Bitcoin: Explain it like I'm 5?

[DoomKitty]

How To Buy Bitcoin With Cashapp

Thats a youtube tutorial on buying/selling/withdrawing BTC using Cashapp on a smartphone. 

How To Set Up An Electrum Wallet

Thats a quick rundown on downloading, installing and setting up an Electrum Wallet

Once you buy your bitcoin from Cashapp then withdraw them to your Electrum wallet.  From your Electrum wallet you can then send to vendor.  ALWAYS download/upgrade your electrum app from their site NEVER from within the app itself or from a different website.  The main reason you should NEVER send fund to a vendor from a wallet held by an exchange (like Coinmama or Coinbase) is because they own the seed to your wallet which means they own your wallet, and if they think you are doing anything fishy/scammy/illegal in any way they can seize your funds.  Bitcoin is never anonymous.  There are ways to increase anonymity but any of them such as tumbling immediately become non-anonymized as soon as you start doing anything with them.   If you want a safer "tumbling" option you can CoinJoin with the Wasabi Wallet application, but you must join .1BTC or greater each time which is like 850$ at current market value and so may be well beyond the scope of your needs. 

If Cashapp is saying the pic is too blurry, then the pic is too blurry.  Try taking the pics in WELL LIT rooms or outside.  It usually takes 24hrs to get approved.  Cashapp also applies no fees to the transaction and wont put holds on your BTC for withdrawing immediately which exchanges like Coinbase and Coinmama do.  There are other ways to get them that are more "anonymous" but for the casual user like most people on this forum, this is the simplest way. 

 

[Deepnorth]

Well I have been a sponsor at many levels. This time I am going to the top but like many of you have seen I think some things are changing. I started working on this 5 days ago. I may know tomorrow after bowing to every request. Whoever took PP away, ⚒⚒⚒⚒ anyway, I will get it! Much to share but need to be in the right place.

 

[kimmark1]

Thank you...I am approved with Cash App. Can I transfer to Paxful or does it need to be Electrum?

 

[DoomKitty]

Thank you...I am approved with Cash App. Can I transfer to Paxful or does it need to be Electrum?

You should only transfer to a wallet you own the seed of.  I would go with electrum!

 

[mark6699331]

Thanks for continued advice here Doomkitty, but i'm now after many  days of getting cash app on my pc, as it won't install on my

old iphone os- and getting itunes on a pc to update the os is nearly impossible without a mac os, and finally, I get it on my pc, and

now all the reviews I read people are having HUGE problems linking and verifying accounts from bank to cash app and it's NOT

as easy as it once seemed. I've tried going to local store atm's and they also want major id which I have no problem with i understand

nature of tumbling, but they won't easily accpet id and often put holds on your money. There has to be a simple way to just say I wanna

buy 200$ of bitcoin and pay whatever 10 percent fee even to have immediately usable bitcoin to spend like that hour.

I still haven't seen way to  do this. And the buy local bitcoin online service is anything but local. Weird banks in central america. Who knows

if these banking services ever go through . I'm sorry to complicate this further, but I can't afford to have 200$ held up or even missing for

god knows how long. Besides donating here, i have order ready to place with friend Gym, and after reading others acconts here on

moneygram or whatever sometimes sending it and sometimes it gets held up no reason and if you ever get funds back, ???

Am I just over worried? Say i get electrum wallet. With problems people are having with cash app as of this month I'm reading about online

is there a secondary solution. Why is this so complex? I have over 8 years higher education, advanced graduate degrees and past computer

experience and i'm miffed. AND when I figure out suggested site, all i hear about from atm's who offer cash for bit is ripoff and if ever

get coins, it can be weeks, and huge fees. ANYBODY here have any surefire sources of same day usable bitcoin no bs, even if at higher percent fees to purchase? Thank you

 

[EuroMeds]

Cash App was just a headache when I tried it just for kicks...I tried for 3 hours, and then 6 hours.. uninstalled, and that was that..If you have a bank account...
You can setup a Gemini account, be verified in 24-48 hours, wire funds(same day for domestic wire fee) or ACH(instantly able to buy BTC but cannot transfer for 4 days...Then send off Gemini to a segwit, and miner fee adjustable wallet...Wasabi uses Tor, and has coinjoin(to mix coins for privacy) and is a desktop wallet...

There are so many options and depending on time/anonymity priority. You can always buy BTC, use Exodus Wallet on desktop, and transfer to Monero when you want to send funds...

I've said I have a full guide...but not gonna post it all for free..but here's some quality advice..enjoy and you can message me for help

 

[mark6699331]

thanks for more tips... i have to make smaller first purchase under 500$ second or third, i'll take that offer and advice!!!

Thanks again

Mark

 

[monalee]

Yup, I am in the same boat!  I tried Paxful, Coinmama and Coinbase and couldn't get anywhere!  I flat out refuse to give anyone my passport number and SSN tho due to the high-fraud worry so I don't know how in hell to do this.  It is unnecessarily hard and doesn't need to be.  I would be happy to do this with cash-in-hand but I guess it doesn't work like that.  I don't understand why the forums wont take other payment types?  I feel doomed to never get this right. 

 

[Jesse]

Yup, I am in the same boat!  I tried Paxful, Coinmama and Coinbase and couldn't get anywhere!  I flat out refuse to give anyone my passport number and SSN tho due to the high-fraud worry so I don't know how in hell to do this.  It is unnecessarily hard and doesn't need to be.  I would be happy to do this with cash-in-hand but I guess it doesn't work like that.  I don't understand why the forums wont take other payment types?  I feel doomed to never get this right. 

