Bitcoin about the free world, but not for us in the Middle East!

[saidtalib]

It's not so straightforward to buy bitcoin  in the Middle East. Yes, I have tried everything. If bitcoin was about the free world, why all the exchanges ask for very strict verification that even the stock exchanges don't ask for?  I have never had to take a selfie with my passport in my entire 40 yrs of life until I came in to the bitcoin world, what the heck?!! All the exchanges take ages to verify and when they do, they discriminate those from the middle east. Most of them don't allow us to use fiat currency to buy bitcoin, so how the hell new comers will buy it? The barriers of entry to the bitcoin world are too many for people in middle east, am sick of it.

I find the conventional banks much easier to deal with than  the bitcoin exchanges. Guess what? I was successfully registered in one after waiting for a month, only to be told I can't spend more than  300 Dollars a week in buying bitcoin, seriously??? I freaking have thousands of dollars to invest and they want me to spend 300 dollars a week for a coin worth $2500???

Now, the easy way is to buy from others, but I am gonna have to pay a premium of 10 to 20 pct above fair market value to buy and that's BS!

I am thinking to start my own ICO for an exchange that has commercial sense an open to the world. We need a revolution here.

[YOYOY]

Buy bitcoin in localbitcoins.com or in coinbase they are the trusted site when it comes to that one, and the issue in the Middle East I don't know about it, maybe it is not yet accepted it on where country you live in. Just go on to that site I give you they are probably make you some bitcoin if you have some hardware wallet or online wallet for it. Search in Google you'll find some answers there and some reviews that may help you to have some bitcoins.

[BrewMaster]

apparently you have not understood the basics of the world in your past 40 years!
it is pretty simple, when you want to deal with fiat, banks, and anything related to those you have to follow all the rules and regulations of those too.
this means AML/KYC, this means long waits for manual verification, this means selfie with your passport. if you don't like it then take it up with your government and banks and related authorities and ask them why they ask you to jump through all these hoops to use your own money (fiat/cash/dinar or what your local currency is).
this has nothing to do with bitcoin.

[saidtalib]

Buy bitcoin in localbitcoins.com or in coinbase

Coin base doesn't work in middle east. Localbitcoin is ridiculously expensive.

Thanks bro.

[mrcash02]

I'm not from the middle east and I had to show my ID to convert BTC to fiat and vice-versa. Nothing wrong with that, as was said above, when we use these middle-man service between the Crypto and the real world it's necessary to follow their rules.

If you aren't happy with that, don't buy Bitcoins, try to make profit online only by working on the internet and using, of course, decentralized online services that don't have any restriction over your country.

[HI-TEC99]

I see there aren't many Bitcoin ATMs in the Middle East. If you live in Saudi Arabia there is one that allows you to buy $500-$600 worth a day and charges a 10-15% fee. Apart from that the only other country with any ATMs is Israel.

https://coinatmradar.com/bitcoin_atm/303/bitcoin-atm-lamassu-jubail-ticket-computer-center/

You could open your own ATM and have a first mover advantage.

[odolvlobo]

There are two reasons for your troubles:

1 Exchanges are just following the rules imposed on them by governments. They are required by law to spy on their customers.

2. It is very easy to commit fraud using the current payment processing and banking systems. Exchanges must protect themselves.

[European Central Bank]

i've never come anywhere the id bullshit that's related to crypto either.

people who seem to think this is normal are wrong. you can open a bank account with a scan of a couple of documents.

i think it's because the people who operate this stuff are ultra twitchy. by the sounds of it most localbitcoins sellers want your sperm sample these days. um, nope.

[Fredomago]

There are two reasons for your troubles:

1 Exchanges are just following the rules imposed on them by governments. They are required by law to spy on their customers.

2. It is very easy to commit fraud using the current payment processing and banking systems. Exchanges must protect themselves.

that's right they just following what the government ask them to do and there's always restrictions even we all have freedom in terms of crypto investment but the local government will still try to control over it so better to just follow the rules and enjoy what you can have by this moment.

