Bitcoin Suppliers

[screamingmimi]

I have noticed it has really been fluctuating within the last month. I also read that the same thing happened in previous years, around this time of year.

At one point it was down to 850 I think

 

[Natty]

Its been as low as 820 yesterday to 905 today. I bought at 790, was lucky I guess.

 

[cobd]

There was a huge rally there for a few days, but even as it was going I had a feeling it was in for a market correction.  Seemed like the bubble popped.

I made my first payment using bitcoin, and it processed just fine by going coinbase->electrum->recipient.  I put a good chunk of change into it, put that same chunk of change into the transfer, and came out with $50 left in my wallet.  Not bad.

Now I'm curious about the privacy aspect.  I now know that electrum makes the sender's IP address readily visible, and that makes me a little nervous.  Anybody know of any means to make this process more anonymous?

 

[screamingmimi]

I had read to transfer to a secondary wallet and always use a new wallet address.   I'm using Multibit because for some reason electrum will not load on my computer no matter what I do.   I haven' made a purchase yet, getting some money stashed for when I need it.   I'm sure if you dig deep you can find out.

I don't have the brains for it right now.

 

[cobd]

@screamingmimi, spot on.  I found a website that goes into a bit more detail about the privacy element of all this:

http://cryptorials.io/how-to-use-bitcoin-anonymously/

I'm going to start implementing some of these tips in my future purchases.

 

[cobd]

Another thing I recommend to bitcoin newbies: over the past month, bitcoin started out at around $780 a coin, briefly peaked at about $1150 around the start of the new year, and is now back down to around $780 a coin.  Watch recent trends and know that this form of currency can be highly volatile.  If you see a rally, and it seems too good to be true, then in all likelihood it probably is.

I'm doing my own homework on this at the moment, but most sources I've pulled from say that bitcoin is likely to go up in value over the next year.  Some folks say it could reach 3k USD a coin by this time next year...I call baloney, but my opinion isn't exactly the most informed one.  It's probably not a good time to buy right now, as things are fluctuating in a pretty unpredictable manner, but prices are staying relatively constrained within a $100-ish margin at this point in time.  In my uneducated opinion (basically, based on what I've read), prices are probably going to fall before they rise again.  Be careful.  If you need to buy right away, buy more than you think you'll need, and hang on to what's left over if there is any.  That 7-day wait for a bank transfer can potentially mean a loss or a gain.  Luckily, I bought right before the big rally and transferred briefly afterward, so I was left with a little surplus of about 10%. I'm hanging on to that for the time being and will continue to watch the markets.

Please...don't take my word for it.  I'm not an expert on financial markets: not even close.  But I do know a few simple facts:  if things are too good to be true, they probably are.  Currency (although some would call bitcoin a commodity) is only as valuable as the value we collectively assign to it.  Bitcoin is new territory that still has plenty of areas to be explored (although something similar could be said about currency that has been taken off the gold standard), but it's prospects are promising and terrifying all at the same time.

This is all terribly complicated stuff.  Bitcoin operates independently of the USD; if the value of the USD falls, Bitcoin will be worth more in terms of the US dollar.  The incoming administration in the US could have a significant impact on this.  Politics aside (I despise the president-elect, as a purely subjective side note.  If you disagree...fine.  Deal with the fact that my views differ from yours; there is no universe in which you can change my mind on this subject on an internet forum at this point in time.  Please remain on-topic), US fiscal policy could have enormous repercussions on the value of a bitcoin.

My main point is that short-term acquisition and spending of bitcoins seem to be unlikely to be overly risky.  In small-ish amounts, you're probably OK.  Long term?  Who knows.  Watch the markets.  Evaluate trend lines.  Use sound judgment.   And...ah...cross your fingers.

 

[screamingmimi]

I have been buying a bit here and there when it's low.   I had been reading about keeping track of how much you pay for each batch so you'll know about gains but my brain can't figure out how to do it unless you have a bunch of wallets?

Right now I buy through Coinbase but then transfer elsewhere to sit.  And right now it says unconfirmed which is a concern since it's been there for a while.

Any ideas where to store stuff?

 

[cobd]

More information that I've come across:

Since the established ledger of all bitcoin transactions (known as the blockchain) is public, it's generally very easy to trace where a bitcoin has been.  Because this knowledge is public, Coinbase will, from time to time, track where the bitcoins you buy from them end up going.  Even if you transfer to a different wallet first, they can track it, and if they deem the transactions to be "suspicious" enough, they will refuse to offer their services to you.  I've heard of cases where they will automatically ban you if they find out that you sent your coins to a mixing service because they consider that to be an inherently suspicious action.

I'm going to continue to research this topic a bit.  I've read that a good practice is to always create a new address when receiving money and to always ask whomever you're sending money to create a unique address that has not been used before and will not be used again.  I'm not sure how effective this is in the real world.

