A no BS way to get started with Bitcoin!

[Thetamind]

As a newbie, it can be tough to even get a grip on what bitcoin is, nevermind trying to figure out how to buy it. I know when I started looking into bitcoin, I was drawn in by thousands of websites, all promising hefty returns that sounded too good to be true ( because they are). I was shocked to discover the cess pool of websites out there trying to scam me. I couldn't believe it, found myself googling every site I came across to see if it was a scam, and guess what, most of them were! I came across scammy exchanges, scammy investment sites like hyip ( high yield investment programs), scammy mining sites, and even scammy bitcoin prices from certain sites selling it. My goodness it took a long time to find the right websites to go.

So I am here to share it with you, to save you all the trouble.

First off, bitcoin mining, especially at home, is no longer worth it, you can research that, but honestly, the difficult to mine is just getting harder. Any mining site like pools, or renting hashrates, be cautious. They can go out of business anytime due to mining difficulty increase, taking your investment with them. I would not recommend it. Second, any HYIP, is most likely a scam, and I would absolutely steer clear of all of them. If you are coming into bitcoin with a dream to get rich quick, you've got the wrong dream. The only way to get rich quick with bitcoin is to get very lucky, or own enough bitcoin when and if the price rises to say, 2,3,4,5 thousand USD or higher to see a 500% return on investment. But realistically, bitcoin is more of a bank account, that will gain you lets say, 20% interest each year. Which really isn't a bad deal. The bad deal comes in when bitcoin price falls and you find yourself with less money than when you started, then you're in trouble, and any number of factors can come into play causing that to happen. However, as we have seen, bitcoin tends to overcome setbacks and once again, rises back to where it was, or higher. So my advice to you, as a beginner, is to have patience, and do not panic when you see bitcoins value drop suddenly by 50%. Play the long game, and wait for it to go back up until you find a suitable price to sell.

Alright so, how do you get into bitcoin, without scams or confusing technological babble that even most techs wouldn't understand.... Well, first, you need a wallet. There are several types of wallets ( i'm only going to cover a few here).

1.Online mobile or desktop wallet.
This is a wallet you open up at various sites offering wallets. They are free to open. Some of them offer pretty good security and are generally safe to store your bitcoins in. One good online mobile wallet is called breadwallet, which you can find here....https://breadwallet.com/

2.Exchange wallet
Exchange wallets are wallets that should only be used temporarily to buy other currencies or to trade in things like Forex. These wallets are secure in the short term, however, you should only store the currencies in this wallet, that you are willing to lose. Heres why. A lot of bitcoin (and money) moves in and out of exchanges which makes them a very tempting target for hackers and thieves who can somehow get your wallet information and take it as their own. So short term holding is generally safe, as is leaving your car in a public parking lot during the day. It's not a place you want to let bitcoin sit around doing nothing, that's like going to a late show with your fancy stereo booming, advertising it to any theives within listening distance.

3.Paper wallet
A paper wallet is exactly what you need if you are storing any large amount of bitcoin, or any amount of bitcoin you don't plan on touch for a while. A paper wallet is allows you to take bitcoin off the internet, and stored on a physical piece of paper for safe keeping, as long as you don't lose the paper. Treat it like cash, put it in your banks safety deposit box, or in a safe, or hide it in a book, I don't know, be creative. Paper wallets must be setup with care, there are many tutorials online, like this one, https://blockchain.info/wallet/paper-tutorial

4.Hardware wallet
This is the ultimate in security and ease of use. It's an actual hardware device, like a thumbdrive, that stores your bitcoin, and allows for easy connection to the internet to send or receive money. Of course, it costs money, and that makes it not ideal if you're only planning on buying small amounts, of say, less than 1000 USD worth of bitcoin. If you plan on more, by all means, check out, Trezor, or another hardware wallet to keep you safe and secure. https://trezor.io/?h=626974636f696e7472657a6f722e636f6d

5.Cold Storage wallet
A cold storage wallet makes the most sense once you are a little more familiar with bitcoin, or if you have a desktop computer. A cold store wallet will actually create two wallets for your bitcoin. One wallet will be your online functional send or receive funds wallet, and the other wallet, will be stored as an offline wallet, where funds are not reached from the internet, making it an offline wallet. You can transfer funds from the offline wallet to the online wallet for use. This enables a two tier security system between you, and any potential hackers. One really good Cold Storage wallet is Electrum, which can be found here.... https://electrum.org/#home

Since you are your own bank when it comes to bitcoin, it's important that you research the best wallets for you, because they are what keeps your bitcoins safe, and give you peace of mind.

