The company Bitplaats, a Bitcoin exchange platform from the Netherlands is going to provide the full spectrum of its present services to customers based in Belgium. The co-founder of the mentioned resource Lennert Vlemmings mentions as the main reason for this decision the exceptional amount of inquiries from Belgian citizens, who would like to purchase the cryptocoin with minimal amount of hurdles and formalities.
The depositing of funds or simply the exchange of fiat currencies towards Bitcoin is performed via the popular in the country online payment platform Bancontact/Mister Cash. The national service completes real-time transactions and will not cause any kind of delay to the initial exchanger. To get an image of Bancotact one can imagine the Solo from the United Kingdom or the UnionPay of the People’s Republic of China. Both of them are generally debit card providers that connect a customer ready to pay for a product or service with the merchant or vendor accepting the card. The payment is completed very fast, but with the impossibility to charge the money back.
The Dutch service also translated as “Bit place” is going to outplay such mastodons as Mt.Gox and Bitstamp on the Belgic field. The price seems to be average – by 4% higher than Bitstamp, but 6% lower than Mt.Gox, but the registration routine will be as easy as ever before. Almost all possible Bitcoin sources are placed abroad, the registration with a complicated process of validation using the passport copy or ID number postpones the obtaining of the virtual coin by several days. The resource from the Netherlands does not require registration, not to mention extensive personal data and any kind of verification of personality.
Bitplaats, generally, is not a startup. For the environment the entrance of the market in April of 2013 means a long life full of ups and downs. The service has gone through price fluctuations, speculations, governmental attacks and the accusations of the currency to be an instrument of money laundering, crime and terrorism. In the Netherlands the deposit of funds is done via iDEAL, similar to the Bancotact. The statistics collected and presented by Mr. Vlemmings shows that around 3500 transactions were completed by the service during its days of existence, but in Belgium - around 150 during the first two weeks of operation.
Lennert Vlemmings is also a remarkable young personality himself. He is only 23 years old, his companions are his high school mates. His interest for the cryptographic coin arouse in January of 2011. By this time he started mining, but due to an accident has lost about 20 BTC by getting rid of a hard drive he once possessed. Such a pitiful outcome was suffered by James Howells from Wales, who also brought his coins to a landfill site with no purpose to do so.
The interest from the Belgian society is extremely encouraging for the branch and a good example for other countries in the EU. Many vendors and merchants accept Bitcoin as a preferable payment method. Among them are the carrier Mobile Vikings, the fast food delivery Pizza.be and many others. Even the finance minister of the country commented during a parliament session that the central bank has nothing against the existence and presence of the currency at the local market. For the time now it is the most remarkable statement from an authority encouraging investments and startups in Bitcoin.