

Bridgewalker: an exchange rate adjusted Bitcoin wallet - jav
https://www.bridgewalkerapp.com/

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gibybo
If I was operating this service, I would just sell the Bitcoins as they were
deposited to me. When people wanted to withdraw, I would buy them back at the
current market rate. Of course I would do this in bulk and have a small
reserve pool of Bitcoins to reduce my fees and improve liquidity, but that's
not very significant.

As long as I can buy/sell for cheaper than I am charging my customers (which I
can if I'm using MtGox at 0.5% and charging 0.75%), this is profitable with no
risk to either me or my customers. There is no need for this to be a scam or a
gamble by the operator (although it doesn't exclude the possibility,
obviously).

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jav
That's exactly how I operate Bridgewalker (I'm the founder). Everything is
fully hedged, I'm not taking a gamble on the exchange rate.

~~~
dlitz
So, you're basically an exchange, right? Are you operating in the US, and if
so, do you have the appropriate MSB license? It seems like the US government
is starting to crack down on Bitcoin exchanges that operate without a license,
so what are you doing to assure your customers that you're not just going to
get shut down?

~~~
rglullis
He is not an exchange, but a bank.

~~~
Hansi
Market maker is a better definition:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_maker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_maker)

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mkwng
Honest question: What's the value of this service? It seems you seem to suffer
with any volatility: the exchange rates would be a constant drain on your net
worth. Without any volatility, the service basically does nothing.

There doesn't seem to be any benefit, other than maintaining a minimum or
maximum balance on your account. Perhaps this is useful for merchants who want
to accept BTC without the risk of holding an excessive amount of BTC. Hmm. I
might have just answered my own question.

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brownbat
I must be misreading, because it looks like a guaranteed price floor on
exchange rates.

I thought it was widely known that those are not sustainable. It's exactly
what Soros exploited to break the pound, and that was backed by a government,
while this is just some guy's app.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Wednesday](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Wednesday)

Those who don't learn from history...

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Rhapso
Now this is a smart scam. He can do exactly what it says on the tin by keeping
a pool of extra bitcoins to supplement his users when value falls, but when
value rises he gets to recharge his pool with the surplus. This is built on
the assumption of a "conservation of value over time" which in the long run is
true (if it proves false then bitcoin has failed anyway) but in the short run
you could easily have a crash where the net loss by users is less than the
backup pool. You are also leaving yourself open to the controller of the
backup pool stopping the service or just skimming off the top of it with users
having no means of recourse.

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gesman
If I'd want to keep $20 worth of bitcoins (or gold or dog poop) - I'd just
keep $20 stashed away and when ready - would buy the beloved security at it's
current market rate.

Why would I need extra middleman's service for that until actually ready to
convert dollars to commodity?

