Mining Exchange CEX.io Introduces Trading Fees

CEX.io, which allows you to purchase and trade mining power, is transitioning its fee structure for its increasingly-popular trading service.

It will start charging a commission for each trade, starting at 0.2% two weeks from now. This structure will last for one month, after which it will transition to a sliding scale between 0.2% and 0.5%. Prior to this, there were no trading fees, the site instead relying on its mining operations for monetization and the trading feature serving as an attractive feature and useful test pilot.

The site takes pride in allowing holders of hashing power to profit from the mining power of their holdings while waiting for an opportunity to trade it. The scheme can be likened to traditional fiat securities whereby holders can earn capital gains from the appreciation in value as well as investment income from dividends or interest.

GHS (1 gigahash) can be traded with bitcoins as well as Litecoin and Namecoin. "Futures contracts" for hashing power can also be traded with these coins. According to their announcement, it appears that even USD can be traded directly with BTC and GHS as part of its upcoming project and is to be funded by these fees.

Mining services are available for multiple coins, including Dogecoin, Auroracoin and Devcoin.

User reaction to the fees has been highly negative across social media. Several declared that they're getting "out" of the service. One said, "so you have been busy adding fees...how about making good on the promise made months ago to 'We will implement a feature, allowing CEX.io users to mine bitcoins from other pools. So when they purchase GH/s they can put it towards any pool they chose.'"