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Topic: Can I trust BTC exchanges? - page 14. (Read 21741 times)

legendary
Activity: 1148
Merit: 1000
April 25, 2015, 02:17:26 AM
#45
I wouldn't leave large amounts of BTC on any exchange but I have no problems trusting Bitstamp with 1 Bitcoin. These days I buy all of my BTC from Circle and I sometimes leave some in my wallet there, I think they're also pretty trustworthy. If you're not trading very often however, it would definitely be best if you moved the majority of your coins to a local/online wallet.
legendary
Activity: 3038
Merit: 4418
Crypto Swap Exchange
April 24, 2015, 07:52:25 AM
#44
Howdy,
I've been using one for a couple months now and it's given no reason to mistrust it. But it seems weird to me sending my money to an intermediary that's neither a wallet nor a bank and is entirely online. Feels like the money is hanging out in some nowhere zone that isn't completely under my control...

Dies any one else feel this way or do I just not understand this stuff well enough yet?

Thanks!

It's definitely a shot in the dark if you aren't dealing with a reputable/responsible and well funded exchange. For instance, it is known that Coinbase is pretty much the most capitalized company in the space aside from 21, and it can be expected that their security practices would be par-none. For the most part, it's tough to know how secure the other large exchanges are.

As good practice, it's probably best not to keep your coins sitting on any exchange for a long time.
Mt gox was pretty trusted among many people too. Since coinbase only operates in US and there are some people who aren't from US, it isn't a good choice. Your best choice is to choose an exchange which has a proof of solvency audit available for you to review. It should however only be used for references and shouldn't make the exchange automatically trusted. Audits can be unreliable as time passes though.
hero member
Activity: 737
Merit: 551
April 24, 2015, 02:09:47 AM
#43
Yes you can trust btc exchange
I believe exchange on bittrex and bitstamb
newbie
Activity: 35
Merit: 0
April 23, 2015, 07:59:07 PM
#42
Howdy,
I've been using one for a couple months now and it's given no reason to mistrust it. But it seems weird to me sending my money to an intermediary that's neither a wallet nor a bank and is entirely online. Feels like the money is hanging out in some nowhere zone that isn't completely under my control...

Dies any one else feel this way or do I just not understand this stuff well enough yet?

Thanks!

It's definitely a shot in the dark if you aren't dealing with a reputable/responsible and well funded exchange. For instance, it is known that Coinbase is pretty much the most capitalized company in the space aside from 21, and it can be expected that their security practices would be par-none. For the most part, it's tough to know how secure the other large exchanges are.

As good practice, it's probably best not to keep your coins sitting on any exchange for a long time.
legendary
Activity: 1456
Merit: 1000
April 23, 2015, 06:59:38 PM
#41
Many exchanges scammed people by closing their services but there are some genuine exchanges also.

Was Mt. Gox the biggest scam in exchanges? I think it got a lot of press release but I heard some things about other exchanges.
Yes, in fact it was the biggest scam ever, about 850,000BTC were lost. This was mainly due to the fact that it had highest trading volume at time before hack and many people used it as a wallet too.

Part of it was Mt. Gox always had a higher price for BTC.  It attracted many people from that and with it's name becoming very common, and the most popular exchange at the time.

At this point I still stick with my thought of no exchange should be long term storage.  It should be used to exchange alt to btc, maybe fiat to btc, or opposites, but never as a device to store your coins.  Look into cold storage and make your life better.
legendary
Activity: 3038
Merit: 4418
Crypto Swap Exchange
April 23, 2015, 06:49:37 PM
#40
Many exchanges scammed people by closing their services but there are some genuine exchanges also.

Was Mt. Gox the biggest scam in exchanges? I think it got a lot of press release but I heard some things about other exchanges.
Yes, in fact it was the biggest scam ever, about 850,000BTC were lost. This was mainly due to the fact that it had highest trading volume at time before hack and many people used it as a wallet too.
hero member
Activity: 672
Merit: 508
LOTEO
April 23, 2015, 12:33:45 PM
#39
Many exchanges scammed people by closing their services but there are some genuine exchanges also.

Was Mt. Gox the biggest scam in exchanges? I think it got a lot of press release but I heard some things about other exchanges.
sr. member
Activity: 552
Merit: 255
April 23, 2015, 12:18:31 PM
#38
Many exchanges scammed people by closing their services but there are some genuine exchanges also.
hero member
Activity: 672
Merit: 508
LOTEO
April 23, 2015, 07:48:18 AM
#37
Howdy,
I've been using one for a couple months now and it's given no reason to mistrust it. But it seems weird to me sending my money to an intermediary that's neither a wallet nor a bank and is entirely online. Feels like the money is hanging out in some nowhere zone that isn't completely under my control...

