Bitcoin Services in East-Europe (need help)

[wobber]

I'd like to start some services with Bitcoin for three east-European countries: Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania.

What do you think, is it a good idea to have an Mt.Gox-like exchange for these 3 currencies and euro?

Also, i was thinking of having a service like the one that Madhatter provides (Bitcoin2CC) but only for the Bulgarian, Romanian and Hungarian currencies. For this, I am asking publicly for his expertise, if he's willing to share.

I want to start a Bitcoin-selling webiste, where people can buy for SMS and/or debit card. How can I do this?

My supreme goal would be to make Bitcoin popular in these 3 countries and implement this coin in other's people services (like some virtual shops, ebay-like auction websites).

Any help is welcome!

Thank you!

[1714889090]

1714889090

[1714889090]

1714889090

[1714889090]

1714889090

[BioMike]

Why not Europe wide? I think there would be interest for a MtGox like exchange that accepts euros. You could even do transfers via bank account, it is free within Europe.

[Timo Y]

Why not Europe wide? I think there would be interest for a MtGox like exchange that accepts euros. You could even do transfers via bank account, it is free within Europe.

It's only free wiithin the Eurozone, not Europe.

[slush]

transfers via bank account, it is free within Europe.

Forget it, maybe in West Europe or in euro zone. There are big commisions on local currency<->EUR rate by banks and fees for international transfers, sometimes going over 10% (depends on amount). It is definitely easier to pay with credit card to abroad. It is faster and cheaper. But yeah, there are chargebacks.

[BioMike]

Why not Europe wide? I think there would be interest for a MtGox like exchange that accepts euros. You could even do transfers via bank account, it is free within Europe.

It's only free wiithin the Eurozone, not Europe.

Ah. ok. Didn't know that.

[wobber]

I believe it's free in all EU-member countries.

[slush]

I'd like to start some services with Bitcoin for three east-European countries: Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania.
What do you think, is it a good idea to have an Mt.Gox-like exchange for these 3 currencies and euro?

I think it is too early for creating new exchange site for those currencies (except Euro, which maybe mtgox will support sometimes). Low volume and large spread will make exchange ever more dead.

[/quote]
Also, i was thinking of having a service like the one that Madhatter provides (Bitcoin2CC) but only for the Bulgarian, Romanian and Hungarian currencies. For this, I am asking publicly for his expertise, if he's willing to share.
[/quote]

Yes, I think it is good idea. Buy large amount of bitcoins for USD (you can optimize transaction fees once you trade bigger amount) and sell/buy it in local currency, maybe for fixed ratio to USD. Also don't forget to registrer on http://bitcoinbuy.com. Looks pretty crappy as it is only spreadsheet, but it is good stumb for better list of exchangers for future. People already contacted me using this site.

I want to start a Bitcoin-selling webiste, where people can buy for SMS and/or debit card. How can I do this?

My advice - start selling for cash, by bank transfer or by personal. Make only simple web site, if need. Invest to SMS system and automation once you will see there is demand. You don't miss anything, you saves your money and can start RIGHT NOW.

I'm doing the same for Czech Koruna in Czech Republic. I bought bunch of bitcoins and now selling them by smaller chunks. It is fun, it does not cost anything and once there will be demand, I'm ready to make it professional.

[wobber]

You are right on the exchanges. That's the benefit of an open community.

Tell me please about your project, how did you buy bitcoins? You invested from  your own wallet and now want to resell? I believe you bought them in large quantities so you'd pay less.

[ribuck]

I believe it's free in all EU-member countries.

No way. Not in the UK anyway. The typical cost is £25 ($40) to send even €1 from the UK to a Eurozone country.

[slush]

Tell me please about your project, how did you buy bitcoins? You invested from  your own wallet and now want to resell? I believe you bought them in large quantities so you'd pay less.

Yes, I went to IRC channel #bitcoin-otc (search forum here if you don't know it yet) and found two people, which accepted paypal transfer. Then I buy MTGOX USD from them in almost 1:1 for normal USD. I offered them 3% transfer fee, but I think you mayl find somebody who will accept 1:1 without fees (I was newly in bitcoin and want to try it asap). Then I traded MTGOX for Bitcoin for price which I liked.

