Tonight I'm frustrated. My favourite place to buy bitcoin in New Zealand has had yet another bank pull their services.
This follows another of my favourite places to buy Bitcoin experience 'trouble' with the banks:
It is now almost impossible to purchase bitcoin or other cypto-currencies in NZ dollars. What is the NZ Government worried about? Do they really think that all people purchasing crypto are money launderers? There are only 4 main banks in New Zealand and they have FAR to much power. For a population of only 4.5 million, New Zealand's largest bank (ASB) manages to clear a Billion dollars profit a year. It it obvious why they do not want competition....
Take for example NZ's first bitcoin ATM which shut down after a few months after failing to get support
We drastically need a solution to help break the power these banks. Unfortunately, the NZ Government has double standards as exposed by the Panama Papers . While it is quite comfortable with supporting a whole industry of trusts for wealthy foreigners who use New Zealand's limited disclosure rules to stay anonymous, it is unhappy to support local money remitters due to fears they may be involved in money laundering. Read the Reserve Bank statement here
We need a Government that stands up to the local 'QUADopoly' of banks profiting from NZ citizens to provide them with clear and viable options for money remittance and investment.
There...now I feel better :)
Hiya. I don't know if you're still here, and I realise this post is 9 months old. But we bought BTC through nzbcx.com just last month.
That's really unfortunate. I see a huge potential for crypto in NZ.
Would https://localbitcoins.com/ be a viable option for trading?
Will definately look at them although their prices are bit high. They are a good option though as it is more peer to peer. Thanks!
My dream is to visit New Zealand. I love nature of this country.
Yes I have to say its pretty nice. We 'kiwis' are quite tech-saavy, sporty, and like this weird game called Rugby. Seriously, our economy is doing pretty well and for a population of only 4.5 million our currency (the NZ Dollar) is the 10th most traded in the world. A pretty impressive feat I would have thought!
Because of that you probably have government respecting you. I really do not know a lot about political situation in New Zealand but I think it is kind of different from Europe and USA. Most of the goverments are moving towards severe control of their citizens.
Governments are in fear of Bitcoin because they don't want to lose their control. People should stand their freedom to what they want to do and live their own lives. This post could be interesting to you:
https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@arvydas/breaking-news-the-organization-that-controls-the-development-of-the-bitcoin-software-warns-users-that-nation-state-actors-may
LOL. I don't think the NZ Government would be interested in a cyber attack but I can see potential for it in China
Every government in fear of lose of control will do anything to protect themselves, especially the great democracy of the world - USA.
Yes quite hard to transfer funds with the control the banks have, I used to be able to transfer funds to purchase medical cannabis seeds as well but they have withdrawn support from legal legit suppliers, hoping to use bitcoin for future purchases when I can get some bitcoin, I am a newbie to crypto
Apparently there is a new bitcoin ATM based in Dunedin. I haven't checked it out yet but I plan to within the next month.
There is also mybitcoinsaver.com (but you're limited to NZD200 per week)
I have looked at the local exchanges but you have to provide copies of your ID via email which I'm not keen on.
https://coinatmradar.com/bitcoin_atm/1750/bitcoin-atm-lamassu-dunedin-dunedin-security/
So you're in Dunedin then? @sift666 and I have bought BTC through nzbcx.com recently.
Yeh I had a look at nzbcx as well. I heard really good things about them too but I wouldn't send my ID details over email.
So I checked out the bitcoin ATM in Dunedin. Works perfectly and had no issues with it on the technical side. On the day the machine was selling 1 bitcoin for $3211.01, when the price on a google search was 1XBT for $2889.08. SO a premium of roughly $300. However this doesn't seem unreasonable when comparing with some of the the NZ based exchanges.
Its located in a locksmiths shop across the road from the Dunedin Railway station. One of the workers in the shop directed me to it and promptly told me he had no idea how it worked. After further probing he didn't want to know about bitcoin and how this stuff works. His loss I guess.
I will visit this one again when I have the time.
I've heard of another in Auckland and will check this one out and report back if I find it.