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Bitcoin - Let's learn together.

by Joe Mobley
25 replies
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Originally Posted by sbucciarel View Post

I've always been somewhat interested, but also as I know practically nothing about how to acquire, store, spend and turn into cash,
I'm only 2 sentences ahead of you in the bitcoin book. (As in not even a whole chapter.)

Originally Posted by sbucciarel View Post

a little leery of them.
A very respectable position to start with.


Joe Mobley
  • Profile picture of the author Joe Mobley
    This is the Bitcoin sub-reddit forum I follow.

    Bitcoin


    Joe Mobley
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    Follow Me on Twitter: @daVinciJoe
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
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    There seems to be a lot of information on getting started with Bitcoins at
    https://bitcoin.org/en/getting-started
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
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    The first thing you'll need is a Bitcoin wallet, my advice is use MultiBit HD.

    MultiBit HD is simply a small software application that runs on your computer.

    After you download & install MB (Multibit) you'll be prompted to create a password.

    Once MB is installed & setup you're reading to make transactions for either sending or receiving BC (Bitcoin).

    When you send or receive BC it's usually in fractions of a BC, example, If someone sent you $17 in BC at todays BC price that would be approx. 0.06 Bitcoin. The MB wallet/software allows you to setup for your own currency & shows both BC & converts to your local currency so it's easy to understand the value of what's inside your wallet or whatever amount you want to send.

    Once you have some BCs, you can literally send yourself fractions of whatever amount/value is inside of one of your wallets on MB, again, you can create unlimited wallets. Example, If I had $1 in bitcoin, I could send myself $0.17 worth of BC to another wallet. This makes it very easy for learning how to send/receive BC & helps while learning how to create/manage wallets inside MB.

    There's also exchanges like was being discussed on the other OT forum thread. You can buy BCs at Coinbase.com but it's probably going to take a week for whatever verification they do.

    If you know someone that already has BC they can send you a small amount that you can use for testing & learning how to use the MB wallet application. After a few test transactions then work your way up to larger amounts as you get comfortable. It's all really easy to use after you learn how to create & use wallets.

    Joe & sbucciarel PM after you get your MB wallet installed/setup. I'll get you started.
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
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    Ok ... I set up a Wallet. How would I put a payment button on a sale item for Bitcoins. I see the wallet and the request bitcoins thingy or send bitcoins, but not sure how to turn that into a button to receive a payment by bitcoins.
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    • Profile picture of the author yukon
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      Originally Posted by sbucciarel View Post

      Ok ... I set up a Wallet. How would I put a payment button on a sale item for Bitcoins. I see the wallet and the request bitcoins thingy or send bitcoins, but not sure how to turn that into a button to receive a payment by bitcoins.
      The way Bitocin works is you create a request for whatever amount you want/need. Multibit HD will create a real long string of random numbers/letters. That's the number you send to whoever owes you Bitcoin, it's called a public key. You can send the key via email, text or whatever...

      Inside MultiBit, make a request for funds...





      After you click the Request button the right side of the screen you'll get a popup window like below, fill in the amount & a note so you can stay organized later on. Copy the long string of numbers/letters, that's the public key. Send/paste the public key via email or whatever to whoever is supposed to send you Bitcoins.














      Sending Bitcoin is about the same process in Multibit only you'll click the Send button on left of the 1st screenshot above. While sending Bitcoin you'll paste in the private key number (on the Multibit Request text box) the other person sent you, like the example above for sending a request.

      Make sure you double check the amount you're trying send because once it's sent to someone else it's gone forever, there's no refunds like Paypal. Once it's sent, it's a done deal.
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
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    Something else you need to be careful with If someone else is sending you Bitcoin. The way bitcoin is setup there's a block-chain that helps verify transactions are completed. The screenshot below shows the transaction Status is 50% completed. It usually takes a few minutes for the small green Status circle to be 100%.

    Do not assume a transaction has completed until the green Status circle is at 100% because someone could double spend. This is nothing to be paranoid about, just make sure the transaction is complete.







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    • Profile picture of the author Joe Mobley
      Oh joy!

      yukon (Yukon?), good to his word has sent 0.61679 mB or $0.17 to my Bitcoin wallet.


      Joe Mobley
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      • Profile picture of the author Joe Mobley
        I have Evernote open and am writing questions and ideas as they pop into my head.

        #More than 1 wallet?
        Mycelium on tablet, MultiBit HD on Windows and Linux.
        - Can I "see" my bitcoins from each wallet?
        - Can I move bitcoins from one wallet to another?
        - Can I buy and sell from each wallet?

        #Buy and Sell buttons for websites and email.

        #Security Issues.

        #How to use bitcoins? Spend. Turn into money. Etc.


