MtGox vs Other Exchanges

[MBH]

0) What criteria do you use to choose your exchange market?
1) What makes you think other exchanges are secure?
2) Did you read MtGox's report on the hack incident? https://support.mtgox.com/entries/20208066-huge-bitcoin-sell-off-due-to-a-compromised-account-rollback

Answer the questions above (to yourself or here) and then decide which exchange you're going for.

As I mentioned in another post, I invested about $900 in MtGox and seeing how they're handling the situation (hard & quick), I'm sticking with them, especially that they're increasing their security.

In case you're too lazy to read MtGox's report, their site was NOT hacked. They were inspected by an auditor who had an infected machine, and the auditor had read-only access to the database.

Could they have added more features to make it harder to take accounts? Yes.
Is it their fault they you used the same password at their site for your email? No. This is how only my MtGox was affected; my password was unique to that site.

Everyone's mentioning TradeHill -- well guess what, TradeHill doesn't share with you what their infrastructure is like and most likely they're not that secure. Also, TradeHill started in May where MtGox was registered in 2007 and has been around for a very long time.

"Don't panic." as the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy says, and think things thoroughly.

[pjce]

I think the recent MtGox debacle will at least open up the competition considerably. Ideally for consumers several exchanges take a piece (but not a landgrab) of the market.

[MBH]

I think the recent MtGox debacle will at least open up the competition considerably. Ideally for consumers several exchanges take a piece (but not a landgrab) of the market.

You're quite right. BitCoinMarket.com would've been the first competitor had it been non-invite as it is now, which is why TradeHill.com has seen a surge in users registering.

The problem is, people aren't realizing that other exchanges may not be secure! MtGox mentioned what kind of password hashing they were using and to which one they've switched to now. Also, they did emphasize on the fact that their website wasn't breached.

[ascent]

Without a doubt, the bitcoin community needs to demand that exchanges post the following on their websites:

• The exact circuit breakers in place, if any, and what their parameters are
• The exact limitations on transfers
• A general description of their architecture, from a security standpoint

They are of course, free to not do the above, but there should be some consensus of what the community expects of the exchanges.

[Sher]

i used bitmarket.eu . Worked pretty well for me

[MBH]

ascent,

You're absolutely correct. Either share how the infrastructure is designed and how the data is secured, or have some sort of auditing authority certify exchanges as being secure, which would include reviewing their policies to recovering from such cases of data breaches and rolling back to a sound state of the system.

Sher,

bitmarket.eu doesn't share any info on how their systems are secured. You could fall a victim there as well.

[fernandodlc]

Just started doing a bit of trading (never done any other trading) and already I have a few criteria:

• High volume, the lower the volume the longer it takes to make a trade and the bigger the difference will be between ask/bid. Also low volume makes it difficult to make larger trades (not that that is a problem for me yet)
• Percentage or very low trade fees, I'm only trading a few bitcoins at time so any fixed fee is going to stop me trading completely. I don't see any reason not to give a share to the exchange but it needs to be a very small percentage.
• Decent amount of movement during a 24-48 hour period, right now I am doing it for fun and I don't want to have to wait days or weeks before buying or selling
• Ease of transfer of funds, there is no point doing any trading if I can't deposit or withdraw funds
• Since the volume I am trading is so small security is not really a major issue for me but I would be ultra pissed if the whole Mt Gox thing happened to any of the exchanges I use.

[ascent]

Perhaps, wiki style, the community should draft up a set of criteria that allows the community to qualify an exchange as being 'A' rated, 'B' rated, etc. Note that these are not regulations, but suggested guidelines that exchanges can follow. If the guidelines have enough community backing, then the exchanges would see the wisdom of complying.

[c0m47053]

I am currently only dealing in small amounts, so the lack of fees and use of GBP means Britcoin is what I currently look at as my primary exchange.

[shockD]

Where does mtgox state any more about their infrastructure than tradehill has? You're just assuming that tradehill is less secure than mtgox without anything to back that up at all.

Back up those statements.

[MBH]

Perhaps, wiki style, the community should draft up a set of criteria that allows the community to qualify an exchange as being 'A' rated, 'B' rated, etc. Note that these are not regulations, but suggested guidelines that exchanges can follow. If the guidelines have enough community backing, then the exchanges would see the wisdom of complying.

Excellent idea! We could start a thread here and ask the mods to pin it & eventually add it to the official wiki.

ShockD,

I have read their recent post, but you are right. I did look for details on how they secure their data & haven't found any and I emailed them (a week before the crash) to include such info.

Do read MtGox's post and look at what they provide. It's more than what other exchanges are providing. It's not enough, but it's better than the rest.

[ascent]

shockD,

It's not clear to me who made a comment that needs backing up. What is needed is for the community to draft a set of expectations with regard to any and all exchanges, and convince the exchanges that it is in their best interest to adhere to those expectations.

[ascent]

Excellent idea! We could start a thread here and ask the mods to pin it & eventually add it to the official wiki.

I don't think the Newbie forum is the place for it, but something like this should be addressed in the Trading forum.

[MBH]

I have no access there yet, but the mods can hopefully un-newbie us and we could post there.

I started the topic and you're welcome to contribute.

Also, there are many newbies with valuable info. Maybe it's better to keep it here & link to it from the trading forum?

[ascent]

It says you're a Jr. Member. Is there something else you need to do to get access there?

Anyway, I will be happy to post more here to contribute to the idea of 'Bitcoin Exchange Guidelines' when I have the time and something specific to contribute.

[MBH]

I just got promoted! w00t!

They require 14 posts + 4 hours of being online (you can see it on the top left when you're logged in).

The thread is here: http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=20720.0
Feel free to pitch in

[zerokwel]

I don't know still a little young to all of this. for getting my cash in I have been using bitcoin7 for people from the UK nip to the shop that does PP and get a paysafe card it only charges 5% so its better for small amounts but it is instant. Yes I have read about the risks with them but no one expected what happened to mtgox.

For withdraw prob going to be britcoin as its the cheapest for removing my funds. tbh Will just be playing each other depending on the spread

just not leaving high amounts of funds in any

[MBH]

zerokwel,

No one expects to be compromised by an auditor's infected machine...

[bbjansen]

I am quite confused on which Exchange to trust. As a new comer to Bitcoin (1 week now) I don't feel save with any of them. This includes Mt Gox, Trade Hill, 7Bitcoin, and Britcoin. I feel like for Bitcoin to succeed and to be trusted by the masses we need a team of professional programmers, designers, entrepreneurs, and business people to run a exchange. If I got into the Bitcoin a year ago or so I would surely have started my own exchange as I have quite a lot of experience with those above but I feel like it is a bit to late to jump into the exchange business unless another exchange such as Trade Hill or 7Bitcoin fails or gets hacked.

[CurbsideProphet]

bbjansen,

You are not alone.  This is why Bitcoin is in for an epic crash.  There is no confidence in the market nor an acceptable medium for exchange.  Prices will be wildly volatile as people will try to cash out while others try to cling on that BTC is only in for a minor correction (ie. buying opportunity).

Once they realize the inherent problems with the system are still broken, they will sell.  Luckily for you, you're only a week in.  Walk away now or trade the volatility if you feel like gambling.  Someone will be holding the bag at the end of all of this, the goal is to make yourself not that guy.