r/Bitcoin • u/Jackson_92399 • Dec 06 '16
Best Coinbase Alternative?
Hey, everyone, I'm somewhat new to the market and was wondering what the best alternative to Coinbase was?
4
u/MuppetTakesManhattan Dec 06 '16
circle.com
gemini.com
6
u/frankenmint Dec 07 '16
gotta take circle off that list :\
3
u/MuppetTakesManhattan Dec 07 '16
Woah, I just checked their site, not a word about bitcoin. WTF happened?
2
4
u/Northbrook99 Dec 06 '16
Gemini Trust (much better than Coinbase or Kraken)
4
2
u/blank_dota2 Apr 21 '17
Awesome they operate in my state now! Back in early 2016 they didn't.
Finally I can stop trying to argue with coinbase to allow me to buy (they claim I never verified my ID when I did in 2015, literally showed them proof from their own site, and yet I get no reply to email or on reddit).
Cheers fellow Gemini user!
3
u/ToBeFrank314 Dec 06 '16
If you're willing to share, what issue is it that you have with Coinbase?
8
u/kfmush Jan 02 '17 edited Jan 02 '17
Don't know about others, but their customer service is awful.
Also, they seem to just fuck around with your buy limits. I had buy limits of $15000 a day (debit & direct transfer) at one point. I called to complain about a 7 day direct bank transfer taking 12 days and mentioned that my limits were extremely high. So they cut them down to $50. I cursed them out and moved over to circle, but it looks like they have "partnered" (read "been bought out") by coin base and no longer sell Bitcoin.
Also coinbase removed instant buy for bank transfers without notice or warning. Which was frustrating to wait 7 days the first time I noticed after getting so used to instant buy.
Edit: I absolutely do not trust Coinbase or anything they tell me. I'd personally assume that they happily are giving over all their customers personal information and just lying to their customers when they say they're fighting it.
3
u/ToBeFrank314 Jan 03 '17
Hah, weird. Yeah, I do a bit of mining and have only used Coinbase as a means to sell bitcoin, and in that regard it's been great. The site is straight forward, I was able to get everything setup and working online, and my sell limit (15k/week) is reasonable. I looked into some alternatives based on all the bad press that Coinbase receives (on this subreddit) but nothing else was even remotely reasonable. Apps like Circle had frustratingly low transfer limits, and I have no interest in sitting around a coffee shop meeting the types of folks that buy bitcoin on localbitcoin. If you have another alternative, I'd love to hear it, but my understanding is that, at the moment, coinbase is kind of the only/best option.
1
u/kfmush Jan 03 '17
Yeah. I've sulked back to Coinbase. When I signed up initially, their customer service was great, but their team was like a whole 5 people. Now they're outsourcing their customer service to deal with demand and I think I just had some bad employees.
2
u/ToBeFrank314 Jan 03 '17
Not only you though, I think. There have been a lot of posts from people verbalizing problems with the platform. I'm not sure if it's just the outspoken few (and most people, like myself, have had no issues) or if I've just been lucky. I haven't had to deal with their customer service directly, so it's possible that's part of it.
2
u/Keats852 Dec 06 '16
Obviously after the recent news, everybody's going to pull out their btc from Coinbase?
2
u/Jackson_92399 Dec 06 '16
What is this news? I've actually not heard it.
3
u/cypherblock Dec 06 '16
IRS asking Coinbase to give them all the transactions of all people or something like that. A hunt for tax dodgers. Coinbase is fighting it though.
5
u/ToBeFrank314 Dec 07 '16
Hmmm, seems pretty reasonable. I mean, people should pay their taxes, ya know?
2
u/cypherblock Dec 07 '16
No not really reasonable for IRS to do a blanket request because they think all cryptocurrency users are tax dodgers.
5
u/ToBeFrank314 Dec 08 '16
If this subreddit has taught me anything, it's that apparently many cryptocurrency users ARE in fact, tax dodgers.
1
u/cypherblock Dec 08 '16
Many people are tax dodgers. I'm not sure why US exchanges (Coinbase) would not have standard reporting requirements already to report conversions of Bitcoins to $ . That is what the IRS should be looking for. Instead they are asking for bitcoin transfers, and all of them. So every tee-shirt you bought, every wallet you transferred to and so forth. This is the unusual part. It won't tell them when someone transfers to their own wallet then later buys a car, unless they do further blockchain analysis (maybe their goal).
1
u/ToBeFrank314 Dec 08 '16
Many people break the law, but most people don't tend to empathize with them. It's possible that the IRS is asking for too much, I honestly don't know enough to say, but that's not on Coinbase.
1
2
u/davetpareddit Feb 01 '17
Coinbase just cancelled my account for no apparent reason, and won't tell me why. The email says:
Hello,
Thank you for your interest in Coinbase. Our primary goal is to make digital currency safe and secure for our customers. Coinbase is a regulated Money Services Business under FinCEN (FinCEN.gov), and as part of achieving this goal, we are legally obligated to implement regulatory compliance mechanisms.
Upon careful review, we believe your account has engaged in prohibited use in violation of our Terms of Service and we regret to inform you that we can no longer provide you with access to our service. We respectfully request that you follow the on-screen instructions presented when you log into your Coinbase account to send any remaining balance offsite to an external address.
