Buying bitcoins

makeorbrake

lawred2 wrote: »

I've transferred coins plenty of times - it's generating the addresses for an offline wallet that I'd be scratching my head about.

Plus I'd be terrified of doing it wrong and vanishing my coins.

If you use trezor, it's simple. Aside from their support/support material on their website, there's a guy on youtube that gives you a complete walk-thru from start to finish.

The Cuban

Bawnmore wrote: »

Does anyone have any experience with transferring to/from Coinbase and how a bank would treat it in relation to a mortgage application?

Depends on who sees it. They could treat it as investing but more than likely they will see it as speculation and at worst a form of Gambling.

cnocbui

lawred2 wrote: »

What about an encrypted USB drives to store private keys? I've seen some chatter about that. How does that work? And how does one go about moving the coins out of the exchanges?

I don't have experience using any of the major exchanges so I don't know how each one works in detail, but in general terms, you would need to set up a local wallet on your phone or computer. You would then generate and copy a receiving address for that wallet, you would then access your exchange account and send your coins to the receiving address of your wallet you copied.

When sending Bitcoin at least, you may need to nominate a fee to get the miners to process your transaction in a reasonable time frame. You can use this to decide how much you want to pay in fees so your transaction gets processed. After pasting your receiving address, double and triple check the address is correct, otherwise you will lose everything in that transaction.

If you are super paranoid, once you have received the coins in your wallet, you could move your wallet files to two different USB drives and then, encrypt them. With Windows, I think you can enable and use bitlocker to encrypt the drives, and in OSX on a Mac, you can ctrl click on the USB drive icon in the Finder and chose to encrypt the drive. In both instances, you will want to record the encryption keys/passwords and keep them very safe. Lose those and you will have lost your coins.

Personally, I am not that paranoid. I use Electrum as a wallet and so can recover all it's contents from a list of words written on a piece of paper. A thief could steal my laptop and backup drive and I could regenerate the wallet on a new machine using the encryption key seed written on paper. The wallet on the old machine is encrypted and a thief would not be able to get access to my coin without the password.

Raoul

The Cuban wrote: »

Depends on who sees it. They could treat it as investing but more than likely they will see it as speculation and at worst a form of Gambling.

I am in the same situation where I am worried about getting a mortgage if I am seen to be "investing" in crypto.

scopper

Raoul wrote: »

I am in the same situation where I am worried about getting a mortgage if I am seen to be "investing" in crypto.

Depends on how well the crypto does :cool:

There are a couple of good Irish sellers on localbitcoins if you want to avoid a well-known site such as Coinbase.


You can also buy in cash. I sell BTC in cash (at a premium!) for this reason, but people's mileage varies on doing that.

scopper

lawred2 wrote: »

I've transferred coins plenty of times - it's generating the addresses for an offline wallet that I'd be scratching my head about.

Plus I'd be terrified of doing it wrong and vanishing my coins.

Just send a couple of euro until you understand how it works. In the old days this was cheap, now you will have to pay higher fees, but overall it will be worth it.

scopper

lawred2 wrote: »

What about an encrypted USB drives to store private keys? I've seen some chatter about that. How does that work? And how does one go about moving the coins out of the exchanges?

There are a few options. I recommend for the wary to just buy a Trezor or a Nano. Just follow the instructions.

For a USB, just store your private key in a file, even a notepad doc will do, stick a password on it and put it somewhere safe (have 2-3 in different places). If you are talking big money then up your game, but if it's not a huge amount that should be fine. I also think splitting up wallets is wise so you don't have it all in one place only.

Moving from exchange to wallet, you send from one address to the other...

Bawnmore

Raoul wrote: »

I am in the same situation where I am worried about getting a mortgage if I am seen to be "investing" in crypto.

Trying to find out, but hitting a bit of a brick wall. Called my bank and they said it should be fine, but it wasn't overly convincing.

Roonbox

Those considering dipping their toes back into bit coin at these levels.. a word or warning, the chart is developing into a Head and Shoulder formation currently working on right shoulder.. and we may not have seen the lows for this pullback yet.

scopper

Roonbox wrote: »

Those considering dipping their toes back into bit coin at these levels.. a word or warning, the chart is developing into a Head and Shoulder formation currently working on right shoulder.. and we may not have seen the lows for this pullback yet.

