Bitcoin Forum

Ok, so I want some bitcoin in Australia.

What are my choices? I can meet the local drug dealers on the corner and do a shady deal, or I can provide detailed personal information to some unknown company. I have a credit card account and I can buy $1000 products online anywhere in the world, but I can't buy bitcoin.

Here is the registration questionnaire (https://anxbtc.com/#setting_verification) for ANXBTC bitcoin exchange before I can purchase bitcoin:

 

oh youre talking about personal rather than general  :o

well you can always go to https://localbitcoins.com/instant-bitcoins/ (https://localbitcoins.com/instant-bitcoins/)
And select the city you live in, and maybe there are people near your area who you can meet to buy bitcoins.
Or you open your own australian exhange, to sell people bitcoins easier then the other websites in your country!

Indeed! That's just one particular circumstance! It's better to find someone close to you and ready to sell you some coins.

Hard cheese!

Just use localbitcoins or BTC-e - no personal info required!

Do you object to providing detailed personal information to a well-known company? BTC Markets (https://btcmarkets.net/) verifies your identity through greenID (http://www.greenid.com.au/); BTC Markets never even sees the information you provide to greenID.

If things are hard to get it usually has the opposite effect.

I think OP is trying to say its hard to get mass adoption because it's so hard to buy BTC. I agree with him. In the US it's such a pain to buy for the average joe. They are used to something simple like schwab or Ameritrust or you call your broker and they buy whatever you tell them to do.

bitcoin atms are popping up all over the place. this is the next step for bitcoin adoption.

 "I can meet the local drug dealers on the corner and do a shady deal"

Are you saying that BTC'ers are criminals? ;p

Surely you need to share some degree of personal info with BTC-E or the companies it associates with in order to load your account with funds.

I personally bought on Bittylicious and Localbitcoins. Everything was surprisingly smooth.

Yeah but without registraion as a Money Service Business in the USA and each and every of he 48 states requiring such registration, that service will be useless for USA citizens.

Admittedly, that questionnaire is ridiculous, but there are quite a few other options for you as people have pointed out in this thread. Personally , I wouldn't give that company my business after seeing what information they require. I know that they are just attempting to cover their ass legally speaking, but I still find a company asking that much of a single person offensive.

Hello, ANX (http://bit.ly/anxprobyt) here. May I ask how is our questionnaire ridiculous? They are simple questions. BitStamp will suddenly freeze your funds and require you to complete a longer questionnaire, including how you got your bitcoins and why you are selling them for fiat, or vice-versa.
We'd love to hear your feedback.

Lets say if i were to open an exchange in a country where bitcoins were not available easily.
What would i require for that ?

Regards

Duke

You would need a huge budget, to employ people, educate them about bitcoin and then make them learn what to do.
Seriously, you're much better off using an existing exchange.

While I respect the fact that you need to abide by your local laws I find that in particular the employment, income, source of funds and the nature of activity parts to be invasive personally. It feels like applying for a loan when in fact I would be the one depositing money. I don't blame your company though if these are the KYC/AML regulations that you're required to follow.

Hello,

Thankyou for your response.
Can you give me an example of such an exchange that would give me a sort of franchise or some other deal where we market them locally.
It would be much better than setting up our own exchanges.

Regards

Duke

There are so many ways to get bitcoin.

Signature advertising
Provide services (on this forum), for example write some text, site reviews etc;
Sell products for btc
Sell services for btc
Bitcoin ATM. See http://bitcoinatmmap.com/ (http://bitcoinatmmap.com/)  Shows two ATMs in Australia if you zoom in. In Melbourne and Dunning.
Work for btc (lots of jobs)
Make a website with (bitcoin) ads.
Faucets (gets you some btc, but mostly waste of time)
Meet people on a bitcoin conference, trade there. http://www.btcconference.com.au/ (http://www.btcconference.com.au/)

If you can't find a way to get bit coin you aren't trying very hard.

Grasshopper , where is your imagination..
Simply buy some online good that someone is willing to trade for bitcoin, its as simple as that

cheers

I agree if your in the UK you can buy from bittylicious but selling is always a bit of a pain

Dude, come to continental Europe and I'll put you in touch with some local traders...

