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Topics - mlawson71

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211

Crypto Exchanges / Bitpanda

« on: January 01, 2019, 03:32:47 PM »

Bitpanda (previously known as Coinmal) is one of the easiest ways to enter the cryptocurrency space. They are primarily focused on the European markets.

The company, security of funds

Bitpanda is owned by Coinimal GmbH, an Austrian company. Their website claims they were “in coordination with the local authorities”, but no specific licensing is provided.That being the case there haven’t been much complaints about Bitpanda’s honesty, since its inception in 2014. This is generally a good enough sign, as regulation for the crypto space is at various stages in different countries (none in most). Bitpanda is aimed towards newcomers to the world of cryptocurrencies.

They offer a transaction time lower than two minutes, which may attract somebody who is unfamiliar to the cryptocurrency space, but is by no means suitable for active trading.

There hasn’t been a major hack on Bitpanda yet. There have been some reports from users, whose accounts have been compromised, but this has been due to their own lack of care.

Trading conditions

Trading instruments (cryptocurrencies)
Only four of the major coins are currently supported at Bitpanda. They include Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dash, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin. While this may appear like a lack of variety to some, keep in mind this is an entry service, aimed at those who are not familiar with cryptocurrencies. These can currently only be traded against the Euro.

Deposit limits
Not much is known about a minimum deposit level at Bitpanda. That being said, there are maximum limitations, depending on your verification level. You can get to a daily limit of €1,500 after confirming your e-mail and phone number.

Leverage
Bitpanda is one of the companies which do not allow trading on leverage. Think of it more like a platform, which allows currency conversion, instead of a trading venue. That being said, one can easily transfer coins to another exchange which allows margin trading.

Fees
Probably the most interesting thing about Bitpanda is the fact there is no information on the fees, charged by the company. They are included in the end-price you get after purchasing your desired coins. The lack of clarity is concerning.

Trading platform

There isn’t much of a trading platform available at Bitpanda. The service is basically a way for you to convert your fiat currencies to one of the supported cryptocurrencies.

While the charting is very basic, nobody should be expecting much, from this kind of company. A mobile app is also available at Bitpanda, but its functionality is even more basic.

Methods of payment

One of the main advantages of Bitpanda is the multitude of payment methods available. They include Bank Transfer, Credit Card, Neteller, Skrill, PaySafe Cards, iDeal, PayU, Ukash, Yandex and a few less-known e-wallets. This covers a lot of ground.

Conclusion

Bitpanda, which was formerly known as Coinmal, is an Austrian company, which specializes in selling cryptocurrencies. They aren’t what most traders will call a typical exchange, but more of a service for people who want to jin the world of crypto. The company does not clearly reveal their mark-up which is a bit troublesome (or careless). That being said, the main strength of Bitpanda is the variety of payment methods available, which is not typical for companies in this space

212

Crypto Exchanges / Coinspot

« on: December 25, 2018, 12:54:44 PM »

Trading Accounts

CoinSpot is one of the leading Australian cryptocurrency "gateway" companies i.e. a service which allows the purchase of crypto with fiat money. They put a lot of emphasis on domestic clients.

The company, security of funds

CoinSpot was founded in Melbourne in 2013. CoinSpot is registered under an Australian Business Number (ABN). It's a member of the Australian Digital Commerce Association (ADCA) and complies with Australia's latest Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing laws.

ADCA is not a regulatory body but it shows a long term commitment to the adoption of blockchain technology and it is viewed as a major player by its peers.

The company offers traders multiple wallet support, which is not the case with one of their direct counterparts CointTree. On top of that there is a mobile app which allows you to send crypto-payments on the go.

There aren't any reports of a massive hack, like the one experienced at Bitfinex, for CoinSpot. This is no guarantee of future security, but is still a nice sign.

The user reviews for CoinSpot are very mixed. Some people enjoy their service, while others are dissatisfied with the verification process, the speed of bank transfers (when selling coins) and the fees. Their service is definitely not cheaper than trading coins on some of the other exchanges, but at least they are very transparent when it comes to fees.

Trading conditions

Trading instruments (cryptocurrencies)

Over 30 coins are provided by CoinSpot. This is a very wide array, especially for a company which specializes in accepting fiat currencies. As a comparison, Coinbase offers only Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin.

