Having just traded 1 BTC for MMC and transferred to my wallet - did notice that the transfer took quite a long time - a lot longer than QRK for example. In fact it was about as long as it normally takes with BTC which may hinder MMC uptake for fast transaction applications.

Also the MMC block explorer came up with a 404 error for my address.

That said I do still find MMC interesting and will be studying it more and watching its progress with interest.

Also agree with last post that LTC has a lot of market and notable pundit support (e.g. Max Keiser - best not under estimate his influence) which must be factored in to an analysis of future value besides purely technical merits. QRK too benefits from vocal support by Bill Still for whom I have the greatest respect. Just my opinion of course - others will I'm sure disagree.

Nevertheless thanks again for your post and an interesting ensuing discussion.

Great post. Big thank you.

Will be checking out Memorycoin with some urgency!

What about the so called 2nd gen coins - Mastercoin and NXT with explicit decentralised P2P exchange support? (Guess I should include Ripple with these - despite being overtly corporate)

Everyone knows Doge is a joke - good for short speculation but unlikely to sustain long term traction.

Worldcoin has good marketting but not much else particularly innovative to differentiate it - as for FIAT access Quark already has that through several exchanges.

Besides which lots happening with Quark.

Just today: QRK on BTC38.com the largest Chinese exchange.

For more see:

http://www.reddit.com/r/QuarkCoin/comments/1vl9lo/china_loves_quark/
http://www.quarkcoin.cc/

Frozen looks like a Quark fork. Limited supply may help its value. If you're interested best get on board before Cryptsy add it.

As for me I like QRK, good community/developer support, strong support outside the crypto community.

Also interested in 2nd gen crypto's like nxt and mastercoin with explicit decentralised p2p exchange support.

Memorycoin looks interesting too.

I have asked them to refund my 1 BTC to 1Xrq1WBsdcPkDTEfbySETtv4ZiNWENhFk

This address is reserved solely for this refund.

So you can check if they do make this refund at: https://blockchain.info/address/1Xrq1WBsdcPkDTEfbySETtv4ZiNWENhFk

So far after 13 days I'm still waiting.

Their business model:
You deposit your BTC with them in exchange for nothing but broken promises and wasted time

What happened:
 
Chatted in some detail about the services claimed which are to trade BTC for $ funded to Bank Account, Paypal CreditCard and various other payment processors.
Rates, fees and timescales seemed reasonable, not too good to be true just average.
Appeal was simplicity, in the UK its quite difficult converting BTC to £. The best site for it is BitBargain. But this seemed interesting if genuine.

Thought it over a few days and decided to test them out:

• Issued order to sell 1 BTC for around $930, the current advertised rate on their order page
• Got an email by reply asking me to send BTC to 1Ndvbh9Li8Bm8jSSfPUyj3ytNrNz49HxWV to complete my order (this was the last email ever got from them)
• 20140106@16:17 sent 1 BTC to 1Ndvbh9Li8Bm8jSSfPUyj3ytNrNz49HxWV
• waited for my order to complete - and waited - chased with email and through their support link - no reply
• the following day chased some more, so despite claims of 24/7 support: no one ever answers their phone, Skype doesn't recognise their published Skype id, and support emails are NEVER answered
• the only way to contact them is through the chat box, their vehicle to net new victims
• this eventually popped-up mid afternoon. I asked why no response they said it was a company holiday. I asked where are my funds, they said they couldn't match the order price and offered a lower one. Or I could send them more BTC for a better rate.
• I told them I just wanted a refund- which they said was against company policy
• Eventually I agreed to the poorer rate - which they promptly withdrew - offering a still worse one, when I accepted that they withdrew the offer and closed the chat box
• I later discovered by switching my client IP the chat box would re-appear - so obviously they were blocking my IP
• Chased further on a different IP - this time they said they would refund the BTC but it would take 5-7 days
• I'm still waiting, each time I've chased since they block my IP to remove the chat box - it really annoys them to have this occupied by people asking for refunds
• I've now reported them to UK Action Fraud and Trading Standards. Although their chat box offers no transcript I use snips to capture the full dialog so I have a complete record of all their broken promises
• Action Fraud confirmed they are known to them via other complaints, and that their behaviour is that of classic scammers. Things like making offers and withdrawing when you accept, blocking chat by IP address
• Needless to say I am still waiting for my 1 BTC refund

Scammers Profile Link: n/a

Reference Link:
https://bitcoinexchangeltd.com

Amount Scammed:  1 BTC/$930 (the then rate)
Payment Method: Bitcoins
Proof of Payment:
https://blockchain.info/tx/4d6ca6e5a4ee6a2bce7b943436cc2435ec5e34953ce26d73580ae2ddd88a2923

BTC deposits (by others) to their same address I used:
https://blockchain.info/address/1Ndvbh9Li8Bm8jSSfPUyj3ytNrNz49HxWV?offset=200&filter=0

Additional Notes:  My test of their services proved to me these are scammers, confirmed by subsequent enquiries and conversations with other victims of these criminals. The matter is now with the police. Whether they take this up depends on other priorities measured in part by the number of complaints and the scale of the fraud.

So if they have taken your Bitcoin in exchange for nothing but broken promises be sure to contact UK Action Fraud http://www.actionfraud.police.uk on 0300 123 2040 (or +44 161 234 9230 if calling outside the UK)

If the Bitcoin Exchange Ltd - https://bitcoinexchangeltd.com - has stolen your BTC I would urge you to also file your own Action Fraud report:

• online at http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/home
• or phone 0300 123 2040 within UK, +44 161 234 9230 elsewhere

Action Fraud are now well aware of this scam, but adding your report to those already filed further raises its profile and likelihood of being stopped sooner.

