The UK Public & Bitcoin

[bowen151]

IIRC Max Kieser said he's trying to build a new London exchange.

Seem to recall this also, has there been any news regarding any other possible uk exchanges that may be on the horizon?

[matthewh3]

IIRC Max Kieser said he's trying to build a new London exchange.

Seem to recall this also, has there been any news regarding any other possible uk exchanges that may be on the horizon?

Not that I've heard of.  Which is a shame as an exchange with access to free and instant UK internet banking transfers would have a lot of business.

[uMMcQxCWELNzkt]

IIRC Max Kieser said he's trying to build a new London exchange.

Seem to recall this also, has there been any news regarding any other possible uk exchanges that may be on the horizon?

Not that I've heard of.  Which is a shame as an exchange with access to free and instant UK internet banking transfers would have a lot of business.

I thought I would bold this just in case people with the capital are weighing up the pros and cons, don't let size and modesty fool you in regards to the UK!

[nak]

BitStamp have upped their game. I made a deposit via TW last Friday. It was a priority payment to my BitStamp account. The funds were available 4 hours later.

[anarchy]

http://blockchain.info/wallet/deposit-methods

UK bank transfer, barclays pingit, and sofort

[DeeSome]

http://blockchain.info/wallet/deposit-methods

UK bank transfer, barclays pingit, and sofort

Not any more, currently there is no way to add funds from UK on blockchain.info.

[nobbynobbynoob]

http://blockchain.info/wallet/deposit-methods

UK bank transfer, barclays pingit, and sofort

Not any more, currently there is no way to add funds from UK on blockchain.info.

And yet they (erroneously it seems) still show Sofort as a legit UK funding option. *sigh*

[uMMcQxCWELNzkt]

http://blockchain.info/wallet/deposit-methods

UK bank transfer, barclays pingit, and sofort

Not any more, currently there is no way to add funds from UK on blockchain.info.

And yet they (erroneously it seems) still show Sofort as a legit UK funding option. *sigh*

I think I mentioned that before, I signed up only to find out that they do not allow UK deposits anymore, it seems they have conveniently forgotten to update.

[Traktion]

Now TransferWise have had the rug pulled from under them: Their bank has told them to stop transferring money to Bitcoin exchanges.

http://transferwise.com/blog/2013-04/notice-to-bitcoin-users-april-2013

The UK banking system is a joke. They don't like the competition, for sure.

Notice to Bitcoin users - April 2013

As you may have noticed, we stopped processing transfers to Bitcoin exchanges this week. We’re very sorry.
 
In many respects it breaks our heart to have taken this step (we’re a firm that champions financial innovation after all), but our banking providers are not comfortable with Bitcoin and want us to restrict payments to these firms. This is happening everywhere - notably Bitfloor and Bitcoin-24 shut themselves down recently.
 
The banks – just like everyone else in the sector – are nervous because they don't know what to think of Bitcoin. The regulators and politicians’ silence on the topic leaves us all in the dark.
 
Financial firms make choices on the basis of clear rules. Without them, things like Bitcoin fall into the hands of those who use it for illegal activities. This leaves businesses like ours that meet their obligation to anti-money laundering and “Know Your Customer” procedures unable to deal with it.
 
It’s a shame because Bitcoin offers solutions to some of the absurdities of the traditional banking system. For example, a virtual currency like Bitcoin could dramatically speed up and reduce the cost of sending money abroad. It’s ridiculous that it can take four banks (all taking a cut) over a week to send dollars from a UK company to a Chinese producer. Implementing this change alone could save the real economy billions of pounds in card fees and transaction costs every year.
 
And it’s not just the big guys that would benefit. It could transform the prospects of millions of small businesses. The reduced cost and simplicity of a digital currency could circumvent laborious bank processes and give small merchants quick, fairly-priced access to online and mobile payments.
 
But to gain any of these benefits, the financial regulators need to take a stand. They have many questions to answer - how should the banks treat Bitcoin? Should it be regarded as cash or something new? Are new and specifically tailored “Know Your Customer” rules necessary? Unless the banks are told what is expected of them, they will happily keep on blocking Bitcoin, and consequently blocking our hope for financial innovation.
 
by Kristo Kaarman, TransferWise co-founder

[franky1]

the problem is with the banks is that they do not mind you passing money to other people in the UK such as local bitcoins or bitbargain.

what they dont like is seeing the good old UK pound sterling leaving the UK for a european/US bank (exchange).

as for the proposed UK exchange that max keiser is involved in. i will just reveal this....