Maximum daily volume

The initial maximum daily purchase volume at CoinSpot is $2,000. This can be increased to $10,000 a week after you have hit the first cap. While the company does not exclusively mention it, these levels are probably in Australian dollars.

Leverage

Leveraged trading is not supported at CoinSpot, which is quite understandable, given their targeted customers. This is simply a place from which one buys cryptocurrencies with Australian dollars.

Fees

The fee structure at CoinSpot Is very clear, which is not the case with all companies who offer direct purchases of coins with fiat currencies. For instance the similar Dutch company Bitonic provides little information about its markups, which many users dislike.

CoinSpot charges between 2% (for Bitcoin) and 3% (for altcoins), when trading against the AUD and 1% for crypto to crypto trading. While the direct trading commission may be considered reasonable, 1% is high for digital asset trading. Other exchanges typically charge 0.20-0.25% for this activity.

Additionally, the company charges fees on some AUD deposits. This varies by payment method.

Trading platform

CoinSpot does not provide what one would typically call a trading platform. The service has a convenient dashboard, which allows you to monitor your different wallets. When buying a cryptocurrency one is greeted by a simple order-entry form, which gives you an estimate of the AUD you would have to pay for the given amount of coins. If you want to convert one coin for another, you would have to go through the sell menu. This felt very counter-intuitive, but then again you can find much better exchanges to do this. Additionally, a very simple form of charting is provided.

The overall summary of this “platform” is that it does the job. Experienced traders will not enjoy this, but newbies will enjoy the simplicity.

Methods of payment

When depositing fiat currencies to CoinSpot, one can choose between POLi Payments, Bpay and a “cash” option, which features going to a newsagent and using Blueshyft.

If you were to sell coins at CoinSpot, you would be funded via Bank Transfer. The company will not charge you anything for that, but the bank may. The actual cost and speed of the transfer will depend on the bank you use.

Conclusion

CoinSpot is an Australian cryptocurrency exchange, which allows trading against the AUD. They are a well known company, which is respected in the local Bitcoin community.The entire service is very beginner-friendly, but this comes at a cost. While the fees for fiat to crypto trading are acceptable, trading one coin for another comes at much higher rate than with other exchanges. This feels like a solid Australian entry level company, but active traders will prefer dealing with another exchange.

213

Crypto Exchanges / QUOINEX

« on: December 19, 2018, 02:49:56 PM »

QUOINEX (which stands for QUOINE Exchange) is a relatively new competitor in the cryptocurrency space. The company behind this project operates two brands – one focused on accepting fiat currency deposits (this one) and another one for digital asset trading (QRYPTOS). This is similar to the business model used by Coinbase/GDAX and OKCoin/OKEX.

The company, security of funds

QUOINE Pte. Ltd is the company behind QUOINEX. They operate from offices in Japan, Singapore and Vietnam, but more importantly they recently got the regulatory approval of the JFSA. This brings a lot of credibility to the exchange, as regulated entities are few in the crypto-space.

QUOINE was founded in 2014 and later received substantial funding. The company’s founders Mike Kayamori and Mario Gomez-Lozada have substantial experience in the “traditional” business world, which also makes the project sound better.

While there weren’t any major hacks at QUOINEX, we must mention the most famous case of a conflict with a client. The cryptocurrency market-maker B2C2 is currently suing the company after a canceled a major transaction. Reports state, B2C2 made around $3.7 million on a trade/s, which was/were allegedly executed at a price which was very distant from the current market price. QUOINEX claimed this was an abuse of a technical issue, and reverted the deals. We can’t clearly state which side of the argument is right, but we must mention this incident occurred before the company was regulated by the Japanese financial watchdog.

There aren’t many English reviews on QUOINEX, but a lot of them are fairly negative. The complaints are mostly on slow withdrawal process and high fees on deposits (which are not charged by the company, but by the partnering banks).

Trading conditions

Trading instruments (cryptocurrencies)
The cryptocurrencies available at QUOINEX are only Bitcoin and Ethereum, while more altcoins are available at QRYPTOS. More importantly, trading can be done against a lot of fiat currencies: USD, JPY, EUR, AUD, SGD, HKD, IDR and PHP. On top of that there are three types of trading: spot (without leverage), margin and futures. The latter can be quite tricky, so they are not recommend to beginners.

