What's up with Paypal and bitcoin?

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Kriegsspiel
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What's up with Paypal and bitcoin?

Post by Kriegsspiel » Sun Jan 03, 2021 2:59 pm

What's up with Paypal and bitcoin? If one wanted to trade bitcoin, is it as easy as transferring money to Paypal, converting it to bitcoin, then converting it back to dollars when one wants to sell the bitcoin?
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Re: What's up with Paypal and bitcoin?

Post by dualstow » Sun Jan 03, 2021 4:55 pm

I haven’t tried it yet because you have to create a cash account at Paypal, and that involves supplying a social security number, etc., to Paypal. It’s not enough to have a Paypal account that you’ve been using to easily checkout as a guest with your favorite credit card at numerous online vendors.

Not that that’s necessarily a show stopper for me, but I’m not yet curious enough to supply all that info to one more company.

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ochotona
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Re: What's up with Paypal and bitcoin?

Post by ochotona » Sun Jan 03, 2021 8:19 pm

I'm on Coinbase. They let me put my coins in deep(er) vault storage storage.

1. two approvers to take coins out
2. 48 hour wait period, and you get emailed as the clock counts down
3. Coinbase lets me use the Yubico (or similar) hardware key which goes into a USB slot. No key - no access to the account. I have spare key in my physical vault
4. my two emails for approving are pretty secure... use phone apps for 2FA

I don't think you can do ANY of that on PayPal. I'd stay away from it. Plus the transaction fees are higher.

I want in on the Coinbase IPO.
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Re: What's up with Paypal and bitcoin?

Post by bitcoininthevp » Mon Jan 04, 2021 8:58 am

I think Square's CashApp is a great way to buy some bitcoins to get started.

Coinbase is fine too.

River.com would be my recommendation for larger amounts, although I have not used them directly.
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Re: What's up with Paypal and bitcoin?

Post by dualstow » Mon Jan 04, 2021 10:20 am

ochotona wrote:
Sun Jan 03, 2021 8:19 pm
I'm on Coinbase. They let me put my coins in deep(er) vault storage storage.
...
bitcoininthevp wrote:
Mon Jan 04, 2021 8:58 am
I think Square's CashApp is a great way to buy some bitcoins to get started.

Coinbase is fine too.

River.com would be my recommendation for larger amounts, although I have not used them directly.
Ever used kraken?
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Re: What's up with Paypal and bitcoin?

Post by bitcoininthevp » Mon Jan 04, 2021 11:07 am

dualstow wrote:
Mon Jan 04, 2021 10:20 am
Ever used kraken?
Yes, they are fine too.

As long as you are not trading BTC, any of these should be ok from a fee perspective. For one time buy and hold investments, that is.

Once comfortable, consider holding your own coins as it prevents exchange/custodial risks. Similar to Harry recommending holding physical gold.
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Re: What's up with Paypal and bitcoin?

Post by ochotona » Mon Jan 04, 2021 8:14 pm

bitcoininthevp wrote:
Mon Jan 04, 2021 11:07 am
Once comfortable, consider holding your own coins as it prevents exchange/custodial risks. Similar to Harry recommending holding physical gold.
I'm not at all comfortable about the risks of an IT failure or a loss of keys failure if I hold my own coins in a private wallet. At least Coinbase has a process mentioned on their help pages for claiming inherited Bitcoin. My wife and kids know where to go to access the safe deposit box with the physical gold in it. They could bring my death certificate and my Will. Then they drive 10 minutes to a really reputable local dealer and dispose of everything. They lose the keys? Pay $100 and the bank will drill out the box. And if the whole family doesn't survive, then the bank will open the box someday due to non-payment, and the contents will go thorough some kind of Probate process I guess, but our Wills are on file with the County Clerk, so they will know what distant relatives and charities the assets go to.

There are billions of dollars of lost Bitcoin, which will never be recovered. It's too easy to fall into that category.

But don't keep your coins in a hot wallet! And your IT security practices need to be good.
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Re: What's up with Paypal and bitcoin?

Post by dualstow » Tue Jan 05, 2021 7:12 am

What’s a hot wallet?
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Re: What's up with Paypal and bitcoin?

Post by ochotona » Tue Jan 05, 2021 7:37 am

dualstow wrote:
Tue Jan 05, 2021 7:12 am
What’s a hot wallet?
A hot wallet is a repository from which coins can be sent immediately. A vault (like Coinbase's) is near-line storage where hopefully the time delay in getting the coins ready for dispatch will allow the owner to report an on-going theft. Cold storage is having the coin totally offline, not connected to a network at all, maybe not even on a powered-up computer.

Cold Storage - here.
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Re: What's up with Paypal and bitcoin?

Post by dualstow » Tue Jan 05, 2021 2:04 pm

thanks!
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Re: What's up with Paypal and bitcoin?

Post by ochotona » Wed Jan 06, 2021 9:55 pm

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Re: What's up with Paypal and bitcoin?

Post by dualstow » Thu Jan 07, 2021 6:09 am

Wow. How hard is it to print? My passphrase is on paper. Never mind that it’s 9 words instead of 12. It’s printed O0
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