Dies any one else feel this way or do I just not understand this stuff well enough yet?

Thanks!

Exchanges control the private keys so you are correct. There is a risk involved. It's similar to an online wallet where you do not own the private keys. You should verify the exchange is legit.
full member
Activity: 154
Merit: 100
April 23, 2015, 07:42:29 AM
#36
yes you can trust them but not blondly because there is nothing in this world 100% risk free
legendary
Activity: 896
Merit: 1000
April 23, 2015, 07:39:40 AM
#35
Howdy,
I've been using one for a couple months now and it's given no reason to mistrust it. But it seems weird to me sending my money to an intermediary that's neither a wallet nor a bank and is entirely online. Feels like the money is hanging out in some nowhere zone that isn't completely under my control...

Dies any one else feel this way or do I just not understand this stuff well enough yet?

Thanks!

I usually use BTC-e for buy - sell BTC, to buy - sell other forks and altcoins I usually use cryptsy.com
legendary
Activity: 3038
Merit: 4418
Crypto Swap Exchange
April 23, 2015, 05:53:28 AM
#34
you can trust only the legit exchanges, bitstamp is recommended, they never fail.
Many exchanges were legit before they were shutdown. And your claim about Bitstamp being resistant to failures is false[1]. No exchanges can be trusted well enough. Just take precautions such as depositing only when you want to trade.

[1] http://www.coindesk.com/analysis-bitstamp-hacker-stolen-additional-1-75-million/
full member
Activity: 210
Merit: 100
★☆★ 777Coin - The Exciting Bitco
April 23, 2015, 04:04:05 AM
#33
Absolutely right to feel kind of 'awkward', you have good senses.  If your going to use an exchange try to stick with the more reputable (i.e. well known ones), bitstamp, btcchina, coindesk, etc.  but as others have already mentioned, don't keep any of your long-term bitcoin savings on an exchange.  Your basically trusting the keys to your crypto-wealth to another party when you do and any number of things can obviously go wrong in that scenario.
legendary
Activity: 1022
Merit: 1000
April 22, 2015, 05:43:01 PM
#32
You are correct to be cautious.  As many old timers point out, if you don't control the private keys to your bitcoin you don't own your bitcoin.

Having said that, I do keep a small amount of bitcoin on exchanges so I can trade on short notice, but you have to realize that it can all be gone in a blink of an eye.  Vircurex was one of the early exchanges and while it is still around it lost lots of users coins including some of mine.  So only keep coins on an exchange you are willing to lose, because there is a good chance you will until bitcoin becomes a lot more professional.

Good Luck!
member
Activity: 66
Merit: 10
April 22, 2015, 01:58:30 PM
#31
Do you trust banks? Do you trust your friends? Do you trust the man on the street? Do you trust Bill Gates? Do you trust Bernie Madoff? Do you trust Mt. Gox? All exchanges are different - some are trustworthy and some won't be but they could always appear trust worthy then scam later on or get hacked.
sr. member
Activity: 302
Merit: 250
Never before 11 P.M.
April 22, 2015, 01:51:30 PM
#30
Bitcoin is built up on trust. You need to trust everything in the Bitcoin world what is not decentralized! So actually you can only trust the network, because it will (actually) never fail.

You seem to contradict yourself, but I think you made your point.

I trade in moderate size transactions but never leave them on exchanges for more than a couple of hours.  Then if I want to trade BTC for fiat I use Coinbase to wire it straight into my bank account.
tyz
legendary
Activity: 3360
Merit: 1533
April 22, 2015, 01:39:10 PM
#29
Not at all. You should use exchanges only for single exchanges and after you have done your exchange immediately withdraw your coins to a secure wallet. Everything else is a dance onto a razor blade, literally spoken  Cool
hero member
Activity: 672
Merit: 500
April 22, 2015, 01:17:30 PM
#28
you can trust only the legit exchanges, bitstamp is recommended, they never fail.
newbie
Activity: 57
Merit: 0
April 22, 2015, 12:45:35 PM
#27
I don't think you can trust anybody these days. Best to be cautiousness. You should see the example of Egopay in front of us. Trusted and this and that and still ran away with people's money.
legendary
Activity: 896
Merit: 1000
April 22, 2015, 12:37:32 PM
#26
i do trust kraken as it never have dissapointed me so far. but we all know it is better to store your coins offline for obvious reasons. better safe than sorry.
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