To expand the possibilities available I was thinking in referring this[1] service to OP since it allows payment to be done directly to a bank account
I've never heard of this service before. Can you vouch for it? My concern with using any service which has KYC/AML procedures at a certain price point or after certain conditions is that they can (and often do) unexpectedly expand those requirements to other users or all users with no warning. I'd rather just stick to somewhere like Bisq or LocalCryptos which has no KYC requirements ever.
Up until a few moments ago I couldn't vouch for it as I also hadn't heard about it before (and never used it). However, I've been digging this service for the past hours and I've found some interesting information. In their website footer[1] they have a link that states
"Read about us on the BitcoinTalk Forums". This spiked my curiosity and if you click on that link you're taken to this thread[2] by user BuyBitcoin.US[3] - registered on 14th of July 2013 and last seen active around 2018. The user started the service quite early - 2013 - and with a different name - ButBitcoin.US - and he wanted to ensure that he was looking for legit deals that he even opened up a thread[4] where he would pay to reputable members - or mods - to verify his identity. He originally stated that the service was operated by 724Leads LLC but if you look up on it you'll find that the company is now dead[5]. You'll also see that the thread was edited around 7th February 2014, where I believe the name changed to the current one (bitquick.co). The service even hosted a charity event right here[6].
Gotta said, up until to 2016ish, as I was reading the thread I myself would have used the service - it seemed that the support was quick, and the system was working like it should. On March 14th 2016 they were hacked as per this quote:
BitQuick.co is still down. Please read below.
March, 17 2016 - 10:24 AM EST
When BitQuick was first founded back in August, 2013 it was founded with the intention to make Bitcoin trading safer and simpler. Through the years, we have always put customer security as our top priority. In February, 2014 we were the first US trading platform to implement proof of reserves following the Mt. Gox incident. 2015 up through now has seen incredible growth; BitQuick reached $1.5M 30 day trailing volume just last week, 15x where we were in January, 2015. This would not have been possible without our loyal and supportive customer base.
On Monday, March 14, 2016, our server fell victim to an attack that gave the attacker unauthorized administrative access. The breach was immediately noticed, and the server was shutdown to prevent any further damage. We are still performing a formal investigation to determine the attack vector, and specifically what information was obtained from the server. Due to additional security mechanisms in place, no funds were taken, and all ID’s (driver’s licenses, passports, etc.) and emails remain secured. Sellers were emailed withdrawal instructions Tuesday evening. All outstanding orders and withdrawals have been processed. Only 3% of all funds remain unclaimed. Support is still available at
orders@bitquick.co.
We have always provided our customers with the highest level of security and convenience, and we will not restore service until we are 100% confident we can continue to provide the same level of service that our customers are accustomed to, and deserve. This will occur once the investigation has been completed, the attack vector has been patched, and the rest of the source code has been audited for security. We estimate that this process could take anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks. An update will be issued to all BitQuick customers once the investigation has completed, and once service is restored.
Until then, we will continue working as hard as we can to restore safe service access. We really appreciate the support from everyone, and we will be back soon.
Jad Mubaslat & Chad Davis
Although they claimed[8]that they were up and running a few time after and no personal data nor BTC was stolen, the user never got back on the forum after some replies following the hacking. They eventually replied here[8] and here[9] - this one being the most recent - but it seems like they never got to the same high places that they were around 2013-2015... This is also shown - in a limited way - in their bittrust.org[10] profile, where reviews up until 2016 were really good but then they took a deep dive post 2016-2017 and never quite reached the same consistency that they had previously.
Somewhere between 2017 and now, it seems that the service may have been brought up by "Athena Bitcoin, Inc" - again, on their footer page[1]. Interestingly enough, this is the same company that is at least involved in producing (or perhaps licensing?) the software needed to run the "Chivo ATM" in El Salvador. A quick jump to their Twitter[11] shows that they do make the effort to show that work (you can also visit the twitter page[12] of the CEO of the company to see for yourself). The company website is also ... interesting to say the least - if you start clicking on the available options on the page footer[13] you'll find that most of them lead to a "Coming Soon" page[14], which is odd considering how well the company claims to be.
So, to answer your question, would I vouch for it? Perhaps in the 2013 I would, but at the moment, especially if I was looking for a anonymously as possible exchange, I can't really vouch for it in that regard. If we look to their Privacy Policy[15], we can highlight the following quotes that do not supply us with "anonymity":
What personal information do we collect from the people that visit our blog, website or app?
When ordering or registering on our site, as appropriate, you may be asked to enter your name, email address, phone number, ID or other details to help you with your experience.
How do we use your information?
We may use the information we collect from you when you register, make a purchase, sign up for our newsletter, respond to a survey or marketing communication, surf the website, or use certain other site features in the following ways:
• To administer a contest, promotion, survey or other site feature.
• To quickly process your transactions.
• To send periodic emails regarding your order or other products and services.
(...)
Third Party Disclosure
We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer to outside parties your personally identifiable information unless we provide you with advance notice. This does not include website hosting partners and other parties who assist us in operating our website, conducting our business, or servicing you, so long as those parties agree to keep this information confidential. We may also release your information when we believe release is appropriate to comply with the law, enforce our site policies, or protect ours or others' rights, property, or safety.
This is certainly true to begin with, but once you have found a couple of other trustworthy individuals you are trading regularly with, then you can often negotiate better rates, which they are usually happy to offer as well once you become trusted to them. Once you factor in the astronomical withdrawal fees that many exchanges charge, you can often end up getting better rates peer to peer.
This would be the ideal situation considering OP objective - Just find a couple of reliable sellers that are willing to accept cash (I always end up referring cash in hand because it looks the most anonymous to me) - and I'm sure that in long term they will be able to offer better rates as long as the relationship between buyer-seller flourishes. Other than that, even bank transfers will eventually giveaway some sort of information to (unknown) entities in the long term...
[1]
https://www.bitquick.co/[2]
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=262082.0[3]
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=140154[4]
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=263246.0[5]
https://ohio-corp.com/co/724leads-llc[6]
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=305536.msg3496231#msg3496231[7]
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=262082.msg14277121#msg14277121[8]
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1404934[9]
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1848552[10]
https://bittrust.org/bitquickco[11]
https://twitter.com/AthenaBitcoin[12]
https://twitter.com/EGravengaard[13]
https://athenabitcoin.com[14]
https://athenabitcoin.com/coming-soon/[15]
https://www.bitquick.co/terms-of-service