Amir Taaki is also involved.......

im not personally judging amirs lifestyle choices.. but from a business prospective. the guy behind intersango which flopped, who was behind the bitcoin london conference which made alot of profit .. but is now living in abandoned offices... is not someone whom i would have alot of trust in.

but that being said he is a good coder

[kiko]

what they dont like is seeing the good old UK pound sterling leaving the UK for a european/US bank (exchange).

This is just silly. UK banks have a 100% monopoly on Sterling. Money never "leaves" the UK. If you want to take your money out of the country you first have to find someone to take it back in (so to speak). The banks couldn't care less either way. The only place Sterling can exist is in their database. Physical cash is negligible and in essentially fixed supply.

Banks care about not getting big fines from the presently all too eager regulators. That's about it.

[BillboTor]

It's a bloody joke. All it would do is push the prices much higher up on LocalBitcoins etc as a straight bank SEPA transfer costs too much!

[matthewh3]

I was trading OTC through my HSBC account until I had received a stolen payment through no fault of my own.  They very nearly shut my account and banned me from using my account for buying or selling bitcoin.  Plus they said they would be monitoring my account for signs of bitcoin trading and if they found any that they would shut my account down immediately. 

[kiko]

I was trading OTC through my HSBC account until I had received a stolen payment through no fault of my own.  They very nearly shut my account and banned me from using my account for buying or selling bitcoin.  Plus they said they would be monitoring my account for signs of bitcoin trading and if they found any that they would shut my account down immediately. 

This must be why Apple stock is getting hit so hard, the first thing criminals traditionally buy with a stolen id are iPhones. 

[Traktion]

I was trading OTC through my HSBC account until I had received a stolen payment through no fault of my own.  They very nearly shut my account and banned me from using my account for buying or selling bitcoin.  Plus they said they would be monitoring my account for signs of bitcoin trading and if they found any that they would shut my account down immediately. 

OTC? Cash, I assume?

[franky1]

lol HSBC i facepalm when i hear a customer is with them.

especially when their "faster payments" are a majority of the time only working during business hours. it maybe time for you to move banks.

[Stephen Gornick]

Now TransferWise have had the rug pulled from under them: Their bank has told them to stop transferring money to Bitcoin exchanges.

CurrencyFair is a suitable replacement for Transferwise for those in the UK (and other countries they support), correct?

[marcus_of_augustus]

The UK banking system is dying. Recently frequent service outages, nationalised Mega banks, actually had the first bank runs in the West for decades in UK. All the money printing, suspension of rule of law for banksters, now over-regulation of the customers not the bankers and you have a recipe for a complete lock-up.

I'm not sympathetic really, since it is the City of London that has housed and fostered the worst of the criminal, crooked, greedy, corrupt and incompetent banking practices that have been exported all over the West, Wall St. is branch of the City of London in many ways. Blowback is a bitch.

Physician heal thyself.

[Lethos]

Once things settle down and it's a bit more clear on how the UK (financial system) feels about Bitcoin (more positive) and I know I can stay within their rules, I'd love to operate an exchange, maybe even more than 1. My goal would not be the best, just to achieve something, few others have done, even if it was just having an exchange on this small island without being shutdown.

My first I'm sure would be hardest, It be an exclusive UK exchange, just GBP, UK account holders only (no international trade), very restrictive in that sense plus all the usual security of an exchange. I'm sure I'd have to add a lot of other rules to appease the regulators as well. But if it succeeds here, what I learn from it will make it easier going to other countries with another exchange.

However I'm not going to have my hand bitten of trying to do it while it's clear the regulators and the banks are on a rampage at the moment.
I'm sure later down the line I might see it as a missed my chance to do, but I'm risk adverse and have my primary business to worry about.

[matthewh3]

The UK banking system is dying. Recently frequent service outages, nationalised Mega banks, actually had the first bank runs in the West for decades in UK. All the money printing, suspension of rule of law for banksters, now over-regulation of the customers not the bankers and you have a recipe for a complete lock-up.

I'm not sympathetic really, since it is the City of London that has housed and fostered the worst of the criminal, crooked, greedy, corrupt and incompetent banking practices that have been exported all over the West, Wall St. is branch of the City of London in many ways. Blowback is a bitch.

Physician heal thyself.

Bank of Dave - http://www.burnleysavingsandloans.co.uk/about-us/