Regulation as a Service
Bitstamp recently upped it’s KYC game: The exchange now requires a tons of documentation to allow you trading any amount there. To open an account and start trading you need to provide: Your passport, Proof of residence (some utility bill), You trading history (at other exchanges), Sources of funding (documents such as tax slips), and also you need to fill a questionnaire about your trading activity.
If you thought this is bad, here is one more: It costs 0.5% to trade on Bitstamp; whether you are a maker or a taker. The industry standard seems to be around 0.2-0.1%. Bitstamp is 5 times more expensive and 10 times more burdensome to trade with. Which really begs the question: Is there any reason for Bitstamp to exist?
The answer might be a surprising: Yes
See, centralized exchanges are a dead business. The only reason they exist today is that de-centralized exchanges are still...