Bitcoin Forum

Hi I am a newbie and I am still trying to learn the best way to purchase BTC. The Newbie Readme post would have been a perfect start but very unfortunate most of the links are posted back in 2011 and are dead right now.

1. I read posts where the author said exchanges such as Coinbase is not the perfect place to buy BTC because you don't get your private key, which is very important because if the coinbase is hacked, you can lose all your BTC. Can someone confirm this, or you can still transfer the BTC from Coinbase to your offline wallet?
 
2. Lots of people recommend localbitcoins.com as the place to buy bitcoin. But to test my understanding, should I create an offline wallet first, and then trade with sellers in localbitcoins.com?

3. Any safety tips when trading in localbitcoins.com, except only trade with people with good feedback scores and good number of confirmed trades?


Appreciate your help!!!

If you buy bitcoin from coinbase you can obviously move it offline after which it's as safe as your offline wallet is. You can still buy bitcoin from coinbase obviously. Just holding them there might not be the best option.

Yes thats true and there are issues about buying large amount of bitcoins in coinbase,but there are some that still buying btc from coinbase but just a small amount only like $10 and advisible in localbitcoin as what the majority said. But you can buy also btc from trusted guy here in bitcointalk in currency exchange section, but always choose a friendly user to make a transaction with

Even with the private key, is Coinbase gets hacked and there's a bunch of Bitcoin stolen, having a private key won't matter if your Bitcoin was stolen because the hacker would have emptied your account (assuming he got to it). A private key isn't some sort of safety net, it's just another form of ID that confirms what the address is and what the address holds. Having the private key means nothing if you get hacked, unless you transfer your Bitcoin out before then.

Localbitcoins is a relatively decent website, but there can be a lot of scammers and other similar people interested in committing fraud, so you have to be quite careful and watch out for anyone who is aiming to scam you.

Basically check everyone and check every trade they've done, and make sure that they have good scores and feedback that comes from real people. there might be some bots or whoever that are just designed to write a good review and the leave the thing in order to build up a person's reputation, so check the accounts and see if they're doing more than a single exchange.

still the risk coinbase will freeze an account using AML/KYC as a reason.  No site with a AML/KYC policy can be considered safe, they will always have the KYC policy on hand to use to justify holding your bitcoins, freezing ones account regardless of how verified user may be.  To date KYC/AML policies have only ever protected exchanges not users.  Scam exchanges such as Cryptsy, have used AML polcies to steal from users in the past.

I think that buying btc from coinbase is pretty safe, but i have heard many people complain about their services.
Also you need to remember that it is forbidden in some country if im not wrong, in germany and somewhere else too.

I agree with an ending statement, if you doubt for using an exchange service or buying bitcoin from the site may be better for buying from trust member in this place, but in my minds the foreign site always has a problem if in your area is there are a local exchange may be better for visit them.

You are totally right. I googled and confirmed that I can still transfer BTC from my coinbase acct to my personal offline wallet.

FYI: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=938384.0

i think you misunderstood... you shouldnt keep your bitcoins there but you can buy it anywhere you want and then move it.