So now that we have wallets out of the way, lets go back to the basics for a moment. Purchasing bitcoin. How do you do it? This is how I started, and it's a very simple method. Many bitcoin sites need many layers of verification and it can take up to a week before you get bitcoin. The website I used is coinbase. Now, it is an exchange, so remember about the wallet security issue. Coinbase is generally safe, but I wouldn't trust any exchange over a long period of time. The beauty of Coinbase, is that you can buy bitcoin with your credit card instantly, after a 5 minute verification process where they send two charges to your credit card account, and you verify with them, by telling them how much each charge was. After you do that, you can use your credit card to purchase $100 worth of bitcoin right then and there. If you give them a little more information, like your address, the limit is raised to $200 per week. They make these limits because of security, they want to make sure there is no fraud and that's a good thing. Once you've bought more than $500 worth, the limitations lift and you are able to buy more. The fee at coinbase is also low compared to other ways of buying bitcoin. They charge 4% on the credit card transaction. Which really isn't all that bad, and for instant bitcoin, it's worth it. You can sign up for coinbase here https://www.coinbase.com/join/58924ac90637a701419332e6

Also, if you use the link I just provided, you will get an extra 10USD.... which negates any fees on your first and second purchases ( of 100 USD) Which makes coinbase free to use, with no fees to purchase bitcoin. Which is pretty sweet.

Once you have purchased your bitcoin on coinbase, click on the send / request button. Here you can enter in the wallet code for the wallet you created. Then you can send the bitcoin directly there, so you're safe and secure.

If you are interested in Forex, or buying other crypto currencies, you should look into signing up with Kraken, they offer a easy to use trading platform, and multiple crypto currencies you can buy using bitcoin, or physical based currencies like the USD. https://www.kraken.com/en-us

so quick recap on this whole post.

1. Create a wallet https://electrum.org/#home
2. Sign up to coinbase https://www.coinbase.com/join/58924ac90637a701419332e6
3.Buy bitcoin
4.Send bitcoin to wallet.
Done!
OR
5. Sign up to Kraken and get on Forex, to trade or invest or exchange in other crypto currencies. https://www.kraken.com/en-us

Happy bitcoin investing everyone!

[bitkilo]

Great introduction to bitcoin, well done

You may just want to add a small warning at the bottom of the paper wallet section saying that these must be created correctly and offline for them to be considered secure.

[Thetamind]

Thanks, I added a tutorial..

[grandFX]

A great tutorial for the beginner how to started with bitcoin
this is useful for everyone who wants to learn about of bitcoin.

[Rmcdermott927]

Nice guide. It's also worth mentioning that the ability to buy BTC and the type of exchange to use varies greatly by country. Do your research for what is available where you live.

[Thetamind]

Yes, that is true. It's hard to make a guide to include everyone, since bitcoin is available around the world. I am based in north america, so the links I provided should suffice for those in North america, I am not sure about other countries as I have no experience with bitcoin when dealing from china or somewhere else.

[DeadlyChambers]

I am kind of freaking out, I purchased .11ish of a bitcoin. I used the address that was specified in my wallet (didn't create a new receive transaction). However the bitcoin I purchased is not showing up in my wallet. Is there someone I can contact here that will help me get the bitcoin sent to my wallet? There is no contact us section for the site.

[Thetamind]

Did you purchase it through coinbase? What exchange did you use to buy the bitcoin?

[Decoded]

I am kind of freaking out, I purchased .11ish of a bitcoin. I used the address that was specified in my wallet (didn't create a new receive transaction). However the bitcoin I purchased is not showing up in my wallet. Is there someone I can contact here that will help me get the bitcoin sent to my wallet? There is no contact us section for the site.

Bitcoin isn't centralised, therefore there is no one you can contact that will help you more than you, other than the sender. We can only give advice.

First thin'g first, can you tell us where you bought the coins?

[mjglqw]

I am kind of freaking out, I purchased .11ish of a bitcoin. I used the address that was specified in my wallet (didn't create a new receive transaction). However the bitcoin I purchased is not showing up in my wallet. Is there someone I can contact here that will help me get the bitcoin sent to my wallet? There is no contact us section for the site.

There is no one for you to contact except the person/website where you bought the coins.

Has it arrived yet? Probably delayed. If not, where did you purchase it?

[Thetamind]

I guess they figured it out...

[alan2102]

Yes, nice tutorial.

However...

How can a newbie trust ANY of these various online outfits? Or any individual?

