Finally Figured out Bitcoin

[Chancer]

@jaders Thanks for the info, I need to do something. My laptop crashed and I lost a ton of stuff with no backups and it was a nightmare. I've realised I'm in a similar situation with my phone and need to get into a system of backing stuff up more regularly to the cloud. In the old days we definitely had better memories, I could memorise a list of 20/30 telephone numbers but, these days I can't even remember my email password.

 

[Chancer]

@ram-man I was getting confused and overwhelmed just reading about how you handle passwords. I managed to set up an account with coinbase and transfer money in which they transferred back to me. Apparently I'm all set to go, now I just need to understand it in actual practical terms. What I don't understand is, if its supposed to be 'untraceable' then why do they need all our personal information like passports/bank info etc?

 

[NomiTramadol]

@VeronicaC Oh, I remember my granfather was writting all the logins, websites and passwords in the typical paper agenda and the important documents he was sending them all to his Gmail with copy to Yahoo and Hotmail account. And I thought... mmm it's not perfect but he definitely has some notions of security.

 

[Chancer]

@VeronicaC Oh, I remember my granfather was writting all the logins, websites and passwords in the typical paper agenda and the important documents he was sending them all to his Gmail with copy to Yahoo and Hotmail account. And I thought... mmm it's not perfect but he definitely has some notions of security.

You're grandfather sounds like a smart man. I'm going to spend the next week doing something similar. Literally everything is stored on my phone but I wouldn't know were to start if I lost my phone. The phone just automatically saves passwords and each site has different password 'rules', then you can't duplicate the passwords etc etc. I'm going to use a notepad and go back to basics.

 

[NomiTramadol]

@VeronicaC Yeah, of course they could have hacked him or put a keylogger, but with the Ublock I put to him, the Antivirus for email and not visiting/opening strange pages or chats he only had a small problem and it was they changed their web explorer because he doesn't know english and when you install something if you are not aware and untick they put you as prefferent. I teached him to make a 8-9 password and use always at least 1 special character like the $ and explained him why. Surprisingly he is doing very well with 76 years (Started with 65 I think, with Windows Xp) and not having work in a bank or with a computer never. Of course I help him with direct access to all important things, banks, food, health... and make all tidy but he is able to buy on new stores, know when is safe to pay with credit card and when I made a website in the past the FTP password was long and always in paper.

So we can always learn from our most aged people just we don't pay attention. Notepad has a good thing and it's that if you delete the file there will be no left copies like in Word. I remember one case of murder solved because she wrote the fake suicide note on Word, she deleted it with a special program but as Word every time makes copies police will able to solve it was a crime, not a suicide. The same if someone enters into your computer, Notepad with a password protection it's pretty decent for our needs.

Ah, and most important, when you are retired you are not anxious anymore

 

[DBGdefector]

@DBGdefector I couldn’t imagine trying to input a wallet address or ID on an atm, or even using my own kb at home. Too many random characters, I would be a nervous wreck.
Also I live in a pretty rural area and haven’t seen any atm advertising for BTC transactions yet but it’s coming soon I’m sure.

You don't have to type in your address, you should have a QR code of the address on your phone or even a piece of paper with it and hold it up to the reader when the ATM machine is ready for it. It will indicate when it wants it by lighting up and then just hold your phone up to it, that's it, done!

 

[ram-man]

@ram-man I was getting confused and overwhelmed just reading about how you handle passwords. I managed to set up an account with coinbase and transfer money in which they transferred back to me. Apparently I'm all set to go, now I just need to understand it in actual practical terms. What I don't understand is, if its supposed to be 'untraceable' then why do they need all our personal information like passports/bank info etc?

The simple rule is you never send directly from Coinbase.
It's a minimum two or 3 step process.
1. Buy bitcoin. It goes automatically into your cb wallet.
2. Send the bitcoin you bought to an offline wallet like Electrum. Electrum is just software so it doesn't require any of the identity validation stuff.
3. Send from Electrum or whatever off line wallet you pick to your vendor.

For Electrum itself I use a pretty simple password and keep or store very little in it.
I usually clear it out by sending what balance I have back to CB and just selling it and putting the funds back. Or I might just keep the small balance in Electrum just to use next time.

If you transfer directly out of CB your transaction isn't anonymous since you've given them all your ID info.

 

[Bocanada]

If using Coinbase to deposit funds from your bank, use Coinbase Pro (same login details as Coinbase)
Coinbase pro will scare the life out of you at first glance, but deposit your funds there, then move them back to the regular Coinbase account. There are no fees to transfer between the two variants.

The rates are much better. Note: Credit/Debit cards cost you a lot more than a wire transfer from your bank.

