Bitcoin Forum

Hi everyone, I'm new to bitcoins, mining, and trading.  I live in Orange County California and I'm a software engineer.  Bitcoins are very interesting and I'm here to learn more.  Send me a message if you are in my area or want to chat about bitcoins...

David

Hello, and welcome to the forums! Also, you should read https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=177133.0

Hello David,

I'm also just getting into bitcoins -- Unless you plan on mining, the only way to obtain bitcoins is to purchase them or to spend tons of time on bitcoin "faucets". I spent about 3-4 hours on 20 different fountains in order to get 0.000055 BTC which is ~equal to $0.04.

After doing some research I signed up for accounts at these exchanges: coinbase.com and campbx.com. It takes a few days to get verified, so I recommend setting up your accounts now and enabling two factor authentication. In addition to exchanging USD -> BTC and visa versa, coinbase also has an app that acts as a bitcoin wallet and lets you send and receive bitcoins on-the-go and even pay with BTC at participating vendors.

You can also skip the 0.55% commission by trading bitcoins in person at localbitcoins.com.

This wiki is also very helpful. https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Main_Page

AAAAAhhh i want a BIKE from OCC ;)
Kidding...too expensive
Welcome !

Edit: These Faucets really don't bring a lot but, there are 1 or 2 i really like.
The best (by far) in my opinion is here
http://freebitco.in/?r=8885 (http://freebitco.in/?r=8885)
Pays always on time and you can win a bit more, if you are lucky.

Have fun

your very much well welcome.
feel free to make here your home.

Hi guys,

  I may try trading, will probably avoid faucets (not much free time), and will consider mining.  I'm doing the math on a 60Gh/s miner and it looks interesting...

David

Like what wc4482 mentioned, I wanted to add my experiences with coinbase.  They do charge quite a bit more if you are comparing to btc-e but so far they have been pretty good.  You can start buying fairly quickly if you authenticate your bank account online (I hear some can do that).  I have now also progressed to a point where I can buy btc instantly but only 1 per day.

I still have to look at all the exchanges.  I spent a few minutes looking at mtgox.com and one thing threw me off right away.  They show the volume (in BTC) at the top of their page, and after a few minutes, the number decreases!!  That is very odd, I think the volume should only increase. I wonder if it is just a bug with their web page.

I have noticed that the prices vary a lot on the exchanges so maybe some money could be made via arbitrage...

David

I had a transaction from them that stayed in pending state for almost a week.

PS: He is a software engineer, he shouldn't have problems noticing the referer in your link ;D

Welcome to Bitcoin Dave!

Seeing that you are a software engineer, have you thought about contributing software to bitcoin-related projects yet?

PM me if you're interested in discussing ideas.

mtgox is not necessarily US Citizen friendly - since it's based over seas you most likely must pay a hefty international wire transfer fee to fund your account. There may be another way to figure out funding MtGox, but after looking at reviews I kept reading peoples troubles with transfer delays and large price fluctuations when compared to other exchanges. Keep in mind MtGox has the highest volume and shows up towards the top in Google search results, therefore most journalists/non-bitcoin aficionados will quote the Mt.Gox price.
tl;dr useful for information, but not for exchange if located in USA.

The other two sites I mentioned are Coinbase lets you fund your account using an ACH bank transfer, and has reasonable fees. Camp BX lets you fund your account with a personal check (if verified) or an USPS Money Order (send up to $500 USD for ~$1.50 in fees). Also Camp BX is going to be turning on ACH Deposits this month.

This might help: http://howdoyoubuybitcoins.com/in/united-states/

One question related to this website...  How do I see the threads I have participated in if there are no new posts to those threads?  My watchlist only shows threads that have unread posts, but what if I want to go back and read something in a thread where there is nothing new...

Welcome to the forum, David!

If you go to your Watchlist and click on 'Edit Watchlist', you should see topics that you've posted or replied to. I use it to look back on topics I've started. Occasionally, I have prune the list to keep it from becoming too large.

This may not be the best way (I'm not certain), but it's how I view my topics. If you discover a better method, please let me know.

Best wishes!

Welcome from another newbie David!

Orange County Choppers!  8)

Hi all!

I am new as well. I 've had heard about the bitcoin about half a year ago, but i bought my first share 4 days ago.

I am still trying to gain more knowledge about the bitcoin, but also the litcoins and other altcoins.

Hope to have a good time up here!

Max

Hi and welcome. I'm also new to Bitcoins. I'm waiting to get verified on bitstamp to buy my first bitcoin :)

Not even new! But never posted here. I'm just wining about my about 500 BTC I had and sold them for 0,05 $....

Hi and welcome. I'm also new to Bitcoins.

Why on Earth would someone sell 500 something for virtually nothing?!?!?
And those 500 didnt even need to drink or eat...
A great Joke!  :D