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Type Bitcoin exchange
Location (unknown city)[nb 1], United Kingdom, European Union[1]
Key peopleNejc Kodrič (CEO and co-founder)
CurrencyBitcoin
Websitewww.bitstamp.net

Bitstamp, is a Bitcoin exchange based in the United Kingdom. As of September 2014 it was the world's second largest by volume.[2] The company is headed by CEO Nejc Kodrič, who co-founded the company in 2011 with Damijan Merlak.[1] The company initially operated in Slovenia, but moved its operations to the UK in April 2013.[1] Kodrič is a publicly available, widely known member of the Bitcoin community.[1]

The company was founded as a European-focused alternative to then-dominant Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox.[1] While the company trades in US dollars, it allows money to be deposited through the European Union's Single Euro Payments Area, allowing a relatively quick, low cost way of transferring money from European bank accounts to purchase bitcoins.[1]

When incorporating in the United Kingdom, the company approached the UK's Financial Conduct Authority for guidance, but was told that bitcoin was not classed as a currency, so the exchange was not subject to regulation.[1] Bitstamp says that it instead regulates itself, following a set of best practices to authenticate customers and deter money laundering.[1] In September 2013, the company began requiring account holders to verify their identity with copies of their passports and official records of their home address.[1]

Bitstamp offers an API to allow clients to use custom software to access and control their accounts.[3]

Bitstamp also acts as a gateway for the Ripple payment protocol.

Service disruptions

In February 2014, the company suspended withdrawals for several days in the face of a distributed denial-of-service.[4] Bitcoin Magazine reported that people behind the attack sent a ransom demand of 75 bitcoins to Kodrič, who refused due to a company policy against negotiating with “terrorists”.[5] Days after restoring service, Bitstamp temporarily suspended withdrawals for some users as a security precaution due to increased phishing attempts.[6]

In January 2015, Bitstamp suspended its service after a hack during which less than 19,000 bitcoins were stolen.[7]

Notes

  1. ↑ The company is registered in Reading in the UK, but this is in fact just the offices of UK PLC, a company specialising in company formation and which, amongst its services, allows companies to use its own address as their registered office, effectively acting as a forwarding address. There is no clear information available as to where this company is based or whether they actually have any presence at all in the UK or are still run out of Slovenia

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Boase, Richard; Spaven, Emily (2013-11-22). "Bitstamp shows higher Bitcoin price than Mt. Gox". CoinDesk. |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  2. ↑ "Bitcoin markets". Bitcoin Charts. Retrieved September 25, 2014.
  3. ↑ "API – Bitstamp". Bitstamp. Retrieved 2014-02-21.
  4. ↑ Spaven, Emily (2014-02-14). "Bitstamp to resume Bitcoin withdrawals today, BTC-e still working on a solution". CoinDesk. Retrieved 2014-02-19.
  5. ↑ Alisie, Mihai (2012-10-15). "Bitstamp under DDoS". Bitcoin Magazine. Retrieved 2014-02-21.
  6. ↑ Hajdarbegovic, Nermin (2014-02-20). "Bitstamp restores withdrawals following security scare". CoinDesk. Retrieved 2014-02-21.
  7. ↑ Zack Whittaker (5 January 2015). "Bitstamp exchange hacked, $5M worth of bitcoin stolen". Zdnet. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 6 January 2015.

External links

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