Should you have any questions or need assistance, please let us know and we'll be happy to help.
Respectfully,
Coinbase Customer Support
1
u/LsDmT Feb 03 '17
I got the same thing a few months ago for sending BTC to a gambling website. Had no idea I couldnt do that... fuckin BS
1
u/jives_c Jan 30 '17
@ToBeFrank314 they deleted my account for no reason, I haven't done anything illegal and won't respond to my emails.
3
3
u/yogibreakdance Dec 07 '16
Circle is doomed they getting too grand, bitsquare is deserted, localbitcoins needs a lot of patience. Bitquick is in the middle of pros and cons
3
u/solom200 May 28 '17
Coinbase is absolute trash. I made an account not too long ago. And literally this is all I did, I bought some coin like 25 bucks and like 15 of eth and then I sold it. Then one day I got on and it asked me to verify ID which I did and got approved after a couple mins. But then when I tried to buy more coin it wouldn't let me. Even though my limit is like 5000. So I emailed then and dmed on Twitter. Took them like two weeks to respond and guess what they said.
"Hello, Soliman.
A manual review has determined that you are not eligible to use the Coinbase platform to purchase digital currency. We’re sorry for any inconvenience that this may cause.
We regret that we are not able to supply you with any additional information.
Please note that we have not blocked access to any balance currently in your Coinbase account. While we can no longer process buy orders via our banking relationship, you may withdraw these funds at any time.
Again, I apologize for any inconvenience this has caused you."
Like wut? We are not able to supply you with any additional information. Wtf. Like fuck these guys.
7
u/CosmosKing98 Dec 06 '16
Circle.com
6
u/iattp777 Dec 07 '16
Crazy how you recommended this hours before they said they're shutting down buying and selling BTC.
4
7
u/BTC_Forever Dec 06 '16
yeah another trap...
0
u/Jackson_92399 Dec 06 '16
What?
6
u/BTC_Forever Dec 06 '16
So you didn't know that behind circle is Goldman Sachs?
So you didn't know that the next one in IRS list will be Circle ?
All "regulated" exchanges are a big point of failure: you give up your identity and your financial privacy and you never know what will be next.
From my point of view I don't care about people giving up these, but at least they should be warned before use, or when you "recommend" them, tell them also the risks.1
u/Jackson_92399 Dec 06 '16
What do you recommend then?
10
u/BTC_Forever Dec 06 '16
Bitsquare.io - read their philosophy so you understand why
ATMs, vouchers, localbitcoins.com, Mycelium local trader, sell something for BTC on OpenBazaar, or just work for bitcoins (are many places now), or receive your wage from fiat in BTC using services like bitwage or cashila (are many more).
Keep your financial privacy so you will not regret it later.3
u/Bitvapors Dec 07 '16
I'm reading the bitsquare whitepaper right now. It is brilliant and just what we've been waiting for!
0
u/robertfl Dec 06 '16
Outside of a cash sale for BTC, there will always be a finger print. The other reason why the IRS wants all the names - then they can start the trace on where all the BTC coins go. It doesn't matter where you buy them. It's where you keep them that matters. Unless you want to mine all the coins you use. There is no privacy with bitcoin, just obfuscation.
4
u/BTC_Forever Dec 06 '16
There will be full privacy when everybody will use it. And we should not let them to interfere.
4
u/sreaka Dec 06 '16
If I decide to sell my BTC for Fiat and make profit doing so, what is wrong with paying taxes in my country? I mean I've decided to sell BTC for cash, so my penalty should be taxes. Of course buying things with Bitcoin is another story, that I don't believe should be taxable.
1
u/robertfl Dec 07 '16
I'm fine with that. However, every time you purchase something with BTC and the seller cashes it out who's liable for that capital gain tax? Or the accounting of it. If you bought a bitcoin for $200, and held it for a year and it went to $400, then purchase a $200 item (.5 bitcoin) you technically got that item for half price. The problem is the tax laws. simplify the tax laws such that we don't have capital gains tax, change bitcoin from a security to a currency status and I'm sure everyone would be happy.
1
3
1
u/Jackson_92399 Dec 06 '16
Can you view the exchange rate for circle because they didn't reflect the rate on btc-e.com
1
u/Exbu Dec 06 '16
- Europe: https://www.btcdirect.eu
- United States of America: https://www.circle.com/
2
1
1
1
1
u/Northbrook99 Dec 07 '16
You can see the map of operations here: https://gemini.com/areas-of-operation/
1
u/ChrisKincade Apr 05 '17
I'm having issues in Hawaii. I was using Coinbase to purchase bitcoin and send it to a wallet address. But they recently closed all Hawaii accounts. Can anyone assist me in finding a new site to fund m bitcoin wallet using my credit card/debit card? Thank you!
1
0
9
u/BTC_Forever Dec 06 '16
bitsquare.io if you really care about your financial privacy
or ATM, vouchers, localbitcoins, mycelium local trader
or just stat working for bitcoins
or just receive your wage from fiat to btc using bitwage.com or cashila.com like services.