Yes, it’s happened again – we’ve pretty much run out of BTC across our core set of sellers. Yes, we need more sellers onboard – we’re working on this, but it’s a slow process due to the high levels of security we employ, a couple of technology issues and the huge influx of support queries with the recent price fluctuations – did I say we’re hiring?

So what to do now? When this happens we’ve got four options….

Carry on regardless (a.k.a the financial suicide option)

In this option our sellers keep selling at the normal low prices using their own personal BTC savings and hope that they can buy the BTC they have sold to supply our customers back to replenish their savings. This has two outcomes. Either the price goes down and they’re OK, or more likely, in usual Bitcoin fashion the price continues to rise (it’s risen 30% since yesterday) and they buy the BTC back for less than they sold it, making a big loss.

Increase the price (a.k.a the free market option)

This actually sounds like the fairest option. Increase the price as BTC stocks run low. Real supply and demand. However every time we do this our long standing customers complain, often after they have purchased, when they feel conned and new customers think we’re too expensive and leave with a bad impression. Also, when we eventually run out of BTC, do we keep selling (i.e. move back to the financial suicide option) and if so, how high do we set the price to avoid loosing money if the price spikes 30% like yesterday?

Stop Selling (a.k.a. pack up and go home)

That dreaded “Out of Coins” page. Everyone hates that and it has the knock on effect that we can’t ID Verify customers when that page is displayed as the newly verified customers come back to an inability to buy.

Limit Supply (a.k.a. the communist option)

With this option we just limit the purchase amount per customer. Our sellers don’t sell their personal BTC savings, or if they do its in limited amounts. Everyone can continue to buy, but it is in limited quantities.

It’s not ideal, but it’s the option we’re going for as it feels like the best option to ensure fairness and to keep Solidi running.

Combinations of the above

And then you can try things like limiting supply, increasing price and selling personal BTC… all have their issues…..

More Sellers coming Soon!

We’re working round the clock to on board more sellers, hire more staff and keep Solidi being the best place to buy crypto – thanks for sticking with us!