I am in the EU, and send funds (SEPA Transfer) from my bank account (Not my card) to Coinbase pro and the funds are usually there within a couple of days max.

I'm now trying to get my head around using Coinbase Pro for all transactions as all of the rates are so much better.

Hope this helps, and for what it's worth I also spent months trying to figure out Bitcoin and Crypto, then one day the penny just dropped!!

Be careful with coinbase. These people will ban your account if they think that you are paying for gambling or other illicit services/merchandise. Always transfer your btc to your personal wallet first before paying a vendor specially if you are paying online pharmacies. Don't ask me how I know

 

[phatboy]

yea definitely be very careful with coinbase.... i had problems with them as well, locked my account, lost a whole bunch of money

 

[HappyJoyJoy]

Bitcoin is dying as a payment mechanism. Even the talking heads on MSNBC equate it to an inflation-hedge asset like gold instead of a currency. It's too slow and the transfer fees are too high.

The only cryptocurrency that it actively in use as a substitute currency is Monero (XMR). You can buy it on the Kraken exchange or exchange it from Bitcoin (or preferably LiteCoin (LTC)) on many anonymous online exchanges including ChangeNow.io. Check out the DarkNet bible I have posted in another thread.

 

[DBGdefector]

HappyJoyJoy "Bitcoin is dying as a payment mechanism. Even the talking heads on MSNBC equate it to an inflation-hedge asset like gold instead of a currency. It's too slow and the transfer fees are too high."

I agree BTC is NOT a very good payment mechanism given the fees you have to apply to your transaction. The concept seemed good but the fees can be a killer, not to mention the volatility of it.

 

[Name taken]

I agree BTC is NOT a very good payment mechanism given the fees you have to apply to your transaction. The concept seemed good but the fees can be a killer, not to mention the volatility of it.

The fees are what ruin it for me. I still use it when absolutely necessary but end up paying what I consider to be an exorbitant amount of fees even if I adjust speed so it is slower.

Plus like you said the volatility is crazy. I can make a payment and then it goes below the amount that I was supposed to have paid. So I usually add a little extra which is another cost on top of the fees.

 

[Chancer]

Can someone help me, pretty please? I set up a coinbase account and now I'm trying to send funds to a vendor but now I'm freaked out trying. If I send the funds from my account to coinbase, can I send directly from coinbase to the address they gave me? how do I do that? Bloody hell, this is complicated

 

[tnahs]

Be careful with Coinbase. Your transactions are monitored there. Best route to go is using a different wallet other than Coinbase, if you do buy BTC from them. Greenaddress.it is well respected among those in the know

 

[Chancer]

Be careful with Coinbase. Your transactions are monitored there. Best route to go is using a different wallet other than Coinbase, if you do buy BTC from them. Greenaddress.it is well respected among those in the know

I set up an electrum account. Would it really be an issue to just send in directly to the vendor from coinbase as a one off? I'm getting really stressed about sending from coinbase to electrum to the vendor.

 

[tnahs]

Be careful with Coinbase. Your transactions are monitored there. Best route to go is using a different wallet other than Coinbase, if you do buy BTC from them. Greenaddress.it is well respected among those in the know

I set up an electrum account. Would it really be an issue to just send in directly to the vendor from coinbase as a one off? I'm getting really stressed about sending from coinbase to electrum to the vendor.

I wouldnt take the chance. Ive heard it many places that CB is monitored. Its very easy to transfer to a different wallet, and only takes a few minutes

 

[Chancer]

@tnahs I'm getting really confused between the send/recieve function on both. I can transfer into coinbase no problem. I have the addy for the vendor so sending from electrum to them should be easy but how to I send from coinbase to electrum? Does the electrum have to activate a request code?

 

[DBGdefector]

@tnahs I'm getting really confused between the send/recieve function on both. I can transfer into coinbase no problem. I have the addy for the vendor so sending from electrum to them should be easy but how to I send from coinbase to electrum? Does the electrum have to activate a request code?

Your electrum wallet will have a bunch of RECEIVE addresses (use one) so when sending from coinbase to "your" wallet electrum, use the receive address you got for your wallet. In other words, from coinbase send to, put in the address you got from electrum to receive. That's about it!

 

[Chancer]

@DBGdefector Thank you

 

[DBGdefector]

Oh one more thing...if you really want to try and be more anonymous, once you have your coins in your wallet and before you send them to a vendor you can try mixing them. Use a mixing service, the coins will be mixed with other coins, sent back to you to your wallet then you can send them out to whoever. What that does is makes it very hard to determine the original origin of those coins or if they were even yours to begin with.