Coinbase does a bit (heh, pun) to comply with US law.  It might take a few transactions before you lose the right to buy from them.  From what I'm reading, though, in terms of using coins purchased from Coinbase and sent to IOPs, it seems to be more a matter of "when" than "if".  I'm going to do a bit of research on stealth addresses as well, see if I can find any answers there.

 

[Natty]

Yea they banned me a long time ago.

 

[bossx211]

Its funny too me that around this time last year i was buying bitcoins for personal use and to gamble at bitcoin online casinos for around 250 - 350 a coin. who would have known. lol ( kickin myself in the @$$ )

 

[screamingmimi]

I use Coinbase to buy, then move them elswhere.   I did read and was told by Multibit, that you should always use a new address for any new transfer.  I move out of  coinbase so whoever I send them to wont know where they originated.

All to complicated to me.  I'm also trying to understand paying a fee to transfer to our own account and how the blockchain work.s  Unless it's dumbed down to the level of a 2nd grader, then I won't get it.  

 

[screamingmimi]

I use a tumbler service. 

What is that?

also @PTFC or anyone who uses Multibit.  It tells you when you're going to spend to make sure it's either in BTC or MB and make sure you know which you are using.  How do you tell?  I've emailed them (CS is pretty good with them) but otherwise I wonder if I need to move it back to coinbase?   My buying btc is coming in handy. Got a great deal on something with a btc discount.

Update: I see there are many bitcoin symbols.  Right now mine on Multibit is set at MB, but what is the difference between them. When I swtich to B it totally changes the values.

 

[screamingmimi]

Got my answer, but now I see how the fluctuating market makes things tricky.  BTC price I got quoted was good yesterday but today the value went up. Sneaker bitcoins.

@PTFC   I set it to BTC.   1 = 1. 

 

[Natty]

The market has been all over the place the past couple of days

 

[cobd]

^ true, but just by looking at the trends it appears to be increasing in value.  I saw that it just took a little dip here recently so I put a little more money into it.  If I had a crystal ball I might be throwing a hell of a lot more into it.  

I use Coinbase to buy, then move them elswhere.   I did read and was told by Multibit, that you should always use a new address for any new transfer.  I move out of  coinbase so whoever I send them to wont know where they originated.

All to complicated to me.  I'm also trying to understand paying a fee to transfer to our own account and how the blockchain work.s  Unless it's dumbed down to the level of a 2nd grader, then I won't get it.  




 

Yeah, the fees are a complicated thing.

It helps to understand how money works in the non-digital world.  Here, banks profit off of the money you have in your account.  They can use that money to offer loans to other people, and they profit off of those loans by asking to be paid back more than they loaned (interest, basically).  A good little history lesson can be found by looking up "The history of paper money" series by Extra Credits on youtube.

Bitcoin is different.  It doesn't matter that you have two accounts and that they're both yours.  The blockchain is a ledger: it basically says "this account has X amount" or "this account transferred X amount to this other account", about a few quadrillion times over.  The terminology is different: they use "addresses" instead of "accounts", but its the same idea.

When you transfer bitcoins, somebody has to search through the blockchain, find your account, determine that "yes, account A exists has X amount available to transfer to account B" and "yes, account B exists and can receive X amount from account A".  That's what bitcoin miners do.  They do all this to keep the currency safe and protected from counterfeiters.  But it's *complicated* and there's a lot of data to sift through.  The fees are there to give the miners a reason to actually go through this effort; if they confirm your transfer, they get a slice of the pie.

There's an old saying in economics: There's No Such Thing As a Free Lunch.  It isn't possible to get something for nothing.  Banks let you transfer money between accounts for "free" because they're making their money off of you in a different way.  With bitcoin, you see what the actual cost of that transfer is.

 

[screamingmimi]

@cobd Thanks for the great explanation.  I also learned over the weekend if the fee you pay is not high enough no one wants to confirm it.  Glad there are poeple like you to help us understand.   

 

[screamingmimi]

A guy I just bought some stuff from using bitcoin told me (after I commented how much it had gone up) that he thinks it's going to triple in 3 years and that I should look into crypto gold.  Anyone know about it?  It's called Hayek

 

[PTFC]

A guy I just bought some stuff from using bitcoin told me (after I commented how much it had gone up) that he thinks it's going to triple in 3 years and that I should look into crypto gold.  Anyone know about it?  It's called Hayek

Sounds interesting, I love how you have gotten right into this @screamingmimi!

 

[Natty]

A guy I just bought some stuff from using bitcoin told me (after I commented how much it had gone up) that he thinks it's going to triple in 3 years and that I should look into crypto gold.  Anyone know about it?  It's called Hayek

I bet that BTC will continue to grow for sure. I have never heard of Hayek but am going to read on it today. Thanks for putting this out there. B)

 

[screamingmimi]

Sounds interesting, I love how you have gotten right into this @screamingmimi!

Thanks!  Stilll a lot I don't know but now i'm stroking cuz btc is over $1000.   It was a seller I've used before in Ukraine who told me about the Hayek money.  He was a programmer but he said he doesn't even get the block chain stuff.