Indeed, in these situations maybe just buy small bits.

scopper

Bawnmore wrote: »

Trying to find out, but hitting a bit of a brick wall. Called my bank and they said it should be fine, but it wasn't overly convincing.

I have traded crypto for years now and not once has my bank ever queried it during any application.

iwantthat

You know if you wait a bit longer, you might not need a mortgage at all... :-) just a thought.

Bawnmore wrote: »

Does anyone have any experience with transferring to/from Coinbase and how a bank would treat it in relation to a mortgage application?

Supercell

Anyone used a ledger-nano - https://www.ledgerwallet.com/products/ledger-nano-s to store coins offline? Not sure its worth the investment (or paranoia) but maybe if eth continues its march in six months time it might well be worth it?

scopper

Supercell wrote: »

Anyone used a ledger-nano - https://www.ledgerwallet.com/products/ledger-nano-s to store coins offline? Not sure its worth the investment (or paranoia) but maybe if eth continues its march in six months time it might well be worth it?

I have one and a Trezor. If a hundred bucks is not much to you get one. Otherwise a USB is more or less the same, but a little more work.

wannabecraig

Zascar wrote: »

Guys I have been trying to set up an account on coinbase - cant for the lift of me get the verification to work. Thinks I'm in the UK for some reason and support wont reply to me.

I dont want to read through 100 pages - so can anyone recommend where I can buy & keep bitcoin & ethereum- an alternative to coinbase? Thanks

Have exactly the same issue. I found buying on belgacoin.com was the easiest but takes days for the exchange to happen. I've mailed support for Coingbase 3 times now and still not joy

wannabecraig

scopper wrote: »

I have one and a Trezor. If a hundred bucks is not much to you get one. Otherwise a USB is more or less the same, but a little more work.

Is the backup tools/files the send you at setup not enough for a wallet backup?

scopper

wannabecraig wrote: »

Is the backup tools/files the send you at setup not enough for a wallet backup?

Not sure what you mean, so I hope this makes sense, let me know if not.

You can store your coins on the device and set a pin like with an ATM. Basically when you plug it on you go to the site and enter your pin to unlock it It is very easy to use!

You can also simply write down the mnemonic 12 word phrase as a back up and store that somewhere on paper, but you can do this anyway.

scopper

wannabecraig wrote: »

Have exactly the same issue. I found buying on belgacoin.com was the easiest but takes days for the exchange to happen. I've mailed support for Coingbase 3 times now and still not joy

Never even heard of Belgacoin.

Just to note everyone you can buy Bitcoin on localbitcoins by a bank transfer (Ireland to Ireland).

If there are small volumes I'll sell some myself.

If you can't use Coinbase, try BitPanda, here is my code: https://www.bitpanda.com/?ref=327368 They are based in Germany and quite nice.

wannabecraig

scopper wrote: »

Not sure what you mean, so I hope this makes sense, let me know if not.

You can store your coins on the device and set a pin like with an ATM. Basically when you plug it on you go to the site and enter your pin to unlock it It is very easy to use!

You can also simply write down the mnemonic 12 word phrase as a back up and store that somewhere on paper, but you can do this anyway.

Jaxxx sends you the 8 word phrase when you setup your account. SO I have that stored in my email. That's the backup I have, is it enough?

wannabecraig

scopper wrote: »

Never even heard of Belgacoin.

Was recommended to me ITT.

scopper

wannabecraig wrote: »

Jaxxx sends you the 8 word phrase when you setup your account. SO I have that stored in my email. That's the backup I have, is it enough?

Don't store it in your email!!! Put it in a notepad file, on to a USB and password protect it using winrar. You can also print the phrase on paper. This should be fine, but this is Bitcoin, it is your job to secure it. I still recommend a Trezor if you have a few k in this.

You can restore a wallet with that phrase using Jaxx, yes. You should test it by downloading a wallet on another computer and seeing if the coins come up.

Yes, thought it is normally 12 words, can you check?

scopper

wannabecraig wrote: »

Was recommended to me ITT.

ITT?

SteelyDanJalapeno

Excuse this very ignorant question,

But does my wallet size increase with the more Eth I send to it? like is there any physical property? or is it literally the passkey?

scopper

TiltedBrain wrote: »

Excuse this very ignorant question,

But does my wallet size increase with the more Eth I send to it? like is there any physical property? or is it literally the passkey?

