Quote from: Kelticfox on December 15, 2013, 08:32:26 PM

Quote from: RapidCoinz on December 05, 2013, 08:18:00 PM

Fellow UK Bitcoiners,

We are all aware that buying bitcoins in the UK is not as easy as it could be, rather cumbersome and quite pricey compared to other locations around the world.

It is exciting to see the emergence of new UK based Exchanges such as Coinfloor, Bitprice, Bit121 and IBWT, however when it comes to P2P exchanges, we've noticed the current duopoly of Localbitcoins and Bitbargain is not as attractive to buyers as they once were.

What can help make this situation better for buyers as the price premiums can sometimes be out of control and quite off-putting.

Look forward to hearing other UK Bitcoiners thoughts on this.

Cheers.

The issue with BTC exchanges in the UK is the stupid laws they have they have to comply with.

Personally I'll stick with OTC or LocalBitcoins as it eliminates the chance of the exchange magically disappearing (with the BTC) like has happened pretty much every time in the past...

The only problem with OTC is that it is difficult for noobies and joe bloggs public to use and trade coins. Localbitcoins has been and still is a great service to the BTC community in the UK, it's the inflated prices at times, considerably higher than the prices offered on the exchanges, which is off putting to many regular UK buyers of coins.
But as you mention, this, along with Bitbargain, are what we have to rely on for the time being.
The possibility of exchanges disappearing are frightening, even when Bitstamp 'froze' for a week recently, it was enough to cause many people sleepless nights with other BTC sites around the globe dropping like flies and doing a Houdini disappearing act.