Well, I'm worried about the effect the new Circle stance on bitcoin will be...It's harder to buy BTC with USD now, but why would Circle do that to us???
Harder? How's it harder? The policy changes have created differences regarding methods of buying/selling and changes in limits in some categories but overall have not made buying or selling BTC "harder"
The limits they put on purchasing bitcoin make it harder to get enough coin to do anything substantial. Many are relocating their coin just for that reason. It seems that some of "the powers that be" are pushing BTC into the direction of regulation and centralization via third party manipulation.... Correct?
After reading various comments about the changes at Circle, I made a couple of posts on the topic of Circle's changes.
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.12514803In essence, a lot of the posts about Circle seems to be substantively FUD-ish.
Surely, every exchange (or bitcoin company connected to a bank) has various policies and differentiations that are attempts to comply with some of the regulations while at the same time attempting to compete to obtain users.
At first, when I did NOT understand the extent of some of Circle's changes, I became upset because I was NO longer getting instant availability, and then after reading some of the apparent FUD, I got more worked up... but then after, I in fact looked into the matter, I saw that my buy and sell amounts were increased from $2500 per week to $3000 per week, and actually, I could get all of my bitcoins instantaneously and for free, as long as I used a debit account, rather than a bank transfer.
Instead of griping about the supposed big brother connections of Circle, one should figure out ways to strategically employ its tools to advantage, and surely, if there are better terms in other places (including more privacy or fewer fees or higher limits, then surely, a person may want to employ those tools (if they can be found).
Circle is attempting to become a big player in the Bitcoin space; however, it seems that they have a ways to go in order to attempt to catch up to Coinbase. I use both;however, I understand as well that some people do NOT want to have accounts with any of these kinds of entities that seem to be find various ways to be compliant with various US regulations, including various KYC and AML laws.
Actually, these days, there seems to be a lot of options, but yes, some of the bigger players that are complying with various regulations also bring some sense of security that they are NOT going to run off with your BTC.... and surely some people believe that the costs of having accounts with some of the big regulated payers is greater than the benefits...and they can chose to put their BTC in other places or buy and sell their BTC in other locations. There do remain options, as you mentioned.