still broken. still no response

Customer Service is also not responding.

good old bump!

Interesting link:

http://www.doge-coins.nl/news-2/dutch-bank-abn-amro-reportedly-experimenting-bitcoin/

I also read several articles that suggest banks are mostly interested in the underlying technology.

Custody could be very cheap I believe (perhaps even as little as 50 USD per year).  I personally think that the profitability would come from exchange/broker services. Banks usually charge a fee when (e.g.) you buy stock, or foreign currency.

Edit: payment services usually also charge a fee, to the merchant

sounds almost like we will be screwed either way.... no ethics left anymore....

yes, very true. Good thing to I would say.

Still, Banks can't operate like Mark Karpelès did. He does seem to have a nice appartment though  ;-)

I can store my Gold at a bank, or even the deed to my house. I can deposit my stocks and transfer them in and out.
Mind you, I never said that BTC should be treated as a Currency. Most tax authorities see it as an asset anyway. Very tradable asset though ;-)

Thats not possible; Banks can't just create more bitcoins, just like a bank can not produce more gold or simply issue more stocks of a certain company. (that is the beauty of the Bitcoin)

not as far as the network itself is concerned.

that was not really a bank, now was it. I am talking more about banks such as: Barclays, Bank Of America. Standard Bank, etc.

thanks for the reply. Understand that most banks are staying away from BTC. But what if a Bank would offer such services, that is my question.

Edit: and I do mean a respectable, traditional Bank.

I have been playing around with the idea of a (non-investment) Bank offering BiTCoin custody and payment services. Some of the key benefits I see:
- Bank standard IT security; same IT security as for your cash/debit/savings accounts.
- Integrated with your non-crypto accounts; one stop shop.
- Under regulatory framework; consumer protection and yearly (tax) statements.
- High level of familiarity for the less BiTCoin experienced user (from the user perspective it works, more or less, just like any other bank account).
- BiTCoin addresses are legally linked to owner; no anonymous accounts. Together with the regualtory framework, I believe this would be very valuable for merchants, as it provides a vehicle through which they can 'guarantee’  their accounts and BTC holdings.
- Proper, audited and regulated accounting (if anything, Banks generally run tight accounting; very unlikly a MT Gox scenario could unfold at a bank).

I do have some premises though:
- On the basis of a custody account like structure only (e.g. like a equity deposit account). Added benefit is that, if the bank defaults, your holdings are guaranteed (at least this is how Dutch Law works).
- No lending activities, secured or unsecured.
- No speculation by both the Bank and the Consumer.
- No termed business.
- More or less the same qualifications and identifications needed to open a BTC Account, as for (e.g.) a regular Checking account.
- Banks opt as a Broker only for USD/BTC conversions. A central clearing organization may be needed here to support.

One key downside i see is that you will likely not get any interest. That’s the price you pay for prohibiting lending and termed business.

So what do you think?

How do you guys feel if a Bank would offer BitCoin (custody) services?

They should be able to offer the same level if (IT) protection, as for their cash/checkings/savings accounts. They would also fall under a regulatory framework and will likly not accept any anonymous accounts.

thanks for the tip.

come-from-above, goes-down-the-drain

Thumbs up to you!

I was using very different passwords for both.

The google incident you described above is actually what happend to me, I think. What I find strange though is how they got my blockchain password, as I did not link this to my google e-mail account, nor do I ever e-mail passwords to my gmail account. FYI I also have other accounts outside of Cryptsy/Blockchain, that they did not hit.

Their is no formal registration that you are the owner of a Bitcoin wallet, therefor legally you can not prove / very difficult to prove that you own the bitcoins on the account.

For your bankaccount however, there is formal registration. Probably linked to your full Name, social security number and/or Passport; you can never question the ownership of the account. (e.g. if I ask a Bank to verify the owner of a Account, they can do that)

Yeah....

Painfull exposure to the biggest reason btc can not become truly mainstream: accounts not linked to owners....

On my phone now.....