Verification queue at CaVirtex suggests many people are still lining up to buy

[Peter R]

I just stumbled across this info, and since I hadn't seen any mention of the long verification queue at the dominant Canadian Bitcoin Exchange, I thought I'd share.  I am posting this in the speculation forum (rather than the service discussion forum where my first post was moved) because it suggests that demand may be held back due to the more stringent verification processes now in place at many exchanges.


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Dec. 3, 2013, 9:36 p.m. - Verification action plan and status report

Nov 19 to present we have 1530 people waiting for verifications. In the past 4 days alone we have verified 268 customers. With 12 staff dedicated full time to verifications as of today, at a target of 10-20 verifications per person, that comes to 120 to 240 people per day. Currently we are working on verifications submitted between Nov 19th to Nov 25th. With the increased staff our target is to be caught up in 2 weeks. New verification requests are also coming at around 100 per day. To address this workload I am working on two fronts:

1) Training 6 new additional human resources TOMORROW
2) Third party verification portals that are FINTRAC compliant for Canadians and that allow you to do your own verification through their API. Applications have been filed and once finalized it will be a matter of days to make live on the site.

I believe in communication and constant update during this busy time, and I will be posting progress reports daily as follows: Total number of verifications outstanding, date range we are working on, number of staff working, verifications completed since last update.



Dec. 4, 2013, 5:58 p.m. - Verification and Customer Service Update - Dec 4 2013

Total number of verifications outstanding: 1522
Date range we are working on: Nov 19 to Nov 26
Number of staff working: 12 fulltime, 4 part-time
Verifications completed today: 60
Verifications missing info and put into waiting: 47
Outbound Phone Verification calls made: 125
Customer service tickets outstanding: 1,162



Dec. 5, 2013, 8:55 p.m. - Verification and Customer Service Update - Dec 5 2013

Total number of verifications outstanding: 1460
Date range we are working on: Nov 23 to Nov 27
Number of staff working: 12 fulltime, 6 part-time
Verifications completed today: 81
Verifications missing info and put into waiting: 92
Outbound Phone Verification calls made: 155
Customer service tickets outstanding: 1,190
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Source: https://www.cavirtex.com/news?page=1

[Equus]

Ah.

This goes partway toward explaining how they could lag behind MtGoxCAD by so much this week.  I always expect a 10% difference or so, but come on.

I was really hoping Virtex would surge ahead during the insanity, like they did in April.  I guess there are too many other Canadians with dollars sitting on Gox waiting to move back.

[Peter R]

Ah.

This goes partway toward explaining how they could lag behind MtGoxCAD by so much this week.  I always expect a 10% difference or so, but come on.

I was really hoping Virtex would surge ahead during the insanity, like they did in April.  I guess there are too many other Canadians with dollars sitting on Gox waiting to move back.

Yeah, it was really puzzling me why virtex was so far behind.  They presently have 1460 people waiting to get verified (before they can even deposit money), yet, even with their new staff hires, they can only process 80 applications per day.  Ignoring the *additional* verification requests they receive each day, it will take 1460 / 80 = 18.25 working days to clear the queue.  

If the other exchanges have similar queues, this may explain why the runup never went full-retard (well except for BTCChina), and how we haven't crashed like we did in April.  The verification process slows the flow of money such that the spike is reduced, but then money continually flows in to pay off the people eager to sell "before the crash."  Note that last April you could deposit cash in cavirtex through BMO and buy bitcoin later that day. Now, since verification is mandatory and cash deposits are not permitted, it's several weeks between applying for your account and placing your first bid.  

I'd love to get this data on BitStamp, BTC-e and Gox.  Duing the March/April bubble, people were posting the Gox verification queue in the Speculation Forum on a regular basis.  

[Marbit]

good to see. been worried about buying pressure.

[CMMPro]

Ah.

This goes partway toward explaining how they could lag behind MtGoxCAD by so much this week.  I always expect a 10% difference or so, but come on.

I was really hoping Virtex would surge ahead during the insanity, like they did in April.  I guess there are too many other Canadians with dollars sitting on Gox waiting to move back.

Yeah, it was really puzzling me why virtex was so far behind.  They presently have 1460 people waiting to get verified (before they can even deposit money), yet, even with their new staff hires, they can only process 80 applications per day.  Ignoring the *additional* verification requests they receive each day, it will take 1460 / 80 = 18.25 working days to clear the queue.  

If the other exchanges have similar queues, this may explain why the runup never went full-retard (well except for BTCChina), and how we haven't crashed like we did in April.  The verification process slows the flow of money such that the spike is reduced, but then money continually flows in to pay off the people eager to sell "before the crash."  Note that last April you could deposit cash in cavirtex through BMO and buy bitcoin later that day. Now, since verification is mandatory and cash deposits are not permitted, it's several weeks between applying for your account and placing your first bid.  

I'd love to get this data on BitStamp, BTC-e and Gox.  Duing the March/April bubble, people were posting the Gox verification queue in the Speculation Forum on a regular basis.  

So they process about 60-80 per day and have 100-120 incoming....
Perhaps with the 6-12 new people they hired/temps they can get caught up in the next 2 weeks.

I have been waiting for the surge of newbie money to come rushing in as market buy orders any time.