[chixka000]

Bitcoin is all about free world. Exchanger's is obviously not about free world they are making business and if they won't let anyone from middle east its their perception and not bitcoins purpose. If you want to use the free will of bitcoin then you have to use bitcoin - bitcoin freely

[Pearls Before Swine]

This forum has its own currency exchange section,  and you can usually find good deals there.   Post your offer and see if anyone bites.  I would stay away from payment methods like paypal though,  since you're a noob.  It's really not that hard to buy crypto but I understand the frustration about the exchanges.

[FasTroy]

It's too bad to know that about middle east countries. As i understand, they have hard rules to follow their and it's not easy to buy bitcoin their, anyways you can deals with trusted people whether in localbitcoin.com or in this forums you can find many trusted members here can help you in currency exchange section.
Good luck

[FractalUniverse]

What about buying bitcoin in Dubai? lots of expats are living there, im sure there must be people capable of selling cryptos for less than 15-20% premium. you dont need to buy bitcoin directly, it can be bought through some altcoins

[webtricks]

There is a difference when we talk about Bitcoin and when we talk about Exchanges.
No doubt Bitcoin means freedom to use your money but Exchanges are rather attached to regulations by government because after all they are dealing in national currency of your country. Don't think Exchanges have some prejudice regarding Middle East, conditions are same for everyone. I am Indian and when I buy cryptocurrencies, Tax Authority does peek in my transactions via PAN Card.

[Love!]

The barriers of entry to the bitcoin world are too many for people in middle east, am sick of it.

We need a revolution here.

You do know that there is a negative stigma attached to that region of the world, don't you? And that stigma is a direct result of the radical element in that region.

May I suggest to you and everyone else in that region that you take care of the "blemishes" is your area so your image to the rest of us is better? Maybe then it can become easier for everyone in your region to partake in business activities such as this as easily as anyone else.

Your revolution has to start at home, bro.

[chaser15]

I am thinking to start my own ICO for an exchange that has commercial sense an open to the world. We need a revolution here.

After all readings about thoughts on why exchanges asking verification, all I can say is you really don't understand why exchanges are like that. If you to changed it then go. Goodluck to your project then.

Form a team that composed of developers from different country and see what your brainstormings can do. If you really want a changed on cryptoworld then pursue it. Just hoping that no more crying about related concern of yours, we can see again in the future after your project launched.

[squatz1]

Well the big thing when it comes to these companies is that they're going to be regulated by the governments in which they work inside, so you can't be mad at the companies from trying to mitigate the amount of risk they're going to be opening themselves up to. They simply want to make a buck but they're going to have to follow the governments KYC stuff in order to do it, it sucks but that's how all of this works these days and there's nothing anyone can do about it unless you want to buy a higher fee on LBC or Paxful, which is going to help you avoid some of the KYC stuff though you're going to get hit with a higher profit margin from the seller of these coins.

Take one tradeoff for another here and think about it.

[ImHash]

This isn't about the convenience of purchasing bitcoin, admit it please this is about launching yet another ICO to collect bitcoins that way
Of course western countries won't let us easily buy bitcoins, because we're all terrorists in their eyes I don't blame them.
I don't really care if it's very hard to mine bitcoin but we were supposed to mine it as Satoshi himself intended, if you want to have some bitcoins you'd have to mine it for yourself that's the way where no one could have anything to do with you, no one can deny you from mining, and that is what's very important, as long as you can mine.

[canvan]

Bitcoin makes money laundering very easy thats why governments are so strict on the KYC regulations the exchanges have to follow. Localbitcoins is obviously a more expensive solution but to bypass exchanges you will always have to pay a premium, thats how the world works.

[RoommateAgreement]

i have never used coinbase or localbitcoins or any of the other places to buy bitcoin and i have never paid any ridiculous amount for it either.
the trick is finding the best option around you and contact them. i have found a guy who offered pretty good rates and after sometime since i made a lot of purchases now i get a better deal even. and now i buy bitcoin from him and only trade on exhanges to increase my bitcoin and dump fiat.