OKPay to stop processing transfers to/from all Bitcoin exchanges

[NewLiberty]

that this OKPay withdrawal is just another part of the tactical manouevres undertaken by Government institutions to crack down on Bitcoin.  

You simply do not "crack down" on Bitcoin.

It's about time financial institutions and their sockpuppets (the Governments) grow up some balls and officially outlaw Bitcoin, so they can face the harsh reality: Bitcoin is resilient to bans and regulation by design.

Anyhow I think they know it, so they won't make us the favour to ban Bitcoin - they know they would have lost the battle from the very beginning, so they will try to play their cards in a different way.

Governments are big, with vast and sprawling org charts full of people trying to do things in the interest of that government.
There are a lot of branches on those org charts looking at this stuff with more than a passing interest.  Bitcoin can serve their interests pretty well in so far as its logging ability being useful for tracking transactions.  Use of anonymity addons can be indicative of intent, which is a prong in most criminal prosecutions.

Our tree will be pruned of bad fruit, and even of good fruit infected with a few bad worms, but it has good roots.  It will grow and adapt.

[MAbtc]

so much exuberance itt 

[fr33d0miz3r]

[harposox]

Short term: Slight decline or no effect (in fact I think we've already seen the 'worst' of it)

Mid term: Lower prices on exchanges that rely the most on OKPay, higher prices on exchanges that may or may not use OKPay but have other funding options that are used. Could BTC-e price get any lower? Arbitrage folks will have a field day with this.

Face it, any "BIG BOY" trader who has the power to move the market will have multiple funding routes and multiple exchanges in case one screws up. The little cats will have to wait a week to KYC with somebody else or find a good OTC hookup but they don't have as much of an effect on the markets anyways.

Long term: Price go up uP UP because harder to get = lower supply but same and rising demand = more expensive bitcoins!

inb4 "Lol but making it harder to get bitcoinz means less people will want to use them! In the world of economics, lower supply automatically leads to lower demand, thus making the supply/demand law of economics completely useless! I r smart & know economicz"

This development actually makes any sort of profitable arbitrage a thing of the past... especially for folks in the States. The smaller exchanges simply don't offer the kind of volume to compensate for the wire transfer fees on the back end, and getting USD into BTC-e is now impossible. Margins were dangerously thin before... now they've gone negative.

[keatonatron]

Short term: Slight decline or no effect (in fact I think we've already seen the 'worst' of it)

Mid term: Lower prices on exchanges that rely the most on OKPay, higher prices on exchanges that may or may not use OKPay but have other funding options that are used. Could BTC-e price get any lower? Arbitrage folks will have a field day with this.

Face it, any "BIG BOY" trader who has the power to move the market will have multiple funding routes and multiple exchanges in case one screws up. The little cats will have to wait a week to KYC with somebody else or find a good OTC hookup but they don't have as much of an effect on the markets anyways.

Long term: Price go up uP UP because harder to get = lower supply but same and rising demand = more expensive bitcoins!

inb4 "Lol but making it harder to get bitcoinz means less people will want to use them! In the world of economics, lower supply automatically leads to lower demand, thus making the supply/demand law of economics completely useless! I r smart & know economicz"

This development actually makes any sort of profitable arbitrage a thing of the past... especially for folks in the States. The smaller exchanges simply don't offer the kind of volume to compensate for the wire transfer fees on the back end, and getting USD into BTC-e is now impossible. Margins were dangerously thin before... now they've gone negative.

I've always thought it strange that Bitinstant would offer their service of transferring funds between exchanges for a small fee instead of just playing the arbitrage themselves. Maybe they will now that Mt Gox USD codes no longer exist and they they can't offer that service.

[joesmoe2012]

This is odd because they released this memo about 24 hours ago...Since then I

1) Tested a $1000 withdraw from gox to okpay - it went through within a couple hours.
2) Tested a $1000 deposit from okpay to gox - it went through within a couple of hours.
3) Sent BITCOINS from my OkPay account (they converted about 3% worse than gox) to another wallet - not sure how long it took but they are there now.

So it's definitely a soft suspension of bitcoin.

[keatonatron]

This is odd because they released this memo about 24 hours ago...Since then I

1) Tested a $1000 withdraw from gox to okpay - it went through within a couple hours.
2) Tested a $1000 deposit from okpay to gox - it went through within a couple of hours.
3) Sent BITCOINS from my OkPay account (they converted about 3% worse than gox) to another wallet - not sure how long it took but they are there now.

So it's definitely a soft suspension of bitcoin.

It's not odd. Gox's statement was:

We will soon stop accepting deposits via OKPay. This may take up to a couple of
weeks, but it will happen eventually.

[dexX7]

Bitcoin terms of use via OKPAY
27.05.2013

During the time of bitcoin crypto-currency processing, which is a unique electronic currency of it’s kind, we had many opportunities to evaluate the characteristics and specificities of this sector of e-commerce, particularly the high risks associated with the shadow part of money circulation.

To reduce the risks and potential dangers, and in connection with anti-money laundering legislation, we decided to apply certain restrictions to bitcoin e-currency terms of use.

Any financial transactions involving exchangers and stock exchanges trading bitcoin are now prohibited. We rely on receiving payments in bitcoin in favor of verified OKPAY merchants leading a legitimate business which passed appropriate legality and AML checks.

Bitcoin withdrawals from OKPAY account also remain available to all verified users.

https://www.okpay.com/en/company/news/bitcoin-okpay-terms-of-use.html

[zocipro]

Could someone offer an informed summary on OKPAY - who used it and why was it a desirable choice compared to say wire transfers?

OKpay was the easiest way to send money to BTC-e. 

But BTC made fault and that's it...
https://www.okpay.com/en/company/news/bitcoin-okpay-terms-of-use.html

[Grinny]

I just noticed that Crypto-Trade announced partnership with OKPAY and their
current d/w fee is 0% for a limited time!

We reduced our fees to 0% when you deposit using OKPAY. This offer is limited in time and can be stopped anytime.

https://crypto-trade.com/news/19

 

[joesmoe2012]

They are still working with quite a few exchanges as of today. Including BTC-e, and crypto-trader.