The amount assigned to it changes, sure, but does not grow anything physically. If you run a full client then the blockchain would be growing, but this is rare for people to do these days.

Your private key ("pass key") is simply a signature. A transaction is nothing more than you signing with your key that you want x to go to y.

Blacktie.

scopper wrote: »

ITT?

In this thread

maximus02

Do people here think it is safe to store their 12 word phrase on Evernote?

TIA

Supercell

Anyone any thoughts about Zcash?, it weathered the last couple of days pretty well and looking at the monthly charts it's pretty steady upward in trend.
I see JPmorgan have adopted it, but other than that dont see why it didn't crash as hard as ETH or BTC

wannabecraig

scopper wrote: »

ITT?

In this thread.

lawred2

Supercell wrote: »

Anyone any thoughts about Zcash?, it weathered the last couple of days pretty well and looking at the monthly charts it's pretty steady upward in trend.
I see JPmorgan have adopted it, but other than that dont see why it didn't crash as hard as ETH or BTC

JPM didn't quite adopt ZCash but some of the privacy technology underpinning it for their own ETH based Quorum.

cnocbui

TiltedBrain wrote: »

Excuse this very ignorant question,

But does my wallet size increase with the more Eth I send to it? like is there any physical property? or is it literally the passkey?

Not really. Your coins/tokens are stored in the blockchain. Your wallet contains your cryptographic keys for accessing them and proving your ownership.

Some wallets work by downloading and storing the whole blockchain on your device, those are enormous, but most people would tend to use wallets that don't require having a local copy of the whole blockchain

SteelyDanJalapeno

cnocbui wrote: »

Not really. Your coins/tokens are stored in the blockchain. Your wallet contains your cryptographic keys for accessing them and proving your ownership.

Some wallets work by downloading and storing the whole blockchain on your device, those are enormous, but most people would tend to use wallets that don't require having a local copy of the whole blockchain

thanks, so my coins will forever remain in the blockchain?

wannabecraig

scopper wrote: »

Yes, thought it is normally 12 words, can you check?

It's 12, you are correct, my apologies.

jester77

maximus02 wrote: »

Do people here think it is safe to store their 12 word phrase on Evernote?

TIA

I wouldn't, write it down and put it in a safe or somewhere secure. Malware could access it from your screen. If you are sure your device is clean, then at least encrpyt the file before storing it.

cnocbui

TiltedBrain wrote: »

thanks, so my coins will forever remain in the blockchain?

Yes.

maximus02

jester77 wrote: »

I wouldn't, write it down and put it in a safe or somewhere secure. Malware could access it from your screen. If you are sure your device is clean, then at least encrpyt the file before storing it.

I've just realised that you can encrypt text on Evernote. Now I just have to find somewhere safe for a password for that!

jester77

maximus02 wrote: »

I've just realised that you can encrypt text on Evernote. Now I just have to find somewhere safe for a password for that!

Yeah, just make sure to encrypt your password :pac:

KilOit

Roonbox wrote: »

Those considering dipping their toes back into bit coin at these levels.. a word or warning, the chart is developing into a Head and Shoulder formation currently working on right shoulder.. and we may not have seen the lows for this pullback yet.

Worrying indeed. Doesn't help the fact that its coming at a time with a possible hard fork.. Not sure what to do, risk it and ride it out. Think I'd be more annoyed with myself if I pulled out and it continued to sky rocket and I'd be left trying to catch up. If I hung in and crashed I'd be ok with waiting a few months for it to get to previous levels.

makeorbrake

KilOit wrote: »

Worrying indeed. Doesn't help the fact that its coming at a time with a possible hard fork.. Not sure what to do, risk it and ride it out. Think I'd be more annoyed with myself if I pulled out and it continued to sky rocket and I'd be left trying to catch up. If I hung in and crashed I'd be ok with waiting a few months for it to get to previous levels.

If it nosedives, I'm doubling down. If it bounces back up, I'm equally happy (more or less...only thing I'm unhappy about is having FIAT lying around on a sun lounger getting a tan and not paying its way).

el diablo

KilOit wrote: »

Worrying indeed. Doesn't help the fact that its coming at a time with a possible hard fork.. Not sure what to do, risk it and ride it out. Think I'd be more annoyed with myself if I pulled out and it continued to sky rocket and I'd be left trying to catch up. If I hung in and crashed I'd be ok with waiting a few months for it to get to previous levels.