Minimum initial deposit
There is no information on the minimum deposit requirement at QUOINEX.

Leverage
QUOINEX offers leverage up to 1:25. This is one of the highest levels available for cryptocurrency trading, which should be used wisely.

Be sure to fully understand the ways margin trading operates before participating in it. One must also be aware of the differences between trading Bitcoin with a forex broker and an exchange, one of which is the margin fee, applied by some exchanges. In the case of QUOINEX, the fee is set at 5%.

Fees
There are no fees on trading with your “base currency pair” at QUOINEX. When trading with against other currencies the fees go as high as 0.25% which is in line with the industry standards.

Your account’s “base currency pair” will be determined on your country of residence. All of the examples given at the website, state you will trade with zero fees, if you are based in Japan. That being the case, there isn’t total clarity on the fees, if you are not a Japanese client.

Trading platform

QUOINEX provides a web-based trading solution. They are one of the few companies which offers a demo account.

Methods of payment

QUOINEX accepts bank transfers in multiple currencies. It must be noted that the processing times for the more exotic ones are fairly longer. Additionally, transfers in Bitcoin or Ethereum are also accepted. The lack of credit card or e-wallet (servies like PayPal or Netteler) support will tun away some potential new clients.

Conclusion

QUOINEX is a cryptocurreny exchange, which is regulated by the JFSA. The company accepts Bank Transfers, which makes it a competitor in the “entry service provider” category. Commissions are competitive, despite a lack of clarity on the “0% fees” for non-Japanese clients. The trading platform feels solid, although the positioning of the order books and tape is a bit odd.

214

Crypto Exchanges / CoinMate

« on: December 12, 2018, 03:15:43 PM »

CoinMate is a cryptocurrency exchange based in London, which is also very friendly towards Czech clients. This is no wonder, given the fact the founders of the company behind it CONFIRMO LTD are Czech. This is basically an entry-level exchange, which allows one to buy coins with fiat currencies.

CoinMate Advantages

No hacks yet – CoinMate has been running since 2014 and we weren’t able to find any reports of a serious accident, causing loss of coins. Of course, this is not a guarantee for the future, but is always a nice sign.

A decent variety of assets – the main selling point of CoinMate is obviously the EUR and CZK support. Additionally, the crypto offering is also not only limited to Bitcoin – Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash are also present.

EU bank transfers supported – the SEPA and SOFORT systems can be used to deposit finds to CoinMate, with Czech domestic transfers and MoneyPolo also being provided. This is a solid lineup, although more can always be asked for.

Low deposit fees – here is a preview of the deposit and withdrawal fees at CoinMate. Keep in mind, additional banking costs may be implemented, depending on your local bank.

Positive user reviews – while this exchange is not as popular as the market leaders, there aren't serious complaints against it.

Decent trading platform – the web-based interface provided by CoinMate has two layouts. One of them is meant for a more experienced and active trader, while the other is as basic as they get.

CoinMate Disadvantages

Only suitable for Europeans – the lack of USD support makes this exchange a EU-centric one. It wouldn’t be correct to say it’s a Czech-only one, because everybody with access to a European bank account can access it.

Volumes are not high – probably the main flaw with this exchange. Despite the fact they appear to be relatively solid (keep in mind nothing in the cryptoverse is actually that stable) it simply isn’t popular.

Lack of Credit Card support – while the service offered by CoinMate appears to be decent, this is most likely the biggest contributing factor to their relatively low popularity. A lot of newcomers to the world of crypto want an easy and instant way of entering and nothing beats a simple credit card transfer.

Not all assets tradable against each other – this is quite common occurrence, especially at exchanges which support a lot of altcoins. The instruments at CoinMate are BTC/EUR, BTC/CZK, LTC/BTC, BCH/BTC i.e. you have to go through Bitcoin, if you wish to access another coin.

Slightly high market taker fees – the majority of exchanges charge something around 0.25%, while the taker fee at CoinMate is 0.35%. These are only the BTC fees, while the other ones are very competitive.

Withdrawal fees present – despite not being that impactful, these can still be annoying.

No margin trading – this is to be expected at an entry-level exchange.

Trading with such a company does not provide you access to the actual coins, but only the ability to speculate with their price. This is done with the so called Contracts For Difference or CFDs. This is the way most people actually deal in commodities, like gold and oil.

