Greetings
New to DASH and the forum alike, some small-scale familiarity with BTC (buying, spending, mining, exchanging) from a British perspective and decided it could be time to diversify. So, here I am.
Admittedly 'rip-off Britain' is nothing new, the pound is weak against, well, everything and GBP bitcoin exchanges aren't necessarily cheap either but I'm surprised and somewhat dismayed at the high premiums on UK DASH exchanges, as they represent a barrier to entry for UK users. Other than for low volume (which with premiums like these will be self-sustaining), is there any reason why UK exchanges are charging so much for their services?
At the time I made my comparison, the prices on Poloniex and on Bittrex (versus BTC) converged on a price of GBP 5.99 per DASH, yet the price at Bittylicious by UK bank transfer was £7.06 (a 17.8% premium) and the price at Cryptomate was £6.37 (a 6.34% premium). I couldn't find anything more competitive on a UK exchange.
If it's not clear why this is too expensive, not being a customer of the exchanges above I priced up the option of buying BTC via Circle Pay and transmitting it via Changelly or Shapeshift for conversion to DASH. Subject to Circle's limits (which are restrictive), the cost of buying DASH via BTC in that fashion was £6.1805 via Changelly (a 3.01% premium) or £6.1769 (a 2.95% premium) via Shapeshift. Why is it cheaper to use two foreign outfits (with the convenience of debit card payments) than one British one without?
For small, regular investments the above may well be the answer, but the effect is that there's an incentive only to buy DASH in small quantities (even then, at a premium to what the rest of the world pays) and a strong disincentive for larger GBP/DASH trades. Indeed, being forced to use BTC as an interchange medium creates a slight disincentive towards regular small investments into DASH, too - though the premiums are lower, there is an obvious temptation to acquire BTC at close to a moving average cost by regular weekly or monthly purchases, and to convert less frequently when conditions are more favourable.
Thus, what are the UK exchanges playing at? I appreciate that they need to make money on the deal, but with premiums of 6% to 18% to acquire a currency and no readily available mechanisms to dispose of it, they act as a barrier to entry, not a marketplace. No doubt DASH will survive without Britain and no doubt those who wish can find ways, but our exchanges are charging higher premiums than are payable on physical gold or on buying stocks and shares. My feeling is that this directly harms UK uptake of DASH and that there is an obvious vacancy for something better - not, sadly, that I have the connections or the capital to create it. Anyone care to explain, or to do better?
New to DASH and the forum alike, some small-scale familiarity with BTC (buying, spending, mining, exchanging) from a British perspective and decided it could be time to diversify. So, here I am.
Admittedly 'rip-off Britain' is nothing new, the pound is weak against, well, everything and GBP bitcoin exchanges aren't necessarily cheap either but I'm surprised and somewhat dismayed at the high premiums on UK DASH exchanges, as they represent a barrier to entry for UK users. Other than for low volume (which with premiums like these will be self-sustaining), is there any reason why UK exchanges are charging so much for their services?
At the time I made my comparison, the prices on Poloniex and on Bittrex (versus BTC) converged on a price of GBP 5.99 per DASH, yet the price at Bittylicious by UK bank transfer was £7.06 (a 17.8% premium) and the price at Cryptomate was £6.37 (a 6.34% premium). I couldn't find anything more competitive on a UK exchange.
If it's not clear why this is too expensive, not being a customer of the exchanges above I priced up the option of buying BTC via Circle Pay and transmitting it via Changelly or Shapeshift for conversion to DASH. Subject to Circle's limits (which are restrictive), the cost of buying DASH via BTC in that fashion was £6.1805 via Changelly (a 3.01% premium) or £6.1769 (a 2.95% premium) via Shapeshift. Why is it cheaper to use two foreign outfits (with the convenience of debit card payments) than one British one without?
For small, regular investments the above may well be the answer, but the effect is that there's an incentive only to buy DASH in small quantities (even then, at a premium to what the rest of the world pays) and a strong disincentive for larger GBP/DASH trades. Indeed, being forced to use BTC as an interchange medium creates a slight disincentive towards regular small investments into DASH, too - though the premiums are lower, there is an obvious temptation to acquire BTC at close to a moving average cost by regular weekly or monthly purchases, and to convert less frequently when conditions are more favourable.
Thus, what are the UK exchanges playing at? I appreciate that they need to make money on the deal, but with premiums of 6% to 18% to acquire a currency and no readily available mechanisms to dispose of it, they act as a barrier to entry, not a marketplace. No doubt DASH will survive without Britain and no doubt those who wish can find ways, but our exchanges are charging higher premiums than are payable on physical gold or on buying stocks and shares. My feeling is that this directly harms UK uptake of DASH and that there is an obvious vacancy for something better - not, sadly, that I have the connections or the capital to create it. Anyone care to explain, or to do better?
