoin, the media does not waste the opportunity.

[Sir Alpha_goy]

It is bad for business that this company is out. It is bad for bitcoin in general, for if a number of companies like this go out, then others will get scared and follow to collect while they can.  Just IMO

Maybe, but for right now there is no reason to panic or worry about financial institution investing in bitcoin. Just because circle decided to bail out with its +100 million dollars and stop bitcoin transactions does not mean other businesses will follow.
For example, in South Korea a new blockchain, consortium launched. Where many South Korean financial firms invested in the creation of it. So, back to circle, just because one big player went out, does not mean other worldwide businesses will stop meddling with BTC.

no need to panic, but still not good for bitcoin.
circle isnt a small company going out of crypto market... we are talking about a considerable amount of money. so, at least in a short term, it's bad for bitcoin. especially because every time a company stop using bitcoin, the media does not waste the opportunity.

As an investor things like this should not be taken lightly.

Between this and the IRS thing with Coinbase it would be wise to stay on your toes.

If I didn't know any better I would say exits are being eyeballed.

[Wind_FURY]

Not to worry. Bitcoin's price is looking very nice right now and if Circle's latest move does not even affect the price negatively then good riddance to them. They are not really needed in Bitcoin, there will always be localbitcoins.com to go to if there are no other exchanges available.

[harrymmmm]

Not to worry. Bitcoin's price is looking very nice right now and if Circle's latest move does not even affect the price negatively then good riddance to them. They are not really needed in Bitcoin, there will always be localbitcoins.com to go to if there are no other exchanges available.

Assuming govs and banks can't find a way to get the masses to move to a controllable cryptocurrency, I'd expect an all out assault on localbitcoins in the future. It's kinda decentralized, but it's just another activity that can be spun as evil and regulated away (mostly). I think the only thing saving localbitcoins from closure atm is that another would take it's place rather quickly. Same for shapeshift.

[Wind_FURY]

Not to worry. Bitcoin's price is looking very nice right now and if Circle's latest move does not even affect the price negatively then good riddance to them. They are not really needed in Bitcoin, there will always be localbitcoins.com to go to if there are no other exchanges available.

Assuming govs and banks can't find a way to get the masses to move to a controllable cryptocurrency, I'd expect an all out assault on localbitcoins in the future. It's kinda decentralized, but it's just another activity that can be spun as evil and regulated away (mostly). I think the only thing saving localbitcoins from closure atm is that another would take it's place rather quickly. Same for shapeshift.

That is why there is no need to worry. If there an untapped market or a need, the market itself will always find a way to get into it and make it efficient. That is the power of Bitcoin because it is a financial layer that could operate outside of regulations. If banks do not want to serve it, Bitcoin will come in and make those markets efficient.

[JasonXG]

Not to worry. Bitcoin's price is looking very nice right now and if Circle's latest move does not even affect the price negatively then good riddance to them. They are not really needed in Bitcoin, there will always be localbitcoins.com to go to if there are no other exchanges available.

Assuming govs and banks can't find a way to get the masses to move to a controllable cryptocurrency, I'd expect an all out assault on localbitcoins in the future. It's kinda decentralized, but it's just another activity that can be spun as evil and regulated away (mostly). I think the only thing saving localbitcoins from closure atm is that another would take it's place rather quickly. Same for shapeshift.

That is why there is no need to worry. If there an untapped market or a need, the market itself will always find a way to get into it and make it efficient. That is the power of Bitcoin because it is a financial layer that could operate outside of regulations. If banks do not want to serve it, Bitcoin will come in and make those markets efficient.

Ummm... No.... Who cares about circle they are lying. Obviously trading bitcoin is profitable they are lying for some other reason and intention.
Expect an assault on localbitcoin ? What are you talking about ? The only thing stopping them closing is that another will take it's place ? Jesus dude where do you come up with this crap. They are in business because it is lucrative. Why would they end that ?