[RoyBacon]

I see BTP is being paid in BTC.

Wanted to add a few things I've learned that my help some folks.

Bitstamp
Easy to join initially. Then they want all kinds of proof on who you are. Then it takes around a week or a bit more for them to open the account. Send them a wire and rock n roll. Not smooth but works. The software is ok but underwhelming. They finally added archived history which was a royal pain for taxes.

The fee to sell btc is .2 %. Pretty good. But wires from their bank to your local bank get nailed for .09%. I think I have those right but not a terribly high expense.

My special deal
So I bought btc as low as $170 and sold everything around $450, a mid 6 figure amount. All was smooth and sent the money to my BkofAma account. And a happy ending right? Oh man let me tell you, first Bitstamp raked me for 3 weeks on more updated proof of who the f\*\*k I am with notarized this and that, certified passport, my last BkofAma bank statement, payroll record from where I worked. Finally after 3 stressful weeks they sent the money. I was honestly wondering if I'd ever see cent one. Anyway, Party time right? Nope, BkofAma receives the wire, credits my account and promptly throws me out after a lifetime of business. Throws me out of Merrill Edge too and even my credit card. No phone call just a letter that says you have 30 days to hit the road Jack.

My far from professional opinion is if you are doing a few hundy you will not have any problems with any of the players from Bitstamp to BkofAma. But if you get amounts that creep into the 5 figures you need to be smarter than I was. Remember, Bitstamp uses a bank in Slovenia or some place that probably has hot girls but bank regulators I guarantee you are not to impressed.

Fast forward, bought n sold some more BTC. I opened a local credit union bank account and received a Bitstamp wire recently with nooo problem at all. So if you have a lot tied up with your long time bank like bill pay, brokerage, ************ or whatever and you are doing more than a few hundy in btc than its probably a very good idea to open a different bank account that won't throw you into a tail spin if you get the boot.

[BuckyOne]

So, you just speculated - did not gamble with the bitcoin funds or anything? I got kicked out of coinbase but they said it was because I used the bitcoins I transferred from coinbase to blockchain and block chain to gamble with - cashed in and came back through to put the money back in my bank account and bang - coinbase sent the letter.

In your case, you have a huge taxable event. Bk of Ama must have lit up like a christmas tree with SARS reports.

[Russian Rocket]

Good info Bacon! I'm very surprised, that BofA went as far as closing out your CC and kicking you out of your Merrill Edge acct. I guess for now they see these type of transactions as a major liability, because they don't know what exactly generated this cash in the first place (drugs, gambling, illegal arms deals...etc).


I also noticed that you've only made 20 posts in 11 years - that's one hell of an achievement man!

[TheMoneyShot]

Great post by Roy. I'd like to add that I tried to open a Bitstamp acct months ago. I was feeling out all of these companies like Coinbase and Circle etc. I didn't like the system when purchasing coins at Bitstamp.... felt the fees were too high etc. Anyways... to get to the point... never even attempted a purchase or sell at Bitstamp.. but I got an email from them trying to confirm my credentials that I entered with them. I found that really weird. I still get emails from them... indicating that if I don't send them personal credentials and extra proof I am not allowed to use their service. I haven't logged in with them in about 60 days now. That is really bizarre. They sound like a bunch of a$$holes.