For example, you recommend coinbase. Just a few minutes before I read your piece, I was investigating coinbase; here's one thing I found: http://bittrust.org/coinbase#r4872 --- "Coinbase is a site of Criminal Thieves that will steal your money. STAY AWAY!!!" --- along with other choice comments.

Same with expresscoin. Same with a lot of stuff.

I've read a couple of the "read me first" pinned threads on other fora, giving advice to newbies on how to do things right, be secure, and so on. These give long lists of complex, arcane procedures, often with unclarity about exactly HOW to do it, and often assuming advanced knowledge of various technical things (with no clue given as to how to acquire the knowledge). Jeezuz!

So, how is one supposed to navigate this cesspool? How does one know that YOU (pardon me for suggesting) are not steering the unwary newcomer into some scam? How can one know who to trust? And how is one supposed to undertake the complex and, in practice, near-impossible lists of security procedures?

Serious problem.

I've had "BUY BITCOIN" on my to-do list for months, and just today I decided to get serious about it. And.... what an awful surprise to learn that the whole field seems to be a rats-nest of scammers, liars, unreliable "resources", and so on, and near-impossible complexity in setting up a secure system for oneself. After months of reading and vid viewing, I was convinced of the potential of bitcoin and I had intended to buy 10 bitcoins as an investment, but I'm now thinking in terms of buying ONE TENTH of a bitcoin. The cesspool being what it seems to be, I don't want to risk any more than that; and, I'm also seriously wondering now if bitcoin is a good investment. I'm smarter than average, and I am no computer newbie (first system in 1983; online in 1994); why would it be difficult for me? I cannot see how it would be even remotely possible for the average person to participate in this space without unacceptable risk and complication. So how big can bitcoin get, really?

Thoughts?

[mjglqw]

Yes, nice tutorial.

However...

How can a newbie trust ANY of these various online outfits? Or any individual?

For example, you recommend coinbase. Just a few minutes before I read your piece, I was investigating coinbase; here's one thing I found: http://bittrust.org/coinbase#r4872 --- "Coinbase is a site of Criminal Thieves that will steal your money. STAY AWAY!!!" --- along with other choice comments.

Same with expresscoin. Same with a lot of stuff.

I've read a couple of the "read me first" pinned threads on other fora, giving advice to newbies on how to do things right, be secure, and so on. These give long lists of complex, arcane procedures, often with unclarity about exactly HOW to do it, and often assuming advanced knowledge of various technical things (with no clue given as to how to acquire the knowledge). Jeezuz!

So, how is one supposed to navigate this cesspool? How does one know that YOU (pardon me for suggesting) are not steering the unwary newcomer into some scam? How can one know who to trust? And how is one supposed to undertake the complex and, in practice, near-impossible lists of security procedures?

Serious problem.

I've had "BUY BITCOIN" on my to-do list for months, and just today I decided to get serious about it. And.... what an awful surprise to learn that the whole field seems to be a rats-nest of scammers, liars, unreliable "resources", and so on, and near-impossible complexity in setting up a secure system for oneself. After months of reading and vid viewing, I was convinced of the potential of bitcoin and I had intended to buy 10 bitcoins as an investment, but I'm now thinking in terms of buying ONE TENTH of a bitcoin. The cesspool being what it seems to be, I don't want to risk any more than that; and, I'm also seriously wondering now if bitcoin is a good investment. I'm smarter than average, and I am no computer newbie (first system in 1983; online in 1994); why would it be difficult for me? I cannot see how it would be even remotely possible for the average person to participate in this space without unacceptable risk and complication. So how big can bitcoin get, really?

Thoughts?

Coinbase is definitely NOT a scam. It's just that theres a chance of you having a problem if you lack personal info given to them. That's why its suggested in most posts to use different wallets the ones that gives you access to the private keys; especially when holding bigger amounts of bitcoin.

And yes there are alot of scams, especially cloud mining and investment sites. You simply just to have to ignore and not use those sites. Also, make sure you're using a trusted website/company when buying btc.

[alan2102]

Perhaps not scammers, but...

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1631151.0
"Although often called Bitcoin wallets, services like Coinbase and Circle aren’t true Bitcoin wallets. Customers private keys are held by these third party services, meaning users don’t really have control of their money. As Bitcoiners often say: “if you don’t control the keys, you don’t control the coins”. Mt. Gox is an extreme example, but one that illustrates the importance of holding private keys. Gox was the first and largest Bitcoin exchange up until 2013. Thousands of users stored more than 800,000 bitcoins in their Gox accounts. At the time, one may have claimed to have 1,000 bitcoins in a Gox account. While true at the time, as soon as Mt. Gox claimed to have been victim of theft users with bitcoins in their accounts were left empty handed."

