All about Bitcoins and why you'd want to use them to buy porn!

[Petra]

You've probably noticed some chatter about bitcoins in the news, and even around FreeOnes. What are bitcoins and why should you use them?

- It's anonymous
- Safe and secure
- Non-recurring/no rebills ever

In a nutshell, bitcoin is a digital currency that can be exchanged for real goods and services from merchants that accept it (like Met-Art recently and now FreeOnes for credit packages). However, it's an anonymous digital currency. There isn't a serial number like a dollar, there isn't any federal agency tracking where it's going, and unless you put a name to your 'wallet' nobody knows who you are. You're just a number in cyber space.

Ok, so you know it's an anonymous digital currency and there are sites and brick and mortar locations accepting bitcoin as payment. How do you use it without having your head explode from all the tech geeky information surrounding the bitcoin? It's actually pretty easy.

1. Find yourself a bitcoin wallet.

This is where you keep your bitcoins and there's a lot of different options - click to view different types of wallets.
There are wallets that are sofware only and have to be downloaded on your computer, some that only come in the form of a mobile app, and some that are web based.

Note: Make sure to read what each is about before you choose because they all have strengths and weaknesses as well as different user levels.

2. Get yourself some bitcoins.

In order to buy bitcoins (unless you're mining bitcoins yourself), you need to find a company selling them in exchange for some world currency. Check out several exchanges before purchasing so you can find the right exchange for you. Here is guide on where to buy your bitcoins. Most popular seems to be MtGox, Bitstamp, Bitcoin-Central, BitBoin.

Apparently BitBoin accepts paypal for bitcoin. So that might be the easiest way to get yourself some bitcoins! Of course, use at your own risk!

3. Where to spend your bitcoins?

Now that you have some bitcoins, you need to know where to spend them!

- Want videos and photos from the Model Personal Stores on freeOnes? Get credits with your bitcoins by clicking here!
- Get a non-recurring, hassle free, 30 day membership from Met-Art with your bitcoins! Click here

- Lists of other (non-pomerchants) accepting bitcoin:
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Trade#Entertainment.2FBooks.2FMagazines
https://www.spendbitcoins.com/places/


And there you have it! Safe and anonymous currency that ensures you get non-recurring purchases!

Please feel free to leave a comment with any tips, tricks, or merchants accepting bitcoin in this thread!

 

[Petra]

A before work bump. ;-)

 

[squallumz]

ive been using a bite-coin technique for years.

 

[Petra]

ive been using a bite-coin technique for years.

/groan

 

[luis1972]

Like a prepaid cell phone.

 

[Petra]

Like a prepaid cell phone.

Yea. That's pretty much what it is. You pay for X amount of bitcoin and that goes into your wallet. Unless you load more in, that's that. There's no way for the exchange companies to get more money out of you unless you send it, there's no ways for the companies accepting bitcoin payments to get more out of you as well.

For those of you who play video games via Steam, it's kind of like your steam wallet or even a paypal account where you can load it up with X amount.

 

[HansMoleman]

1. Find yourself a bitcoin wallet.

This is where you keep your bitcoins and there's a lot of different options - click to view different types of wallets.
There are wallets that are sofware only and have to be downloaded on your computer, some that only come in the form of a mobile app, and some that are web based.

Note: Make sure to read what each is about before you choose because they all have strengths and weaknesses as well as different user levels.

Just to add for new people to Bitcoins, there are tons of options here. If you're in the US, the simplest way to buy Bitcoins is probably Coinbase. (If you aren't in the US, you probably have more options) When you buy your coins, Coinbase stores them in a wallet they create for you. You can send them to another wallet service, or to your own wallet on your computer as Petra mentioned. You can download and install the wallet for free, and you don't need any bitcoins to get started. I use the Bitcoin-Qt that's in Petra's link. But if you download your own wallet, it has to sync up with the bitcoin network and this can take quite a few hours. But this reduce the risks of you losing any of your bitcoins because you can backup your wallet to a flash drive or whatever you want. Most people go for the easier solution of leaving their wallet at some hosted or cloud based solution.

