Bits Of Gold – Buy & Sell Bitcoins Using Israeli Shekel And US Dollars?

Bits of Gold is a bitcoin company that allows Israelis to buy and sell bitcoin in exchange for New Israeli Shekels. Find out how Bits of Gold works today in our review.

What Is Bits Of Gold?

Bits of Gold was founded in 2013 with the goal of allowing Israelis to easily access bitcoin. Today, the company operates one of Israel’s largest bitcoin exchanges. The company strictly adheres to Israeli regulations, and they’re a legitimate and reputable exchange.

You can find Bits of Gold online at BitsOfGold.co.il.

The main reason you would use Bits of Gold is if you were living in Israel and wanted to withdraw bitcoin in the form of real, usable money (like the Israeli Shekel) from local ATMs.

You would also use Bits of Gold if you wanted to trade on the BTC/NIS (New Israeli Shekel) pair. Note: the website also refers to the New Israeli Shekel as ILS. So you may see the acronym NIS or ILS used interchangeably.

Overall, Bits of Gold promises to be the fastest, safest, and easiest way for Israelis to buy and sell bitcoin.

In addition to offering merchant services, Bits of Gold allows merchants to accept bitcoin as a payment. Bits of Gold lets Israeli merchants accept bitcoins while keeping their books in Shekel. The merchant platform is available for online and offline stores.

Bits of Gold has high fees compared to other exchanges. Most transactions – including both deposits and buy/sell orders, are assessed separate 5% to 10% fees.

Bits Of Gold Features

Bits of Gold is a straightforward bitcoin exchange catered towards the Israeli market. Here’s a basic overview of its features.

Buying And Selling Bitcoin:

Bits of Gold lets you buy bitcoin in exchange for New Israeli Shekels (NIS or ILS). You can deposit money through bank transfer (with a minimum transfer of 50 ILS). Or, you can deposit with cash (up to 10,000 ILS) or through credit card (minimum of 178 ILS and maximum of 17702 ILS).

Buying Ethereum:

Bits of Gold also lets you buy or sell Ethereum in exchange for ILS. This feature is currently in beta.

Merchant Payment Platform:

Bits of Gold allows merchants to accept bitcoin while keeping their books in Israeli Shekels. This merchant payment platform is available for online and offline stores.

Deposits And Withdrawals With Bits Of Gold

Bits of Gold offers three core deposit and withdrawal options:

Wire Transfer:

Bank transfers are the cheapest way to deposit and withdraw money with Bits of Gold. Your only charge is the Bits of Gold fee. Bits of Gold uses Leumi as its bank. If you’re also a Leumi customer, then deposits and withdrawals will be immediate. However, transfers between banks can take up to one business day.

Credit Card:

Bits of Gold offers credit card purchases, although they come with a much higher price. Bits of Gold uses a third party company called SimplexCC to accept credit card payments. The credit card clearing fee is 5%, or a minimum of $10 USD.

There’s an additional Bits of Gold fee of 4.45% for credit card deposits – so you’re paying close to 10% for deposits with credit card. In addition, credit card deposits require full KYC compliance, including your first and last name, phone number, and pictures of your ID. Authorization takes about 30 minutes.

Cash:

Cash is a popular deposit and withdrawal method for Bits of Gold. The cash option allows you to purchase bitcoin using the bitcoin ATM located at the Bitcoin Embassy in Tel Aviv (1st, Achuzat Bait St., Tel Aviv). You go to the ATM, deposit cash, then get bitcoins sent directly to your phone’s bitcoin wallet.

The ATM has a 5% fee. Another way to deposit cash is through the branches of GMT. You need to open an order with Bits of Gold, then go to one of the 150 GMT branches and request a money deposit to buy bitcoins. The clerk will take identifying information like your email address to connect your deposit with your website registration.

Bits Of Gold Fees

Bits of Gold has relatively high fees – which we often see when buying and selling bitcoin outside of major world currencies like the USD and EUR. Here are the fees:

• Buying (Taker) Fee: 4.5% (the rate in shekel you see on the Bits of Gold website includes all fees and the Israeli VAT tax).
• Selling (Maker) Fee: 4.95%
• Exchange Rate: Bits of Gold makes its own bitcoin/ILS exchange rate. The rate is based on the Google rate for ILS to USD, along with the average rate of all the main world leading exchanges. Obviously, there’s no “official” bitcoin rate, so most companies have a similar method.
• Cash Deposits: 4.95% plus 3% from the bank, or 4.95% plus 29.90 ILS (for amounts under 1000 ILS).
• Credit Card Fees: 4.45%, plus 5% (from the credit card company) or a minimum of $10, whichever is highest.

About Bits Of Gold

Bits of Gold is an Israel-based company founded in 2013. The company consists of a team passionate about bitcoin who are “working to make this new economy accessible in emergent markets, in traditional banking and financial institutions”, explains the Bits of Gold LinkedIn page.

The company is led by CEO Jonathan Rouach. They’re headquartered in Tel Aviv. You can contact the company by email at [email protected]

Other key members of the team include Youval Rouach (CEO), Chen Benjamin (Director of Operations), Meni Rosenfeld (Advisor), Ruben Arnold (Strategy and Business Development), and Golan Shlomi (Legal Advisor).

Bits Of Gold Conclusion

Bits of Gold is a Tel Aviv-based bitcoin exchange that offers bitcoin/New Israeli Shekel and Ethereum/New Israeli Shekel trading pairs. It’s one of the few exchanges that lets you trade ILS for cryptocurrencies.

The exchange has high fees of 5% to 10% on pretty much every transaction, so you’re only saving a little bit of money compared to working with other exchanges that don’t directly accept ILS.

Bits of Gold accepts multiple deposit methods, including by credit card, cash deposit (including at their “Bitcoin Embassy” in Tel Aviv), or wire transfers from Israeli banks.

To start trading BTC/ILS or ETH/ILS today, visit BitsOfGold.co.il.