Just keep whacking away at it.  I still don't really understand it, but I managed to donate by pure trial-and-error. You have to hit a service that will work with your bank. If you're willing to wait, you can trade time for anonymity. The one I used for donation only allows you to shift a small portion to your personal wallet every 24 hours. But I didn't have to give a bunch of personal information or pay a huge fee, so I went with it.

Bitcoin is the only way to keep a transaction truly private. As much as you might like these forums or like a particular vendor, do you really want them to have your bank account information or your credit card number? It's an anonymous currency. Just keep at it, and even if you don't understand it, eventually it'll just work by accident.

 

[Scarecr0w]

Have you guys looked into BTC atms? They are my goto method of adding to my wallet. Also some let you send directly to the btc address you would be sending too from your wallet. Downside: the fee can be high sometimes. But whats a few more dollars for the ease of using the internet to purchase your desired products. I've found a couple around me at grocery stores and one at a title loan company.

 

[Jesse]

Have you guys looked into BTC atms? They are my goto method of adding to my wallet. Also some let you send directly to the btc address you would be sending too from your wallet. Downside: the fee can be high sometimes. But whats a few more dollars for the ease of using the internet to purchase your desired products. I've found a couple around me at grocery stores and one at a title loan company.

Sending directly to the addressee's wallet isn't recommended. For donating to this site, I don't believe it's even allowed. The only way to keep the transaction anonymous is if you move the bitcoin into your personal wallet first, and then from your wallet to the recipient's wallet. It's the difference between writing someone a check versus withdrawing money and giving them cash. When you write a check, your bank gains a lot of information about that transaction.

 

[EuroMeds]

Well said Jesse..very true

 

[Scarecr0w]

Nice, I personally have never done it directly, always to wallet first. But some people find opening a wallet to be like deciphering an ancient language and can't figure it out.

 

[Scarecr0w]

Deleted by Admin, it is not necessary to start talking about the anonymity of Bitcoin.

Members looking here for simple guidance.

 

[mark6699331]

ive been trying all kinds of exchanges and ceo.ix has been bending over backwards even on mobile exhange to help

me and they offered a card purchase in 5-7 m,intues at 5 percent.

Before my trezor wallet comes in this week i'll try gemii or trezor on my pmobile phone to donmate. Wondreing if for this site i need to move to wallet and then herr

or if can just buiy and send here?

 

[Foleyowl]

So..what you’re really trying to say is....

bitcoin sucks. But back on track..So what I understand is, even though I already lost money on buying the bitcoin, now I have to lose money on the transaction fee and I have to figure out how to get a wallet and how to transfer it to my wallet and what a seed is, and then I can finally make a payment for something that I’ve already spent WAY too much time on? 

Can you download electrum on iPad? Is does charge to transfer right? Then again to send it for payment? I’m gonna read all this again cuz my brain just does not comprehend the complexities of bitcoin. If anyone could throw me a little bone and just point me..I’ve got localbitcoins. Wallet. Whatever that means..I think ive figured out its an exchange wallet. This electrum and seed? What? Please oh please. Help? 

Fyi..for anyone wants anonymous bitcoin..after MANY hours..I figured out that I could make a LocalBitcoin account. Then I found a seller that was caf, no id. I went to Walmart and sent a money gram. And got a WAY better exchange rate than PayPal or gift card etc. LocalBitcoin account is in an alias. I too don’t like the send copies of your life, kids and ssn to get bitcoin. Hope that helps someone out. 

 

[Sgrbr420]

@Foleyowl all bitcoin (crypto in general) transactions require validation by a distributed network of computers. When you move btc between wallets this validation is what you are paying for, faster validation costs more in fees than slower validation. Because bitcoin has no physical presence like hard currency this validation is central to how it works. This is what is referred to as blockchain validation.

I am a fan of green wallet for mobile. I am also a fan of using bitcoin atm instead of connecting your bank to a service. 

You need to move it to a wallet before paying because most exchanges are setup for speculation (buying and selling of currency to make money) and since they connect to your bank they are under scrutiny to not be a clearing house for illicit transfers of value across country and state borders to places of illreput. Therefore the exchanges will flag your attempt to pay directly from them, freeze and or close your account. Gemini for example is under the watchful eye of the NY SEC. 

Personally I would skip the exchanges if you only plan to use btc to pay for things and will never need to go back from btc to hard currency. Have the localbtc seller drop them in your wallet or use a bitcoin atm to deliver directly to your wallet. 

 

[Foleyowl]

Thanks. Makes somewhat more sense. I chose BRD wallet cuz was highly recommended for iPhone/iPad. I just finished transferring my bitcoin from localbitcoins to my new wallet. Received no probs..easy setup. If anyone knows of a reason NOT to use BRD..please hit me up! 

Now..about this btc atm thing..I’ll have to see if any here in bumfuck Egypt where I’m currently stuck:-( If so..how’s that work? Take cash to an atm..got that part. But then?? It can go directly to my BRD wallet? Is there VERY clear directions at the atm? Do you literally just like select btc and put cash in and then ? Lol. I assume btc don’t come back out like regular atm

Thanks so much for all the help already guys..so awesome. I’m SO close to having it mostly figured out. 

 

[Sgrbr420]

The atms usually have an app, you select the atm you are at on the app and then enter a code shown in the app into the atm. You paste the wallet address into the app and then you insert your atm card and withdraw but instead of cash you get btc in your wallet, minus a fee of course.  It looks like an atm withdrawal on your bank statement. The atm also does regular cash withdrawals as well. They don't report which type it does to your bank but most do require some simple registration with the app.

 

[bdz]

My local btc atm requires I’d.