Quote from: saveyourbitcoin on June 25, 2014, 10:50:02 PM

Quote from: exchangereview on June 25, 2014, 02:49:56 PM

I have spent the last few weeks researching exchanges and I will be posting what I have found for each one over the next couple of weeks. I'll begin with BitQuick LLC because I got to talk to an individual who saw them in person at a luncheon with the Central Ohio Fraud Examiners. He believed he was about to hear two experts in the field of btc speak. Oh boy where we wrong. This gave me my first and least reliable exchange to rate. BitQuick LLC

BitQuick is run by three individuals:

Jad Mubaslat: Engineering student (off to a good start). No "professional" experience. Has little formal coding experience and no background/education with payment systems. No in depth mining knowledge or experience. He couldn't speak to us because he was in the middle east at the time.

Chad Davis: No schooling. College dropout (from Wright State). Chad voiced his responsibilities as an order processor. He has no experience in the field of fraud detection or training in how to identify fraudulent transaction according to himself.

Justin McCarthy: Seemed to be on the business end as he is a Fisher Student, no formal Bitcoin experience.

Now onto the service:
3 Steps quick and easy they said! Well after the luncheon we got time to ask some hard questions and we got some scary answers.

They do not have dedicated servers.

They have no id verification system. When a buyer sends in his ID and receipt from the bank teller it is processed by Chad. When I say processed he verifies that the ID is real and the receipt hasn't been altered. Scary for someone with zero experience in this field. In order to check ID, Chad tries to use state services on the internet he mentioned in conversation checking facebook and social media to make sure they were real people (Facebook for ID verification?). However 20+ states do not services online that allow you to check the validity of an ID via picture or it is imperfect at best. This means all you need is a fake id from a state not included and they'd have no idea. In regards to the receipt, he uses online editing (free) detection software which can be duped by anyone that can use a keyboard.
On their site it says they are located out of Cincinnati, Ohio. However, they shared that they simply work out of a campus apartment with a simple wifi connection and two laptops.

They have complete access to steal the bitcoins they have in escrow. With no multi-sig escrow it is putting all the faith in a team including two college students and one dropout to not run with your btc. Especially, with the CEO having roots in the middle east where it could be difficult to pursue him if he fled with the funds.

They are operating illegally without a MSB license. They said that they are waiting for clearer guidance? Unfortunately, the guidance is clear and they are operating illegally. From their guidance "An exchanger is a person engaged as a business in the exchange of virtual currency for real currency, funds, or other virtual currency". However, maybe this isn't a concern if hey aren't planning on being in a country where they law applies for long.

They spoke highly of their advisor. With a little digging the advisor is connected to the students through their university sponsored "club" and doesn't appear to have any experience with exchanges, payment systems or the business application of btc. However, based on his resume he has an extensive tech background. Still, their club advisor appears to have become their business advisor.

Very scary exchange. I went into it thinking how these college kids could be transforming btc. Now, I'm
just wondering if the company is planning to leave the states with a pocketful of the users btc. Its scary to think that behind a keyboard someone can create a business that is so unstable and unregulated. My recommendation is to stay away and trust services with a more reliable and local team. It also doesn't hurt to be able to identify if an ID/receipt is real or fake.

Obvious sock puppet of another exchange is obvious.

Are you looking at hiring anyone to help in customer relations? I have 12 years of experience in dealing with fraud and customer issues.

We aren't hiring at the moment, but we will be soon. If you like, we can give you a note when we begin hiring. Feel free to drop a resume over to orders@bitquick.co

Thanks for the support!