        #Multibit HD
        - Wallet in a Truecrypt / Dropbox drive?
        --> Encrypted backup on drive M:


        #Can other people see my B if they have my 13nxxxxxxxxGDP code?


        Joe Mobley
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        • Profile picture of the author yukon
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          Originally Posted by Joe Mobley View Post

          I have Evernote open and am writing questions and ideas as they pop into my head.

          #More than 1 wallet?
          Mycelium on tablet, MultiBit HD on Windows and Linux.
          - Can I "see" my bitcoins from each wallet?
          - Can I move bitcoins from one wallet to another?
          - Can I buy and sell from each wallet?

          #Buy and Sell buttons for websites and email.

          #Security Issues.

          #How to use bitcoins? Spend. Turn into money. Etc.


          #Multibit HD
          - Wallet in a Truecrypt / Dropbox drive?
          --> Encrypted backup on drive M:


          #Can other people see my B if they have my 13nxxxxxxxxGDP code?


          Joe Mobley
          I've only tried Multibit HD on Windows. Like I said before, you can create as many wallets in Multibit that you want & send yourself bitcoins. Your balance stays the same but it still goes through the full transaction (sent, receiving, pending....).

          I haven't tried anything like Buy it Now buttons on websites. I know Wordpress has some related plugins (example) but I have no idea how reliable they are since I haven't tested them. Maybe test with a bunch of extremely small transactions like 20 $0.01 transactions just to see how a plugin works.

          Browse coindesk.com for more info on buying things with Bitcoin. Keep in mind that gift cards alone cover a HUGE variety of online & offline stores/products/services.

          Security is always a concern just like a credit/debit card or bank account PIN. Don't share any info. besides the public key (deposit number).
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          • Profile picture of the author Joe Mobley
            If I might ask, how did you get your initial money into your wallet?


            Joe Mobley
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      • Profile picture of the author yukon
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        Originally Posted by Joe Mobley View Post

        Oh joy!

        yukon (Yukon?), good to his word has sent 0.61679 mB or $0.17 to my Bitcoin wallet.


        Joe Mobley
        It's not much but it's way more than enough to allow you to send yourself test transactions back & forth between your own wallets to get familiar with how all this works. You could send 17 $0.01 transactions to yourself If you wanted & then do it all over again, & again... No transaction fees.

        Really, after a few transactions it's even more simple than Paypal.
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
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    Just so everyone knows, the price of Bitcoin fluctuates non-stop. Nothing to be scared of just understand Bitcoin isn't a fixed value/price.

    By comparison, the value of the US dollar also fluctuates non-stop.
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    • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
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      Originally Posted by yukon View Post

      Just so everyone knows, the price of Bitcoin fluctuates non-stop. Nothing to be scared of just understand Bitcoin isn't a fixed value/price.

      By comparison, the value of the US dollar also fluctuates non-stop.
      I see when you request a payment, you have to fill out the dollar amount you want. How do people set up donation links that the sender can send any amount?
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
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    I saw Mycelium for Android also and wondered if sending bitcoins via mobile and receiving them is safe.
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    • Profile picture of the author yukon
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      Originally Posted by sbucciarel View Post

      I see when you request a payment, you have to fill out the dollar amount you want. How do people set up donation links that the sender can send any amount?
      Originally Posted by sbucciarel View Post

      I saw Mycelium for Android also and wondered if sending bitcoins via mobile and receiving them is safe.
      All they need is a public key (the long numbers/letters).

      You can also generate a QR code/image directly inside Multibit HD, it's the little button next to the copy text button when you generate a public key for requesting Bitcoin. Click that QR image copy button (actual copy button is inside the QR code popup window), then go to Microsoft Paint & paste the image inside MS Paint & Save to your desktop. Next upload the QR code/image to your website, traffic can grab the image with their mobile phone. That way there's no middle man software charging fees or making it overly complicated, it's a simple QR code that's already common on the web.

      You can create as many public keys as you want for however many different projects you have to keep things organized. Don't forget to add notes inside Multibit when generating public keys, that also helps stay organized.
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
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    LMAO,

    Ok, who went & created a new Bitcoin WSO in the free forum?

    Hilarious!

    New profile & posted today...

    It's probably everything in this thread word for word.

    He probably doesn't even accept Bitcoin, ha, ha.
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    • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
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      Originally Posted by yukon View Post

      LMAO,

      Ok, who went & created a new Bitcoin WSO in the free forum?

      Hilarious!

      New profile & posted today...

      It's probably everything in this thread word for word.

      He probably doesn't even accept Bitcoin, ha, ha.

