Gyroscopic Investing

MangoMan wrote:I need to make a payment using bitcoin but do not have a bitcoin account or know anything about how to get started. I thought about just googling it, but I'm not sure who to trust. I am confident the members here can steer me in the right direction. Any help or comments are appreciated.

Use Circle, they're the largest "in the system" with tons of venture capital funding: http://www.circle.com

its been a long time since i had a strong interest in bitcoins, but back when they first came out there was a bitcoin forum that was a good source of info on all things bit coin, from basic "how to" stuff to complex discussions of cryptography and mining operation hardware... i would be surprised if the forum wasn't still around, it was (at the time) a central hub for the bit coin world..

MangoMan wrote:Thanks for the link, but that is not bitcoin, it's a payment app. It has to be actual bitcoin.

Anybody else?

Its for Bitcoin deposits and payments. The great thing about it -- besides ease of use and ACH linked bank account -- is you don't have to worry about calculating and paying transaction fees to send or receive Bitcoins, no matter how small. No conversion fees to and from USD either. And you can have the account denominated in either USD or BTC. If you choose BTC then you have less tax crap to worry about.

I have used Coinbase successfully in the past. You deposit dollars, use those dollars to buy Bitcoin, and can then make payments to people or complete transactions in Bitcoin as required. Is that what you need?

pug,

Both Coinbase and Circle will allow you to purchase bitcoin (actual bitcoin) using your bank account. You can then send bitcoin to a bitcoin address.

https://localbitcoins.com/ is an option as well if you want to meet someone in person (public place) and buy for cash. If you are in a hurry this might be the best option.

Absolutely not. Circle will know a lot about you given that you are using your bank account to purchase.

However, if you are purchasing something legal but just wanting to be anonymous to the merchant, you can use circle as circle's main concerns are KYC and AML and not merchant privacy.

Bitcoins isn't anonymous. Anyone can be found out by tracing the blockchain transactions back to the source. And the blockchain is public so you better believe law enforcement is already tracking transactions to and from it.

What in tarnation are you trying to do? Buy pot?

MachineGhost wrote:Bitcoins isn't anonymous.

It isn't anonymous out of the box. It is technically 'pseudonymous'. But with proper techniques it can be used without people knowing who you are.

MangoMan wrote:

MachineGhost wrote:Bitcoins isn't anonymous. Anyone can be found out by tracing the blockchain transactions back to the source. And the blockchain is public so you better believe law enforcement is already tracking transactions to and from it.

What in tarnation are you trying to do? Buy pot?

Does your pot dealer accept bitcoin?

You pay online these days, my friend! So of course my hypothetical dealer does. Banks won't work with pot dealers yet. They have to use Bitcoins or cash/ATM machines.