Now when somebody contact me, I go to mtgox site, look at BTC/USD rate, add my premium (I sold bitcoins for 0.3 USD before three days). On national site (patria.cz) I see USD/CZK ration, so then multiply 0.3 * 18.8 and get 5.64 Kč / BTC.

[mtgox]

I should be accepting euros sometime next week.

[Mahkul]

Within the EU the fees really depend on what transfer method you use and what bank you are with; also, whether you provide the SWIFT code (which is not always required, but significantly increases speed and reduces fees, if there are any).

Transferring money between banks that are part of the same big bank is often free. I am thinking about offering such services (BTC to EUR and EUR to BTC) in Ireland and Poland (I have bank accounts in both of these countries; also, you can transfer EUR for free between these countries if you use the right banks). It is, however, a little bit difficult to come in possession of Bitcoins in Europe for me. I try to generate as much as possible, but that's of course not going to be enough to start an exchange service.

I used bitcoinexchange.com once, but the wired transfer from Ireland to Finland cost me about 15 Euro, so it is not feasible at all.

I think people in different EU countries should check transfers between what banks are free and perhaps we could work something out together.

I also would have no problem selling/buying bitcoins for cash in Ireland and Poland.

[BioMike]

I used bitcoinexchange.com once, but the wired transfer from Ireland to Finland cost me about 15 Euro, so it is not feasible at all.

I've used them from The Netherlands one, it was free.

They also seem to be off-line atm. Hope they are back quickly.

[Mahkul]

I used bitcoinexchange.com once, but the wired transfer from Ireland to Finland cost me about 15 Euro, so it is not feasible at all.

I've used them from The Netherlands one, it was free.

That's a very valuable piece of information. If we could come up with some kind of a map of free-transfers between EU countries (and what banks offer it) we would be laughing - this would mean you could get bitcoins at the exact exchange value from anywhere in the EU! I think this deserves a separate thread.

[Raulo]

In Poland (in EU but not in eurozone) my bank charges €1.25 for wire transfer of euro to any country in EU (in or out of eurozone), which is quite reasonable, in my opinion. Full IBAN is required and payment must be in EUR. Incoming wire transfer is free (but if currency exchange is required exchange fees will be applied; also currency exchange fees apply to outgoing payments unless you pay in EUR).

EU-wide bitcoin market may work well with very low fees because wire transfers are cheap and easy. And in contrast to Paypal, you cannot make a chargeback of the bank transfer so it works like hard currency.

[Mahkul]

I should be accepting euros sometime next week.

Wire-transfer?

[caveden]

I should be accepting euros sometime next week.

This is great.

And when you say accepting euros, does that means I'll be able to transfer you euros which will be automatically converted to dollars into my mtgox account, or will us be able to have the 3 different currencies in mtgox? Like, will you create an EUR-BTC exchange on your platform, with different charts and all?

[S3052]

wow, it seems if this is getting goin the BTC exchange rate is likely to go up (as predicted anyway from a technical standpoint)
But now fundamentals support it..

[bitcoinex]

I'd like to start some services with Bitcoin for three east-European countries: Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania.

What do you think, is it a good idea to have an Mt.Gox-like exchange for these 3 currencies and euro?

Also, i was thinking of having a service like the one that Madhatter provides (Bitcoin2CC) but only for the Bulgarian, Romanian and Hungarian currencies. For this, I am asking publicly for his expertise, if he's willing to share.

I want to start a Bitcoin-selling webiste, where people can buy for SMS and/or debit card. How can I do this?

My supreme goal would be to make Bitcoin popular in these 3 countries and implement this coin in other's people services (like some virtual shops, ebay-like auction websites).

Any help is welcome!

Thank you!

Please, see this topic: https://www.bitcoin.org/smf/index.php?topic=1485.0 (btcex.com looking for partners)

[BioMike]

I should be accepting euros sometime next week.

Wire-transfer?

According to the MtGox website it will be wire-transfer. Bitcoinexchange seems to be off-line for a few more weeks (I mailed them).
I hope MtGox gets this working asap.