Conclusion

CoinMate is an EU-centric entry-level cryptocurrency exchange and one of the few to provide full support for the Czech koruna. Most of the negatives about this exchange are not as significant as their strong sides. The relative lack of popularity is probably due to the lack of Credit Card support and/or a lack of advertising.

That being the case, one must reiterate the inherent risks involved in the cryptocurrency space – everything is still very new. While CoinMate seems like a secure exchange, this used to be the case for Mt Gox.

215

News related to Crypto / MasterCard and Visa are cracking down on crypto exchanges and ICOs

« on: December 05, 2018, 03:24:53 PM »

The credit card giants MasterCard and VISA are taking measures against unregulated brokers by classifying all transactions to forex, binary, CFD and crypto brokers, as well as ICOs as high risk.

MasterCard has already implemented the new rules, while VISA is expected to follow suit this month.

For the customer of VISA and MasterCard the new rules mean, that they will successfully be able to file for a charge back within 540 days. Currently charge backs are only available within the first 180 days after the deposit was made.

The new category of high risk investment brokers is designated as “High-Risk Securities Merchants”.

The measure is aimed primarily at unregulated brokers, based in offshore territories that most often turn out to be scammers.

Source: https://theforexreview.com/2018/10/15/mastercard-and-visa-crack-down-on-offshore-forex-brokers/

216

News related to Crypto / SEC: The lack of market surveillance is an obstacle to Bitcoin ETFs

« on: December 02, 2018, 01:54:42 PM »

The lack investor protection hinders the approval of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman Jay Clayton.

The main concern for Chairaman Claiton remains the fact that cryptocurrencies can still be too easily stolen or manipulated on the so called crypto exchanges. The remarks were made at the Consensus Invest Conference in Manhattan, New York. He added that the problem has to be resolved before SEC would make any move to allow the first Bitcoin ETFs.

“What investors expect is that trading in the commodity that underlies that ETF makes sense and is free from the risk of manipulation,” Clayton said, adding that such “kinds of safeguards do not exist currently in all of the exchange venues where digital currencies trade… It’s an issue that needs to be addressed before I would be comfortable.”

Stock exchanges like the New York Stock Exchange have surveillance systems, designed to prevent and investigate any abusive and manipulative activity.

In the recent months SEC rejected a couple off applications for Bitcoin-based ETFs on the ground that there is still a significant risk of market manipulation.

Source: https://theforexreview.com/2018/11/29/sec-the-lack-of-market-surveillance-is-an-obstacle-to-bitcoin-etfs/

217

News related to Crypto / Bitcoin scammer ordered to pay over 2,5 million USD

« on: November 27, 2018, 03:46:11 PM »

A US federal court ordered a New York company to pay $2.5 million in fines and restitution for running a Ponzi scheme that scammed at least 80 people, who thought they were investing in bitcoin.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) took action in this first ever ant-fraud bitcoin related case in September 2017. The court ruled that Gelfman Blueprint Inc. and its CEO Nicholas Gelfman solicited more that 600 000 USD from retail investors between 2014 and 2016 by claiming their funds were part of an algorithmic trading strategy.

“This case marks yet another victory for the Commission in the virtual currency enforcement arena,” said James McDonald, director of enforcement at the CFTC.

Source: https://theforexreview.com/2018/10/24/bitcoin-scammer-ordered-to-pay-over-25-million-usd/

218

News related to Crypto / UK's financial regulator FCA considers ban on cryptocurrency derivatives

« on: November 22, 2018, 03:11:11 PM »

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK plans to launch a consultation on a potential ban on the sale of derivatives, based on cryptocurrency coins like Ethereum, Bitcoin and Dash – a move that counts as the first major effort to regulate the growing crypto market.

The consultation on whether to ban retail trade with cryptocurrency based derivatives like CFDs (Contract for Difference) options and futures, will be held in the first quarter of next year.

“A combination of market immaturity, illiquidity and a lack of available information regarding the market give rise to concerns about market integrity,” FCA says in its statement, adding that in their opinion “crypto assets have no intrinsic value and investors should therefore be prepared to lose all the value they have put in”.

Source: https://theforexreview.com/2018/10/30/uks-fca-consider-ban-on-crypto-derivatives/