UK Bitcoin-Buying Service Bittylicious Adds Feathercoin

By Richard Boase

Marc Warne, CEO at Bittylicious, is keen to support Britain’s burgeoning cryptocurrency feathercoin, planning to offer it on his website next month.

This digital currency hails from Oxford, under the leadership of Peter Bushnell. He started feathercoin late last year in response to criticisms that its predecessor litecoin was vulnerable to a 51% attack.

Warne says of the feathercoin team:

“I liked their attitude. They are trying to build a functioning economy and ecosystem and there are a few places in Oxford that accept feathercoin already. They have a couple of pubs and a bike repair shop, it’s good to see it has a physical presence there.”

Bittylicious, a UK platform that enables users to buy bitcoins via bank transfer, has been running since April this year.

Sellers supply buyers with bitcoins at a premium price, but this means buyers can get their hands on bitcoins without waiting two days for a bank transfer to go through. In contrast, it takes between seven and 10 days for an exchange like Bitstamp or Mt. Gox to check a buyer’s credentials.

Warne told CoinDesk: “We’re planning to launch feathercoin on our platform in December for certain. The work has been done, mostly, and we just want to make some test transactions before we go live. In the new year it’s likely that litecoins will be a part of it too.”

When asked how Bittylicious is progressing, he responded positively:

“It seems to be doing pretty well – when bitcoin rises a lot, the amount we take in rises a lot. Turnover on a daily basis has risen four- or five-fold in the last five weeks, up from about £5,000 a day to £40,000 a day, from which Bittylicious takes a 1% cut of the bitcoins transacted.”

In terms of competition, Warne sees it as a good thing: “I’m not worried about competition, competition is great! We all have different ideas and everyone is in it together. The community is definitely there to help bitcoins become more popular.”

There are currently about 20 sellers on Bittylicious, of which around 10 are online at any given time. However, Warne’s company also sells its own coins when supply cannot meet demand.

UK policy

On the subject of tax in the UK, Warne highlighted that HMRC (the UK’s customs and tax department) demands 20% VAT on sales revenues over £79,000.

“So for example, if I bought a bitcoin for £100 and I sold it for £110, I would have to pay HMRC £20. So, obviously I would make a loss,” he explained.

Warne comments that HMRC has issued contradictory advice about tax, but asserts his customers have “different business models and tax arrangements” so it’s not necessary for him to keep track of all that information.

When it comes to Bittylicious’ know-your-customer (KYC) policies and records, the CEO pointed out he is required to keep personal data about buyers and sellers by law, confirming that Bittylicious conforms to data protection regulations and current money-laundering regulations (MLR) in the UK. He said:

“We’ve been challenged on this …read more

Source: CoinDesk