      That's hilarious. Like I would buy anything from a 5-minute member with 2 whole posts. lol.
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      • Profile picture of the author yukon
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        Originally Posted by sbucciarel View Post

        That's hilarious. Like I would buy anything from a 5-minute member with 2 whole posts. lol.
        Lol, no refunds happening there.

        The 2nd post (Reserved for FAQ) on the BSO is awesome. It's gonna be HUGE!

        Seriously, anything Bitcoin related is on the net for free via Google search. The only thing complicated is figuring out how to setup the first wallet, after that it's the same process over & over...
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  • Profile picture of the author Robert Michael
    Hi all, haven't seen anyone go into too much detail about how to accept payments via BTC so I figured I would chime in on a few things.

    MultiBit is a decent wallet, but I personally prefer Electrum. Really easy to use, lightweight (uses SPV, doesn't need to download entire blockchain, etc) and is extremely user friendly.

    Now, say you have a product that you want to sell for BTC, but you want to place an actual buy button and checkout process on your website (that way you don't have to keep generating new receiving addresses for each buyer and sending it to them manually to receive your payments.)

    Go to CoinPayments.net and set up your merchant/vendor account there. Not only can you now accept BTC, but you can accept basically every single cryptocurrency there is. They have a ton of supported coins that buyers can use.

    They also have a feedback system so your buyers can leave you feedback for their purchases. Hope this helps

    -----

    OH shit, one more thing - SECURING YOUR COINS!

    Your wallet is only as secure as you make it - if you are using a hot wallet your coins are technically always at risk, especially if you are not using 2-factor authorization and you do not have your wallet encrypted with a good secure password. Use special characters, use numbers, use salt, etc.

    The ONLY 100000% secure wallet is a cold wallet (not online)

    And always, ALWAYS be sure to back up your wallet and keep it on a different device. Whether it be a CD, a USB stick, SD card, paper wallet, whatever. Just ALWAYS make sure you have a backup and that you keep it up to date.

    I backup the wallet every time I send or receive a payment, since your wallet does NOT store your coins - it merely stores your addresses and private keys.

    Say you have 1 btc, but you need to send 0.0004 BTC to someone.

    It sends that ENTIRE 1 BTC out, and returns the unused portion to yourself to a "change" address. This is why it is important to always backup your wallet after any transaction just to be safe.
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
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    Before I forget...

    You can also install Multibit HD on a USB thumb drive so the application/wallet is portable or completely isolated from the web, like for long term storage If needed.
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  • Profile picture of the author Robert Michael
    Oh - also, sorry for the double post, but I noticed someone in a previous comment said that they sent 17 cents to another user so they can do test transactions and stuff.

    Keep in mind that each transaction requires a miner's fee if you want the transaction to be included in the next block when it is mined. The higher the fee (reward for the miners) the faster your transaction will be completed. If you do not include ANY miner's fee / TX fee, then you can find yourself waiting for hours just for a single confirmation.

    Lastly, if anyone else needs a little BTC to get started, just shoot me a PM with your address and I'll send over a tiny bit.
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    • Profile picture of the author yukon
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      Originally Posted by Robert Michael View Post

      Oh - also, sorry for the double post, but I noticed someone in a previous comment said that they sent 17 cents to another user so they can do test transactions and stuff.

      Keep in mind that each transaction requires a miner's fee if you want the transaction to be included in the next block when it is mined. The higher the fee (reward for the miners) the faster your transaction will be completed. If you do not include ANY miner's fee / TX fee, then you can find yourself waiting for hours just for a single confirmation.
      Everything I've tried is completed in maybe 15-20 minutes.

      I'll wait, I'm not in that big of a hurry.
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
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    One more thing...

    I'm leery of leaving Bitcoins in online wallets (3rd party). There's new businesses starting & failing daily, I'd rather keep it as peer-to-peer as possible & skip a middle man If at all possible.
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    • Profile picture of the author Robert Michael
      Originally Posted by yukon View Post

      One more thing...

      I'm leery of leaving Bitcoins in online wallets (3rd party). There's new businesses starting & failing daily, I'd rather keep it as peer-to-peer as possible & skip a middle man If at all possible.
      Yep! NEVER store any coins on an exchange or an online wallet that you aren't prepared to lose.

      Remember - if you don't have your private keys, you don't have your coins.. which puts you at risk if any exchange or online wallet service gets compromised (which happens all the time - MtGox, anyone?)
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    • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
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      Originally Posted by yukon View Post

      One more thing...

      I'm leery of leaving Bitcoins in online wallets (3rd party). There's new businesses starting & failing daily, I'd rather keep it as peer-to-peer as possible & skip a middle man If at all possible.
      Yeah, I wouldn't want to store any real amount of bitcoins in an online wallet. I'm also a bit leery of the Android apps and storing and buying and selling from my mobile.
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