www.BITSTAMP.net Bitcoin exchange site for USD/BTC

[gusti]

Made my first SEPA withdrawal, and funds were credited to my bank account in less than 48 hs.
Congratulations, I will stop using MtGox and switch to this exchange.

[ricklandman]

did a few sepa deposits. All where credited to my bitstamp account within 48h. conversion rate E=>$ was less then 0.5% under ecb rate. very satisfied.

[Nejc Kodric (BitStamp.net)]

Thank you gusti and ricklandman for sharing your experience. I really appreciate that!

Also I want to announce two small new features that some might find this very useful.

-Bitstamp now allows you to add new deposit addresses. We require only 3 network confirmations. You can request new deposit address every 24 hours. (https://www.bitstamp.net/account/deposit/bitcoin/)

-You can see incoming bitcoin transactions on your account dashboard (https://www.bitstamp.net/account/balance/)

I am happy to hear suggestions or feedbacks from you.

Best regards,
CEO, Nejc Kodrič
Bitstamp d.o.o.

[Stephen Gornick]

I've started asking some security questions of the exchanges where I have an account.

I wish this questioning had previously been asked of another exchange that I was using before they had suffered a security breach recently.

So, I'm submitting these questions here and looking first specifically for the answer to:

 - Does BitSTAMP use cold storage (an offline wallet that cannot be accessed should the exchange's service become compromised)

If so, then there are other questions:

 - Is there a target as to how much of customer's funds are kept in cold storage?  (e.g., percent of total, or perhaps relative to recent withdrawal requirements)?

 - Do new deposits go to cold storage?  (if the hot wallet is compromised, new deposits made (e.g., automated payouts by mining pools) would still be secure)

 - Does the offline wallet where the cold storage resides remain protected due to an "air gap" (no access to it electronically, not connected to the network)?


And I have other questions that I'ld like to know the answers to:

 - Does BitSTAMP maintain full reserve?  (i.e., BitSTAMP controls bank accounts with all customer funds (fiat, USD, EUR, ?) and controls wallets with 100% of BTC funds.  i.e., none of these amounts loaned out.)

 - Does BitSTAMP maintain offsite backups of its accounts and transactions?  If for some reason the exchange's primary account database were lost due to a security breach, what information (and how recent) is still available from backup or archives?

 - If there is a security breach and BitSTAMP cannot meet withdrawal requests of its customers, what is the withdrawal preference that BitSTAMP would follow?  Various preferences are:
 - -  A.) All deposited funds are of equal standing with bitcoins being valued at their market rate at the time of the loss,
 - -  B.) Withdrawals of USD funds, if not impacted by the breach, are made available to those customers who held a USD balance. in full.
 - -  Do customer deposits have preference over any other creditor claims?  (i.e., a contract stating so such that they don't become unsecured creditors ending up in the same pool as the landlord for office space and hosting bill.)
 - -  or is there some other approach?


If there are other security-related details that are relevant that you would be will to share  (e.g., physicall security, staff background checks, dead man's switch for wallet, etc.) feel free to do so.

[Stephen Gornick]

I am happy to hear suggestions or feedbacks from you.

Is there an ETA for when BitSTAMP will be back on BitcoinCharts.com?

[Nejc Kodric (BitStamp.net)]

Dear Stephen,

Bitstamp is very concerned with security and safety of customer funds.

In answer to your questions:

- Bitstamp is using cold storage.

- Bitstamp currently keeps 85% - 90% of bitcoins in cold storage.

- Bitstamp currently has new deposits going to our live wallet. This will change in the near future and new deposits will go directly to cold storage.

- Bitstamp’s offline wallet is installed on a dedicated server that is only turned on when access to the bitcoin client is needed. This server is in a different location than the main server.

- Bitstamp maintains a full reserve of client USD funds and BTC funds.

- Bitstamp maintains a full offsite database backup.

- Bitstamp plans to address the handling of compromises in our forthcoming terms and conditions document.

Thank you for questions.

Best regards,
CEO, Nejc Kodrič
Bitstamp d.o.o.

[Stephen Gornick]

- Bitstamp is using cold storage.

- Bitstamp currently keeps 85% - 90% of bitcoins in cold storage.

- Bitstamp currently has new deposits going to our live wallet. This will change in the near future and new deposits will go directly to cold storage.

- Bitstamp’s offline wallet is installed on a dedicated server that is only turned on when access to the bitcoin client is needed. This server is in a different location than the main server.

- Bitstamp maintains a full reserve of client USD funds and BTC funds.

- Bitstamp maintains a full offsite database backup.

- Bitstamp plans to address the handling of compromises in our forthcoming terms and conditions document.

Awesome, Nejc, thanks for your answer. 

As far as the offline wallet, is that connected to the network or does it have an air gap?   Armory has a method specifically built to allow the cold storage system to be air gapped:
 - http://bitcoinarmory.com/index.php/using-offline-wallets-in-armory

[Stephen Gornick]

Anyone having the same problem?

It's not just you! http://bitstamp.net looks down from here.

http://www.downforeveryoneorjustme.com/bitstamp.net

One out-of-band place to post site status is Twitter, but that doesn't mention any problem:
 - http://twitter.com/Bitstamp


[Update: Service from the site has been restored.]

[Nejc Kodric (BitStamp.net)]

We will be upgrading our core network infrastructure. Our service might be disrupted or unavailable tomorrow between 14:00 and 14:30 GMT.

Thank you for understanding!

Best regards
CEO, Nejc Kodrič
Bitstamp d.o.o.

[riX]

Bitstamp has been down for some hours now, planned maintenance or what's happening?

[kakobrekla]

DDOS according to site owner.

[riX]

DDOS according to site owner.

Yeah, it seems like DDoSing sites and blackmailing them for bitcoin seems to be some idiots new business idea.
(Not that I know if Bitstamp has been blackmailed, but others have).



EDIT: http://bitcoinmagazine.net/bitstamp-under-ddos/ - idiots indeed, and 75 BTC can buy a couple of months DDoS protection

[Nejc Kodric (BitStamp.net)]

Tuesday at 11am access to Bitstamp was disrupted due to a DDoS attack. Bitstamp responded by upgrading its DDoS mitigation capabilities and recovered full accessibility at 8pm.

Service has been fully restored and no Bitcoins or client information were ever at risk or lost.

Additionally, to help make up for the inconvenience caused by the service outage, Bitstamp will be providing commission free trading until Sunday 21th.

Best regards
CEO, Nejc Kodrič
Bitstamp d.o.o.

[layyen]

nice to see you up again and good news about higher ddos protection.

p.s. a bit later i know.. but i am happy to see my favourite exchange running 

[chandler22]

Looks like site is down again?

[Stephen Gornick]

Looks like site is down again?

Back now.

 - https://www.bitstamp.net

[zero3112]

that explains it I was wondering why they where down earlier this week.

[cianuro]

A few weeks back, I made a small test lodgement ~€100 and it was smooth as hell.

This week, I went for a rather more complicated lodgement and significantly higher amount.

The transaction was super smooth. Again. I had my bitcoins within 48 hours of sending the funds initially.

Nejc was super helpful and the support was amazing. I'd highly recommend BitStamp to anyone.

[bvoid]

Is bitstamp.net for anyone else offline?

[Stephen Gornick]

Is bitstamp.net for anyone else offline?

I just tried and the homepage loads fine for me.

In the future you can always confirm this type of problem with a proxy tool:
 - http://www.downforeveryoneorjustme.com/www.bitstamp.net