True, there's quite a bit of uncertainty in both Bitcoin and Ethereum. Might take some time for them both to get back to their previous highs.

Shiny

I see Litecoin took quite a jump during the night. Hard to know if this is the build up for the Bitstamp launch on Monday or another reason.

jester77

Shiny wrote: »

I see Litecoin took quite a jump during the night. Hard to know if this is the build up for the Bitstamp launch on Monday or another reason.

Bitmain are up to something, they are having an influence here. Some massive trades in China and Korea in the last days.

lawred2

el diablo wrote: »

True, there's quite a bit of uncertainty in both Bitcoin and Ethereum. Might take some time for them both to get back to their previous highs.

Uncertainty? ETH is up 40% in one week.

pro_gnostic_8

Shiny wrote: »

I see Litecoin took quite a jump during the night. Hard to know if this is the build up for the Bitstamp launch on Monday or another reason.

Yeah, Bitstamp's integration of Litecoin on Monday is undoubtedly a boost for the coin. Maybe also, a general unease about the Aug 1st UASF of BTC is driving some funds into Litecoin?

I've always liked Litecoin. It does very well what BTC was designed to do but has ultimately failed -- fast tx times and very cheap tx fees. It also has, of course, Segwit and Lightning Network activated.
I've had a few Litecoin since the earliest days; the only downside is that there are so few opportunities to buy stuff with it. That might change, maybe, as merchants are realising that Bitcoin is becoming unuseable for small-ticket purchases.
The Chinese seem to love litecoin also.

Dohnjoe

Interesting to see if LTC rises until Monday, then start to drop back to a lower level

Dohnjoe

Good article from Motherboard - "WTF is Ethereum?"

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/okay-wtf-is-ethereum

machiavellianme

Dohnjoe wrote: »

Interesting to see if LTC rises until Monday, then start to drop back to a lower level

It passed the 40 euro mark a little while ago. Not bad for something that was oscillating between 24 and 27 up till 2 days ago.

cnocbui

On Thursday, I bought half a Bitcoin. By the time Belgacoin processed the order, one day later, the price had increased by €137.

Just over a day on from that I have made 3.7% profit on paper. On 1st Aug, My bank will change the interest earned on deposits to 0.2%. So taking into account DIRT, in one day I have earned with Bitcoin what would take me 31.4 years with money in the bank - not taking into account inflation or any commission taken on selling the BTC.

WhiteMemento9

cnocbui wrote: »

On Thursday, I bought half a Bitcoin. By the time Belgacoin processed the order, one day later, the price had increased by €137.

Just over a day on from that I have made 3.7% profit on paper. On 1st Aug, My bank will change the interest earned on deposits to 0.2%. So taking into account DIRT, in one day I have earned with Bitcoin what would take me 31.4 years with money in the bank - not taking into account inflation or any commission taken on selling the BTC.

You can't compare the two like that though. BTC is such a volatile market that you could easily be down 10% tomorrow. I am not saying it isn't a good investment but looking at returns over a tiny period like a day in BTC is crazy. It is completely meaningless.

Dohnjoe

WhiteMemento9 wrote: »

You can't compare the two like that though. BTC is such a volatile market that you could easily be down 10% tomorrow. I am not saying it isn't a good investment but looking at returns over a tiny period like a day in BTC is crazy. It is completely meaningless.

Indeed, but anyone who has held Bitcoin until now from any point in the last 8 years (excluding 3 weeks this year) has beaten the interest rate either by a little or a lot or a whole lot

Could always plunge back down, but 8 years isn't bad

WhiteMemento9

Dohnjoe wrote: »

Indeed, but anyone who has held Bitcoin until now from any point in the last 8 years (excluding 3 weeks this year) has beaten the interest rate either by a little or a lot or a whole lot

Could always plunge back down, but 8 years isn't bad

It has been a stellar performer no doubt. It is harder to tell though at current prices how much risk you are exposing yourself to. I think with August 1st looming it is purely gambling buying in at this point. You're either gonna end up on the right or the wrong side after that date and I don't think anyone has a clue how it will effect the price.