Just to add..

I would urge anyone who believes they have been victim of fraud by https://bitcoinexchangeltd.com to report it ASAP to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040.

It only takes 20 minutes or so to do so and the more reports submitted on individual fraudsters the higher the profile of their case with the police. The sooner these and similar fraudulent websites are taken down the better for us all and the future of Bitcoin/crypto currencies.

Another SCAM to add to this sorry list:

Bitcoin Exchange Ltd, https://bitcoinexchangeltd.com

Claim they trade BTC for cash but my experience is they just take your BTC (see also https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=332876.msg4370868#msg4370868)

In the absence of my promised but yet to materialise refund my loss has been minor. It seems from https://blockchain.info/address/1Ndvbh9Li8Bm8jSSfPUyj3ytNrNz49HxWV (on just one of their deposit addresses) others stand to loose much more including several deposits since my earlier posts.

It also seems their claimed Company registration # 08459694 and associated address may not be their own (see https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=332876.msg4374395#msg4374395)

<<
Name & Registered Office:
BITCOIN EXCHANGE LTD.
 86-90 PAUL STREET
LONDON
ENGLAND
EC2A 4NE
Company No. 08459694

Status: Active
Date of Incorporation: 25/03/2013

Country of Origin: United Kingdom
  
Company Type: Private Limited Company
Nature of Business (SIC):  None Supplied
  
Accounting Reference Date: 31/12
Last Accounts Made Up To:   (NO ACCOUNTS FILED)
Next Accounts Due: 30/09/2014
Last Return Made Up To:
Next Return Due: 22/04/2014
  
Mortgage: Number of charges: ( 0 outstanding / 0 satisfied / 0 part satisfied )      
 
Previous Names:
No previous name information has been recorded over the last 20 years.
 
UK Establishment Details  
There are no UK Establishments associated with this company.
  
Oversea Company Info  
There are no Oversea Details associated with this company.
>>

Whois shows Michael Harris as their domain registrant. This is the same guy who pops up on their on-line chat though with me he claimed to be no more than a third party chat operator unable to make any decisions.

<<
Domain Name: BITCOINEXCHANGELTD.COM
 Registrar URL: http://www.godaddy.com
 Registrant Name: Michael Harris
 Registrant Organization: BITCOIN EXCHANGE LTD.
 Name Server: NS2.BITCOINEXCHANGELTD.COM
 Name Server: NS1.BITCOINEXCHANGELTD.COM
 DNSSEC: unsigned

 For complete domain details go to:
 http://who.godaddy.com/whoischeck.aspx?domain=BITCOINEXCHANGELTD.COM

 Information Updated: Fri, 10 Jan 2014 12:05:19 UTC
>>
 
If anyone has experience to contrary I'd be happy to know. If I receive my refund after all I'll let you know. Gross obstructiveness and incompetence is one thing, while fraud would be another entirely.

Meanwhile I've filed full reports with Action Fraud and the UK Office of Fair Trading.

Post added to r/bitcoin reddit: http://uk.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1upeaa/bitcoin_exchange_ltd_possible_scam_be_warned/

Michael Harris the guy appearing on https://bitcoinexchangeltd.com/order.php online chat support when its up claims he is just a chat operator unable to make decisions when challenged to rectify issues. However, http://www.whois-search.com/whois/bitcoinexchangeltd.com shows he is the registrant of this domain.

Will keep you posted of developments.

Just to clarify please see earlier post by the owner James Richard Iddiols (bit121 here):

No these 2 companies have the same owner, registered at the same UK address.

Until I get my money or my BTC back both are suspect.

My experience so far with just one of this guy's business isn't one I'd wish on anyone - just think people should be made aware of the risk here.

I recently had a very nasty experience with the https://bitcoinexchangeltd.com

I placed an order to sell BTC expecting this to be honoured at the advertised rate on their order form or at least something approaching this.

A day after receiving my BTC the trade still hadn't happened.

I tried emailing and phoning them but no response.

Eventually their chat box popped up so I used that to query what was up. I was told:

• They hadn't responded because it was an unannounced company holiday (in the middle of a standard UK working week ?!?)
• That my BTC couldn't be refunded without them taking a loss because the rate had since dropped - which of course is nonsense since it would be cheaper to buy back

I said fine, then credit me the funds for which it was traded less your fees. This they refused to do, offering a lower price instead. Initially I refused insisting on the refund. Then they said they could pay me a better rate if I sent them more BTC. Which I refused.

Finally in exasperation I agreed to the lower rate offered. At which point they promptly withdrew their offer claiming the market rate had changed. I queried if in fact my BTC had been traded, because if they had what would it matter where the rate was subsequently and if they hadn't why not issue me the refund as requested? This they refused to answer.

They then offered me an even lower rate which they again withdrew the moment I accepted and promptly closed down both their chat and support boxes.

So now they have my BTC and I still have nothing.

It seems very much as if they have no intention whatsoever of refunding my BTC or paying me for them.

They claim to be partners of BTC-e and Bitstamp. I'm now checking if this is the case.

Unless I get my BTC soon, or the offered cash payment credited I'll have no option but to conclude they are indeed a complete scam - in which case I'll be reporting them to Action Fraud with the police.

I'll keep you updated here as to what happens.

Are my mastercoins also stored in this wallet - or just the associated BTC receipts?

Can anyone advise. I'm scared of the consequences of potentially mixing up the two.