 

[Petra]

Just to add for new people to Bitcoins, there are tons of options here. If you're in the US, the simplest way to buy Bitcoins is probably Coinbase. (If you aren't in the US, you probably have more options) When you buy your coins, Coinbase stores them in a wallet they create for you. You can send them to another wallet service, or to your own wallet on your computer as Petra mentioned. You can download and install the wallet for free, and you don't need any bitcoins to get started. I use the Bitcoin-Qt that's in Petra's link. But if you download your own wallet, it has to sync up with the bitcoin network and this can take quite a few hours. But this reduce the risks of you losing any of your bitcoins because you can backup your wallet to a flash drive or whatever you want. Most people go for the easier solution of leaving their wallet at some hosted or cloud based solution.

Thanks for your input!

How long have you been using bitcoins?

 

[288gto]

seems cool stuff

 

[HansMoleman]

Petra[/URL][/B], post: 7562684, member: 114093"]Thanks for your input!

How long have you been using bitcoins?

I've been "watching" bitcoins for about a year. My buddy has been "using" them for several years and he tells me all about them. I've recently become interested in its potential for online retail and micro transactions.

 

[HansMoleman]

I took some screenshots of my Bitcoin client just in case anyone is interested. I also think my balance and number of transactions are a funny coincidence. I blurred out some info, but you get the idea. Also, I have more Bitcoins but they are currently at MTGox (stored in one of their wallets) because I trade them on the exchange like a day trader does with stocks.

 

[squallumz]

/\ mmm, now i have petra's address. thats hot.

 

[HansMoleman]

/\ mmm, now i have petra's address. thats hot.

Well its an address to my wallet that I named "freeones-petra" just as an example. This lets you keep up with incoming bitcoins so you can see remember where it came from, and it adds a level of security. So if I give you that address, you don't have anything else to track back to me. You don't have to make them that specific, or you don't have to make unique addresses at all. You could just use the default one.

I read recently that PayPal is looking into accepting and transaction bitcoins, which would make it so much easier to use and widely accepted.

 

[SabrinaDeep]

I don't want to be the bad girl here, but just reading

http://bitcoin.org/en/you-need-to-know

makes me pass for now. I also don't want to think what could happen with a virus tailored to attack your client, especially on mobiles.

 

[HansMoleman]

I don't want to be the bad girl here, but just reading

http://bitcoin.org/en/you-need-to-know

makes me pass for now. I also don't want to think what could happen with a virus tailored to attack your client, especially on mobiles.

Thanks for posting that Sabrina! I disagree with some points of that article, but you definitely need to be careful about scams and viruses. If someone steals you credit card number, you can get stolen money back. But if you get a virus on your computer that sends your bitcoins off to some hacker, it's gone. That's why a lot of the serious bitcoin guys keep a wallet in a secure place to store the majority of their money like a bank or safe. The wallet on their personal computer only has what they need for day-to-day stuff. I don't have enough to worry about, plus I use multiple virus scanners and have safe browsing habits.

But the points on that page that I disagree with (in case anyone is interested):
"Bitcoin is not anonymous" - It is far more anonymous than any other currency I've seen/used. They mention you can create unlimited addresses (like in my screenshots above). You really would only have to even worry about that if you're buying something illegal, which you could just create a new address for each transaction in that case. In the early days, people used bitcoins to buy drugs so privacy was key. I am more interested in its use for micro transactions and cutting credit card companies out of retail transactions because of the fees.

"Bitcoin is still experimental" - Bitcoins have been around since Jan 2009 and with some of the smartest computer guys in the world, it only suffered one hack, which was promptly dealt with and fixed. It's amazing to me how well it has actually worked. It's nothing like currencies we use today where governments and banks just print more, people can counterfeit, etc. Bitcoin has a finite supply of 21 million and will slowly be mined until the year 2140.

"Don't forget government taxes" - So far the US Government has only said bitcoin miners have to pay taxes if they mine bitcoins and sell them for US Dollars. The government considers bitcoins a virtual good, basically the equivalent of gold in World of Warcraft. If I "earn" bitcoins online and buy goods with them, the government sees that as bartering virtual goods for other goods. Retailers would still have to pay taxes if they are accepting bitcoins but getting that as USD or whatever their local currency is.

 

[Petra]

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2013/04/30/could-paypal-be-on-horizon-for-bitcoin/

I think this could be a very good thing for bitcoin. It will add a much needed legitimacy and I think it'll be so much easier for people vs. having to wire payments to get bitcoins.

And apparently you can already trade bitcoin for paypal here bitboin.com (use at own risk of course).