Intersango.com now the second largest exchange; trading USD, EUR, GBP, & PLN

[Liam W]

... Intersango is the best ever.

Even now that they just accidentally leaked the email addresses of all their users?

WHAT?

When did that happen? Well, if I get ANY MORE spam, then I'm blaming them.

[elux]

Even now that they just accidentally leaked the email addresses of all their users?

WTF? 

[Liam W]

Well, I just got this email about an hour ago:

Dear Intersango Customers,

I personally would like to appologize to all our users for the recent privacy lapse.

We take security and privacy very seriously and we are all very sorry for the recent failure.

Due to an oversight in which "emails" was written instead of "email" in our bulk mailer, all users emails where included in our recent announcement.

Patrick Strateman, CTO

Original Announcement:

Dear Intersango Customers,

A week from now, on Sunday 26th February 00:00:00 UTC (midnight 25th), we will modify the fee schedule to reward Market Makers. This change is designed to improve liquidity.

The average fee users pay will not change.

Orders are either fulfilled right away by 'taking' a current order or they sit on the orderbook before fulfilling another order. Takers will pay an extra fee that is given to Makers as a Market Maker Bonus.

Current site-wide fees are a flat 0.65%. The Taker fee will be an extra 0.30% which is given directly to Makers.

Example:

John places an order to sell 10 BTC @ 1.0 USD. His order is not immediately matched.
Beth places an order to buy  10 BTC @ 1.0 USD. Her order is immediately matched against John's order.

John pays a fee of 10 BTC * (0.65% - 0.30%) = 10 USD * 0.35% = 0.035 USD
Beth pays a fee of 10 BTC * (0.65% + 0.30%) = 10 BTC * 0.95% = 0.095 BTC

Beth's Taker-fee is given to John as a Market Maker Bonus.

New bonuses and a VIP system to be announced shortly. By developing the service to reward market makers, users will benefit from having quick access to a more liquid marketplace.

Patrick Strateman, CTO

Intersango

Compliant with our site terms of notifying users 1 week in advance for fee changes, we are announcing a new fee schedule.

[Nefario]

Well it seems that there's discounts on the way. I was talking to the Intersango guys today, this was a result of human error, a typo, someone added an s and the result was the release of the emails.

At least it's not a hack.

[ashleyconnor]

They FSA registered?

Yes, Intersango is licensed by Her Majesties Financial Services Authority

How do you know this?

[CA Coins]

Even now that they just accidentally leaked the email addresses of all their users?

That's a big deal.  Definitely not confidence-inspiring.  A few years back Ameritrade got hacked and lost all of their customers' emails.  I was a customer and got spammed like crazy.  Eventually they had to settle a class-action lawsuit.  (Needless to say, the lawyers made the most money out of this)

[film2240]

Yeah, not happy about that at all. They can run an exchange but don't know how to operate a bulk e-mailing program? Doesn't exactly inspire confidence.

I've withdrawn my coins and will create a new account with a different e-mail address, just to be sure.

I'll move to a different exchange because of this email flaw and that they charge fees now.I want a reliable,fee free exchange that exchanges BTC to GBP (as Im in UK)

[Nefario]

Yeah, not happy about that at all. They can run an exchange but don't know how to operate a bulk e-mailing program? Doesn't exactly inspire confidence.

I've withdrawn my coins and will create a new account with a different e-mail address, just to be sure.

I'll move to a different exchange because of this email flaw and that they charge fees now.I want a reliable,fee free exchange that exchanges BTC to GBP (as Im in UK)

Reliable and fee free are mutually exclusive when it comes to bitcoin exchanges, an exchange has real running costs not even related to software development, it takes a lot of time and is not the sort of thing people would do for fun.

You will find new exchanges that for a time don't charge, but all eventually do, otherwise they close their doors.

Fortunately Intersango has been (and still is) the most reliable exchange out there, from both a security and general operations perspective. There have been none of the shenanigans, frauds, and shady dealings that have plagued other exchanges.

If you want any kind of support(never mind decent customer support) Intersango is the way to go, and they're in the UK too.

Nefario.

[film2240]

Yeah, not happy about that at all. They can run an exchange but don't know how to operate a bulk e-mailing program? Doesn't exactly inspire confidence.

I've withdrawn my coins and will create a new account with a different e-mail address, just to be sure.

I'll move to a different exchange because of this email flaw and that they charge fees now.I want a reliable,fee free exchange that exchanges BTC to GBP (as Im in UK)

Reliable and fee free are mutually exclusive when it comes to bitcoin exchanges, an exchange has real running costs not even related to software development, it takes a lot of time and is not the sort of thing people would do for fun.

You will find new exchanges that for a time don't charge, but all eventually do, otherwise they close their doors.

Fortunately Intersango has been (and still is) the most reliable exchange out there, from both a security and general operations perspective. There have been none of the shenanigans, frauds, and shady dealings that have plagued other exchanges.

If you want any kind of support(never mind decent customer support) Intersango is the way to go, and they're in the UK too.

Nefario.

I guess I have to put up with the fees.Oh well,its either that or no exchange in UK.Maybe there's a more positive side to there being a tiny fee.

[Nefario]

Well you can be sure that the money that you do end up spending on Intersango, as BitcoinConsultancy (the guys running Intersango) make huge contributions to bitcoin development(genjix is a core bitcoin developer).

[Blizz]

Fortunately Intersango has been (and still is) the most reliable exchange out there

That's right, Intersango is great. If you're looking for a handout, go somewhere else.

[CA Coins]

Am I reading it right, if you want to execute an order immediately and takes an existing order on the order book, your fee is almost 1% (0.95%)?  That's quite steep.  What happens if it partial-fills and the rest sits on the order book?

[TurboK]

Does anyone have any experience with SEPA withdraws at intersango? Mtgox only does international wire which charges 15-25 usd per withdrawal.

Yeah, not happy about that at all. They can run an exchange but don't know how to operate a bulk e-mailing program? Doesn't exactly inspire confidence.

I've withdrawn my coins and will create a new account with a different e-mail address, just to be sure.

I'll move to a different exchange because of this email flaw and that they charge fees now.I want a reliable,fee free exchange that exchanges BTC to GBP (as Im in UK)

At least they didn't have both email *and* passwords leaked, unlike mtgox.

[TurboK]

Does anyone have any experience with SEPA withdraws at intersango? Mtgox only does international wire which charges 15-25 usd per withdrawal.

bump.

[phantomcircuit]

Am I reading it right, if you want to execute an order immediately and takes an existing order on the order book, your fee is almost 1% (0.95%)?  That's quite steep.  What happens if it partial-fills and the rest sits on the order book?

The maker/taker fee shift is applied to the trade.  So the unfilled portion of a partially filled order would become maker even if the first part was taker.

[rebroad]

They FSA registered?

Yes, Intersango is licensed by Her Majesties Financial Services Authority

Licensed or regulated? I understand regulated means protection to the consumers in situations of bankruptcy. Are there any protections provided by being just licensed?

It doesn't appear that the protections afforded by any association with the FSA are made very visible on the Intersango website. I would suspect if any protections existed, they would be singing and dancing about it.

[Nefario]

You should read the Intersango.com Terms of Service, they make it very clear what protections are in place.

[Liam W]

Unfortuantely, Intersango no longer accept deposits to and from UK banks

Shame!