May 2018 review – Since this review, Bitstamp remains as one of the world’s leading bitcoin exchanges, and has expanded it’s trading pairs to include Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Ripple and Litecoin
Our experience selling bitcoins on the Bitstamp Exchange (originally published December 2014)
Please note: This review is based on selling a relatively small amount of bitcoin into euro. The stats outlined in this review may not apply to larger traders. This review is part of our series of bitcoin exchanges.
So as we generate bitcoin from some work we do, and our mining efforts as we conduct our reviews of mining pools, the next in our series of bitcoin exchange reviews looks at United Kingdom based Bitstamp. We’re focusing one exchanges based in Europe, or supporting SEPA, and Bitstamp are a long-standing exchange. So here’s our experience getting registered, lodging bitcoin, and selling it for real money.
Bitstamp is an exchange, that can also be accessed via an API. They have an automated verification system for getting your account set up. Identify verification is done automatically, and will reject even jpg’s saved from a PDF export of a bill. I had to go through a second round of verification, but this was done within two hours, after which I was able to deposit bitcoins into my account. I contacted the support email during this, and received a really quick response so they’re on the ball there.
Lodgements, as with other exchanges, takes six confirmations, You can then set up your bank account and set your currency. The default currency is dollars, even though the exchange is based in the UK, and they use their bank’s exchange rate for conversions into euro. So while there are no fees for lodging using SEPA, they will exchange it using their banks rate at the time. The exchange also supports Ripple and Astropay. There are plenty of security options available, including 2FA and email confirmation on important tasks.
With funds on the exchange, it is very easy to sell your bitcoins, with a clear exchange fee. In my case, with a small amount, it was 0.5%, but this scales down as the volume you’re spending goes up. In my case, I sold 0.33 bitcoin for $115.61, and received $115.03 into my account after they deducted a $0.58c fee. Withdrawing is straightforward, you pick your bank account and send the money to it. There is a fixed transfer fee of €0.90 for SEPA withdrawals, but a very low threshold at $10 for withdrawals. So in my case, my $115.03 became €91.02 after the fees were deducted, and this arrived in my bank account about 24 hours after I put it through.
So Bitstamp, after some initial issues getting verified, then was a very simple system to use. Everything is clear, concise and friendly to new users. I liked the fact that I could use my drivers license to verify my account too. The costs are clear, and it lets both sophisticated traders, or newbies like me to use the platform easily, and intuitively, and I got paid in a prompt timeframe. So overall, I had a good experience with Bitstamp, and while their withdrawal fee is higher than some of the other exchanges we sold bitcoin on, overall I am very happy with the experience and would use them again. Alternatively, you can visit our Buy Bitcoin page to get bitcoin right now.
