Bitstamp Overview
Bitstamp is the first regulated European Bitcoin exchange company which allows trading of digital currency between USD and bitcoin cryptocurrency. The company is headquartered in Luxembourg, Slovenia and is working under the guidance of CEO Nejc Kodric.
They also allow exchanges of USD, EUR, ripple, ethereum, litecoin, bitcoin or bitcoin cash deposits and withdrawals.
Its origin
The company started its journey in 2011 when it came into existence by the contribution of CEO and co-founder Nejc Kodric with Damijan Merlak in Slovenia. Initially the company suffered a lot of problems in getting the licence to deal with payment issues which was later resolved by the Luxembourgish government in April 2016 to deal with all 28 EU member states. Now it is regulated by the Luxembourg Financial Industry Supervisory Commission. After that they went for BnkToTheFuture, a public funding campaign and partnered with Swissquote to launch out bitcoin trading in July 2017.
Why to go for them?
Bitstamp is one of the few cryptocurrency exchanges which accept deposits directly from traditional payments methods. They accept payments via bank transfer, credit/debit card and cryptocurrencies. Also there are some specifics regarding the bank transfers with EU clients being more easily accepted via the SEPA system.
They keep 98% of customer’s coins on cold storage wallets, which is a pretty good security measure and they are few among the ones who accept deposits by credit card and bank transfer.
Do they charge?
Yes, they do charge. In order to transfer funds from your Bitstamp account to your card they charges flat $10 fee for amounts up to $1000 whereas for above $1000 transfer, a 2% fee is charged. Also the commissions charged by Bitstamp go as high as 0.25% for cash to cryptocurrency trades.
Are they safe?
They were hacked in 2015 but later they brought up the whole system by rebuilding the entire trading platform. Now they claim out 98% of their client’s cryptocurrencies on cold storage, while only 2% are directly available on the exchange which is proven out to be the great step in security.
In the end, we can say it is a great gateway for those who are new to the world of cryptocurrencies.
