[ANN] BitStock.com - Decentralized bitcoin exchange

[bitstock_exchange]

Hi folks,

We are proud to introduce www.bitstock.com a decentralized bitcoin exchange.

Contrary to other bitcoin exchanges around the world BitStock does not hold any bitcoins in escrow.
Users are sending bitcoins directly to each other using their own private wallet stored on their own computers.

This means a huge security improvement compared to other exchanges, since there is simply no central storage where bitcoins can be stolen.

Orders are published/managed via BitStock and bitcoin transactions are verified against the blockchain.

The exchange carries out external audits by renowned international audit company PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
Currently we accept Euro, deposits and withdraws are charged with zero fees in SEPA.

For more info about how it works or how to register check www.bitstock.com/info/info.

Best regards
BitStock team          

  https://www.bitstock.com/static/img/logo.png

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[Bitman93]

BitStock does not hold any bitcoins in escrow.
Users are sending bitcoins directly to each other using their own private wallet stored on their own computers.

How can you guarantee the finalisation of trade if you don't escrow bitcoins?
Why sellers should send bitcoins after closing a trade if price of BTC rise?

[vortexz]

same as bitman93
how is this going to work ?

[bitstock_exchange]

Glad you ask.

How can you guarantee the finalisation of trade if you don't escrow bitcoins?

We check all the bitcoin transactions using our bitcoind node and DB that we created from bitcoind database (similar to blockexplorer or ABE).
The user need to register his bitcoin address and provide a proof that he really is the owner of the address.
He can provide the proof by signing a message  using a private key belonging to that particular bitcoin address.
Next we simply check the transactions in blockchain and pair them to trades on BitStock exchange.

Why sellers should send bitcoins after closing a trade if price of BTC rise?

Good question. We solved this by something that we call a "refundable sales deposit".
The seller needs to deposit a "refundable sales deposit" on his/her BitStock account to be able to sell bitcoins.
If the trade is closed and the seller suddenly decides not to send bitcoins, then this sales deposit is withdrawn from his account as a penalty and deposited to the buyer.
The seller has strong incentive to really send the bitcoins. However if for some reason  bitcoins are not sent then buyer will receive the sales deposit as indemnity.
You can find detail explanation here https://www.bitstock.com/info/selldepositrules.

[Wusolini]

Welcome bitstock_exchange, I saw you some time ago and it is nice to see czech  bitcoin exchange, supporting local bank transfer.

nice work

[bitstock_exchange]

One more thing.

BitStock plans to hold insurance against possible theft of bitcoins.

Coinbase is for example also insured, but they have insured only a small amount of their bitcoins, specifically those bitcoins stored in hot wallets. Bitcoins stored in cold wallets are not insured.

In our case we simply insure all possible trades, so users will be 100% protected.

By this means, we would be the first fully insured bitcoin exchange in the world without any possible risk for our clients.

[CryptInvest]

Good marketing. But you are not fully decentralized exchange as Fiat store users at home.

I know the project bitsquare.io. Help donate to the author. Here he is actually engaged in coding decentralized exchange with direct exchange for Fiat

[bitstock_exchange]

Well, its not just a marketing, we are going to insure all the trades and use this as our competitive advantage, this is what we are planning to do.

We do store fiat, however the problem mainly focuses on bitcoins as they are simply too easy to be stolen, you just get access to the private keys and that is it, you are done.

The service you named is clever, however there are also some problems. Disputing issues using randomly selected artbiters is not much convenient in my opinion. These arbiters need to be involved in a heavywight process of verifying bank transfers (a.k.a reading the bank bills of others) etc. and it is quite risky in my opinion. Also sending money between bank accounts, as suggested, can take days, there is also a threat of possible bank chargebacks.

Another possible problem is with money laundering, as by definition there is a very little control. Solving this by some blacklists of dishonest nodes is not much effective, rarely these lists keep pace with the real world.

In case of BitStock I think there is one technical advantage as we do rely only on existing proved wallets like MultiBit, Bitcoin-QT, Armory, you name it. There is no need to reinvent the wheel by coding another node/client/bitcoin wallet using proprietary protocols.

BitStock exchange is running couple of months in production already. The concept has been proven and I think it takes best from both world bitcoin and fiat.

That being said, during early days of BitStock development I have been studying closely more of these concepts like Namecoin, Counterparty, NXT, Filestore, Ethereum and I have been impressed by each one of them, same goes with the bitsquare.io.

[TimeWatch]

Glad you ask.

How can you guarantee the finalisation of trade if you don't escrow bitcoins?

We check all the bitcoin transactions using our bitcoind node and DB that we created from bitcoind database (similar to blockexplorer or ABE).
The user need to register his bitcoin address and provide a proof that he really is the owner of the address.
He can provide the proof by signing a message  using a private key belonging to that particular bitcoin address.
Next we simply check the transactions in blockchain and pair them to trades on BitStock exchange.

Why sellers should send bitcoins after closing a trade if price of BTC rise?

Good question. We solved this by something that we call a "refundable sales deposit".
The seller needs to deposit a "refundable sales deposit" on his/her BitStock account to be able to sell bitcoins.
If the trade is closed and the seller suddenly decides not to send bitcoins, then this sales deposit is withdrawn from his account as a penalty and deposited to the buyer.
The seller has strong incentive to really send the bitcoins. However if for some reason  bitcoins are not sent then buyer will receive the sales deposit as indemnity.
You can find detail explanation here https://www.bitstock.com/info/selldepositrules.

Nice explanation done on the process here hopefully you guys accept dollar in near future.Many people would use your service

[bitstock_exchange]

We are planning to accept dollars, currently we are looking how to do it the cheapest way for our users without spending too much money on bank fees.

We managed to beat the EUR SEPA transafers. You can deposit or withdraw any amount in EUR SEPA and there are no fees involved, zero fees are good .
Bitstamp has for EUR SEPA withdraws 0.90€ fee once your funds are converted to EUR and minimum amount for SEPA withdrawal is $10.00, so we pretty much beat Bitstamp here.

However beating Bitstamp  in international USD transfers is a bigger challenge, currently we are exploring some possibilities, anyway accepting USD is a must have feature.