Zap! Suddenly all your money is gone.

The nice thing about banks is that you can deposit money at a bank, and be near-100% assured that you can get your money OUT of it the next day or the next month or whenever, barring the extraordinary once-in-a-century collapse, or nuclear war, or whatnot (in which case bitcoin is toast, too, so no difference). It seems that this is not the case with bitcoin. You put your money in, and maybe you get it back... OR maybe it gets stolen, or maybe the exchange goes bankrupt or gets hacked, or maybe you didn't follow some complex security protocol with sufficient precision (resulting in disaster), or... etc., etc.

Myself, I WANT to believe in it, and I am going to pursue it further. I'm smarter than the average bear and I can probably figure out how to do it safely. But I am having major trouble seeing how this could catch on with Joe Q Public.

[alan2102]

Coinbase is definitely NOT a scam. It's just that theres a chance of you having a problem if you lack personal info given to them.

What does that mean? "If you lack personal info given to them"?

And yes there are alot of scams, especially cloud mining and investment sites. You simply just to have to ignore and not use those sites.

I've never been to any of those sites. My experience came from sites like coinbase, blockchain.info, and the fora.

Also, make sure you're using a trusted website/company when buying btc.

How do you know if a website/company is trustworthy? That's the point. How do you know? And: how do you know how to know?

Thanks for your reply.

[Thetamind]

this is why i specifically said its best to move your coins to a personal wallet,immediately after buying them. then its safe.

[mjglqw]

Coinbase is definitely NOT a scam. It's just that theres a chance of you having a problem if you lack personal info given to them.

What does that mean? "If you lack personal info given to them"?
---
I don't personally use coinbase, but based on what I've read they ask for some documents to prove your identity.

And yes there are alot of scams, especially cloud mining and investment sites. You simply just to have to ignore and not use those sites.

I've never been to any of those sites. My experience came from sites like coinbase, blockchain.info, and the fora.
---
Alright. Just stay away from them. Usually they say something along the lines of, "deposit .2 btc and earn 10℅ everyday!"

Also, make sure you're using a trusted website/company when buying btc.

How do you know if a website/company is trustworthy? That's the point. How do you know? And: how do you know how to know?

Thanks for your reply.

---
Do research. Alot. If you've had experience with forums then you could easily know which forum posts are actually legit reviews and which are not.

If you're asking because you currently want to buy, then I say coinbase, localbitcoins, and cex.io

Just to be extremely sure, dont buy the amount you want in one go. Maybe split it to like 4 transactions or so.

[bitkilo]

The nice thing about banks is that you can deposit money at a bank, and be near-100% assured that you can get your money OUT of it the next day or the next month or whenever, barring the extraordinary once-in-a-century collapse

You may want to double check that statement, there have been people in many countries that have gone to the bank one day only to be told that "sorry we can'tgive you any money" and that's in recent history not centuries ago.
Just a couple that come to mind are, Greece, Venezuela,Cyprus, Argentina and probably a few more i can't think of now.

Bitcoin may be a little confusing to understand at first but only because it's nothing like you have even know before, once you poke around the forums, ask a few questions and maybe have a look at the original white paper then its not to hard to understand the basics of, especially if you are already computer literate.

If you want to invest in bitcoin then don't just let the fact that its too hard discourage you, nothing that is worthwhile is easy but also don't buy any coins until you understand how you can safely hold and store them, remember if they are offline no hackers can steal them.

Feel free to start threads and ask all the questions you need to.
Bitcoin is about taking full control of your finances into your own hands, from the start you don't owe anyone and no one owes you, it is a system not based on debt unlike the current fiat system.

[alan2102]

Again, thanks for your reply.

Just stay away from them. Usually they say something along the lines of, "deposit .2 btc and earn 10℅ everyday!"

Anyone making such a claim is instantly (to me) identifiable as a liar, thief, etc. I pay NO attention to such crap. It is not those kinds of people I am worried about.

Do research. Alot. If you've had experience with forums then you could easily know which forum posts are actually legit reviews and which are not.

OK. But to take my bank analogy once again: with banks, it is not necessary to vet them in such a way; i.e. read hundreds of posts and determine (you HOPE) which recommendations are legit and which are not. You just go, deposit your money, and get it out any time you like, no worries.

Again, I'm thinking not only in terms of myself, but in terms of Joe Q Public. Yes, I personally can probably do the work and figure out what's what. I wonder if JQP will be willing to.

If you're asking because you currently want to buy, then I say coinbase, localbitcoins, and cex.io
Just to be extremely sure, dont buy the amount you want in one go. Maybe split it to like 4 transactions or so.

