Today, the Bitcoin world is a lot like the initial web.  Anyone with a little skill can create an online service.  Since Bitcoin is so new, its very hard for the consumer to tell who has acumen to provide lasting, reliable service.

ExchB takes its responsibility to its customers seriously.  We look at the recent issue of securing wallet.dat files as just a facet of providing reliable service.  Our staff has over two decades of experience in providing Internet services which includes dealing with computer security, the design, implementation, execution, and support of systems with enterprise level reliability and scalability, and to cover the business side of things we have very experienced executive management.

We strive to show a pattern of excellent service:

Our terms of service are clearly stated.  Additionally, for customers looking for a US-based service, the jurisdiction for legal disputes is California.

ExchB provides a telephone contact number.

ExchB was the first Bitcoin exchange to not only cut off Dwolla deposits but also Dwolla withdrawals.  We are currently working on adding Paxum support, but we feel their current agreements are not yet to the level needed by Bitcoin exchanges.  Even after coming to an agreement with Paxum, we plan to exercise due caution with our customer funds held with them.

Yesterday ExchB added free two-factor authentication.  We deliberately chose a solution that has instant setup and does not involve a 3rd party service or a bunch of confusing options.  Looking forward, we are planning on further enhancing this service.

As for our wallet.dat, at ExchB, we do only keep a fraction of our Bitcoin deposits available for immediate withdrawal. From there we have offline wallets secured by encryption and physically. It's a balance to find the right amount to keep available for transfers but as our deposits have been growing we've only had to do a reverse transfer once so we think we're doing the split fairly optimally.

In terms of further wallet and site security, we run multiple geographically-redundant encrypted backups and test them regularly.

We do have plans for many wallet features including a visible wallet which will allow customers to be able to verify their balance using block explorer and an offline wallet service which will only allow delayed access to funds.

I hope this addresses your wallet.dat concerns and some of the larger concerns you may have about ExchB and Bitcoin exchanges in general.