Thanks for the tip re: Bittrex - I have been having issues well below the 2K mark trying to secure BTS, a couple hundred dollars moves markets. The last time I purchased with a few hundred AUD via ETH, I paid a 50% premium when all was said and done.

Understand the difficulty of decentralized exchange and fiat on/off ramps though. For now I just fund my account with Steemit revenue.

That is rather interesting news about Bitspark, BTS incredibly cheap if that sort of volume eventuates ...

If you send me your Bitshares address, I'll send you some free BUILDTEAM tokens so you can have a go in the next bidding round :)