Thanks for the advice. Yes, I will certainly NOT do it in one go! I'll start with a hundred bucks, perhaps.

[alan2102]

PS:

I say coinbase

So I should ignore the negative reviews about them? The reviews looked authentic to me. How might I know that you are right and that the negative reviews are wrong?

[alan2102]

Thanks for your reply.

there have been people in many countries that have gone to the bank one day only to be told that "sorry we can'tgive you any money" and that's in recent history not centuries ago. Just a couple that come to mind are, Greece, Venezuela,Cyprus, Argentina and probably a few more i can't think of now.

That may well be true. I was thinking about my experience over the last 40 years, and the experience of everyone I know and have ever known, and generally the experience of everyone in this country. There have been cases of banks making inappropriate service charges, or (rarely) making accounting errors, etc. But generally banks are highly reliable, and one never loses any significant amount of money with them. If that were not the case, then no one would deal with them; we would all be stuffing cash under our mattresses.

Bitcoin may be a little confusing to understand at first but only because it's nothing like you have even know before

I like new things that I have never known before. What bothers me is not the novelty. It is the risk, and the difficulty (impossibility?) of being really sure about anything. When it comes to food, or traveling to new places, "not being really sure about anything" is generally good; it is part of the fun. But when it comes to money, it is bad.

If you want to invest in bitcoin then don't just let the fact that its too hard discourage you, nothing that is worthwhile is easy but also don't buy any coins until you understand how you can safely hold and store them

Got that. I'm somewhat discouraged but not yet giving up.

What is striking is that it seems like things that were worked out long ago (how to safely store and transfer money) now have to be re-visited, re-invented, re-verified, and so on, and you're never entirely sure that you've got it right. With the old bank system, we do not have to spend scores or hundreds of hours reading literature on the net vetting things, and hoping that we can sort out the valid from the BS. But with cryptocurrencies, suddenly we DO have to do that.

Once again, I'm viewing this thru Joe Q Public's eyes as well as my own. Yes, I can probably figure it out. But can (and will) JQP do so as well? How will this new system get to the point where it can be used with ease and straightforwardness and confidence, comparable to dealing with a bank?

Bitcoin is about taking full control of your finances into your own hands, from the start you don't owe anyone and no one owes you, it is a system not based on debt unlike the current fiat system.

Bitcoin denominated in dollars is based on the current fiat system, AFAICS. And with banks, I feel like I am in control of my finances, and don't owe anyone and no one owes me. That is unless we're talking about the risks inherent in any fiat currency; i.e. the possibility of currency crisis and hyperinflation. That's a different subject. As a hedge against that, physical precious metals would be the way to go. Unless cryptocurrencies were perceived as a decent store of value, and there was a stampede into them that outran the hyperinflation. That's possible, I suppose. But then, to be "perceived as a decent store of value", I would think that the problems I've mentioned would have to be addressed to the satisfaction of JQP.

[bitkilo]

^^ You have made some interesting points and i will go through your post in more detail later.

You must remember that the current fiat banking system has been around for a long time and they have made it as easy as possible for you to use so they can get their hands on a percentage of your money easier.

Bitcoin is still new, when it is made as easy and simple as today's banking then that will be the killer app that launches it mainstream.

[ian.jackson]

Very well written and consise ..I think I have read it 3 or more times and keep going back..thanx

[alan2102]

You must remember that the current fiat banking system has been around for a long time and they have made it as easy as possible for you to use so they can get their hands on a percentage of your money easier. Bitcoin is still new, when it is made as easy and simple as today's banking then that will be the killer app that launches it mainstream.

YES. That's just it. And that is why I am still interested in it as an investment in spite of the obstacles and uncertainties. WHEN it is made easy and simple as today's banking, that's when it can zoom. And it probably will. Meanwhile...

https://www.weusecoins.com/en/how-buy-b ... oin-price/ --- "History is filled with Bitcoin exchanges running away with users’ funds". Yikes!

OK. I will proceed with great caution.

[bL4nkcode01]

Very nice thread indeed and quite informative this will help some newbies to understand what bitcoin is capable of. But yes investing now on HYIP is really risky as the price pumps.

[Myfe]

The only way to get rich quick with bitcoin is to...

Get rich slowly with the 4% annual interest FreeBitco.in is paying right now on all deposits AND the 25% commission they're paying on the interest earned by your referrals. You can't beat that rate...no other exchange or wallet is offering interest on savings. You'll be getting paid on those days like today when the BTC price is flat!

To the OP, great post, very informative....I hope you win the raffle!