Bitcoin Forum

Other => Beginners & Help => Topic started by: GGGGG on February 05, 2013, 02:52:27 AM



Title: Small actions can see real effects
Post by: GGGGG on February 05, 2013, 02:52:27 AM
Since this is my first post on Bitcointalk, I'll make it a bit of a self-introduction as well. I am an American citizen living overseas in Beijing, China. As most of you probably know, the internet here is censored somewhat and most expats and tech-savvy Chinese people use VPN services to bypass "The Great Firewall of China."

I'm new to bitcoin, as well. I have been interested in it for several years, since I first heard about it, but only in the last couple weeks did I start really learning more about it and getting my hands on some BTC of my own.

I decided to contact my VPN provider, Astrill, asking them when it would be possible for me to pay using Bitcoin. They responded:

Quote
You can pay with Bitcoin right now. We can manually generate Bitcoin address for you. Please generate an invoice first, or tell us what you want to purchase and we will generate invoice for you.

Best regards,
Astrill Technical Support

I wrote back:

Quote
Thanks, I currently have several months left that I have pre-paid for, but when the time on that is up I will definitely be paying with Bitcoin! The Bitcoin community can bring a lot of extra business, it might not be a bad idea to make Bitcoin one of the standard payment methods when checking out.

There's a startup called BitPay which handles Bitcoin transactions for websites and businesses... users can pay with Bitcoin and your business receives the USD equivalent.

This morning I received another email from them:

Quote
Hello GGGGG,

We have successfully integrated BitCoin payment method via BitPay.com. It has been tested, and it's live now.


Best regards,
Astrill Technical Support

That went a lot better than I expected! Bitcoiners, seriously consider spending a couple minutes once in a while writing to businesses that you know and use, and let them know that there IS a market for BTC. Even if they don't integrate right away (like Astrill did), it will make merchants more aware of alternate payment systems and that there are people out there who would prefer to pay by bitcoin.

Thank you for reading.


Title: Re: Small actions can see real effects
Post by: 01BTC10 on February 05, 2013, 03:04:15 AM
Great now they only need to update bottom right of their front page!


Title: Re: Small actions can see real effects
Post by: John (John K.) on February 05, 2013, 03:07:37 AM
Awesome!  ;D


Title: Re: Small actions can see real effects
Post by: rudrigorc2 on February 05, 2013, 07:12:09 AM
Welcome aboard, GGGGG

I heard the news and was excited to have a try:

http://imageshack.us/scaled/thumb/703/astrill1.png (http://imageshack.us/a/img703/74/astrill1.png)
Still nothing on first page but these are the options when you are about to pay your invoice.

http://imageshack.us/scaled/thumb/560/astrill2.png (http://imageshack.us/a/img560/2893/astrill2.png)
Heres the payment address.

http://imageshack.us/scaled/thumb/338/astrill3.png (http://imageshack.us/a/img338/4659/astrill3.png)
After the first confirmation: it's done. Simple. I paid 6 months. The only personal data I had to provide was my mobile number.



Title: Re: Small actions can see real effects
Post by: GGGGG on February 05, 2013, 07:22:11 AM
Thanks, Rudrigo :)

I have a question... did you blur out the smaller decimals in the amount of BTC spent because knowing the transaction amount could be used to find your exact transaction? Is this a security measure I should take in the future?


Title: Re: Small actions can see real effects
Post by: Gabi on February 05, 2013, 03:34:00 PM
Wow, nice!  :D


Title: Re: Small actions can see real effects
Post by: Parazyd on February 05, 2013, 03:38:43 PM
Nice read.


Title: Re: Small actions can see real effects
Post by: memvola on February 05, 2013, 03:50:23 PM
Is this a security measure I should take in the future?

Yes. Since we roughly know the transaction time, knowing even a few decimal places would make it possible to track the transaction. It's best to reveal as little as you can.


Title: Re: Small actions can see real effects
Post by: GGGGG on February 06, 2013, 02:24:13 AM
Is this a security measure I should take in the future?

Yes. Since we roughly know the transaction time, knowing even a few decimal places would make it possible to track the transaction. It's best to reveal as little as you can.


Thanks, I'm glad to know this bit of info :)


Title: Re: Small actions can see real effects
Post by: realityfalacy on February 06, 2013, 05:00:14 PM
I cant believe i just got involved with bit coin this stuff is pretty amazing