Bitcoin is much easier to buy today then it was even a year ago.

LocalBitcoins works fine just be careful with the thrust, buying is a piece of cake, selling is harder i guess.

I think BTC-e still doesnt require any information as far as private information goes, it's just a tip.

BTW, now I wonder what MT.gox did with all the personal info they got, hmm..

It's not that easy for non-eastern europeans to get fiat on BTC-e last time I checked anyway. Is it different now?

As long as you use a non-reversible, tractable payment method to purchase the bitcoin you will be protected by their escrow system.   

No I think OP has a good point for the "average joe". Guys, yes, we can all get bitcoin if we want it but think about your parents, your friends, who don't know anything about bitcoin. They need to be able to buy it with linking their bank account to some online site, and it needs to be 100 percent legit and them do it with a click of the finger.  It is a bit of a hassle to use local bitcoins even IMHO.

Why can't they all simply use a bitcoin ATM? We are somewhat limited as to where you can use a ATM like this but the number of locations are expanding.

Isn't there a newer company that is out there that is supposedly pretty close to Coinbase (but for Australian citizens)?   I can't remember the name of it off the top of my head, but I remember reading about it recently...

It's true.  You can go into Walmart, buy a debit card, load money on it.  Go to Amazon.com (or Walmart.com) and buy anything you want. 

Hell...with the cash, you can buy ANYTHING you want in the US.  ANYTHING.  Of course, not more than $10K, but you can buy TVs, iPads, iPhones, etc etc and then resell them and launder the money anyway...if that is what they don't want you to do.

These people are scumbags (bankers and the one's who think they are overlords).

It's ALL about envy...NOTHING else. 

sadly i think until bitcoin can be acquired directly at your local job, with your wage, there is not faster way to get them besides circle or exchange

when employers will be payed directly with bitcoin, there will be a revolution indeed, but again it is a thing that it will come with a better adoption

Local bitcoins is a good alternative specially if you meet with someone to pay you in cash for the extra privacy, but in general is annoying as hell to deal with exchanges and no one wants to give data to some overseas based exchange, thats why Gemini will be a good hit, it finally solves the buying problem.

I was wondering for anyone in the UK what is the current situation with bitcoin and is it growing over here??

plus how can I help this forum?

It all seems pretty peaceful here to me. The US is a whirlwind of innovation and progression in comparison. There's still very few places to use it.

As for the OP, ATMs make sense but there are so many different types and so many varying levels of personal info rape that they may not be any better than an exchange.

There have been numerous attempts such as zipzap to be able to buy it over the counter at your local store. That all seems very quiet these days.

Some of the Chinese exchanges got around banking restrictions by operating a voucher system to be able to deposit for a while. That's something that I think would work very well.

At most supermarkets these days you can pick up mobile phone credit, itunes and google play vouchers by the checkout. If you could bring that ease to buying BTC it would be a boon.

Definitely true that it's not there yet in terms of easy acquisition of bitcoin. Non-tech people want something simple and clear, not convoluted or involving lots of effort on their part. If BTC doesn't make it as the prime cryptocurrency, or id digital currency doesn't take off at all somehow, then this will be high on the list of reasons why.

In the Netherlands it is extremely easy and fast to buy bitcoins. We have a service called bitonic.nl that uses our local online payment system (ideal) to process the payment. It is like buying something online and the coins get included in the next block!

Here in germany are a lot of sites that sell bitcoins, so here it is also very easy to buy it.
I only go too google and type "buy bitcoins" and the first page i see is full of bitcoin shops and instructions how i buy bitcoins.

I think in australia are also a few shops where you can buy bitcoins very fast and uncomplicated.
And when not, then buy it on a non australian side.

Thankfully you live in Germany and as most Australians know, you can always trust 'the Hun.'

Nix the signature campaign and start talking out of a different orifice and maybe people will take you seriously.

Switch over to LocalBitcoins or cheaper alternatives like 100bit.co.in (http://www.100bit.co.in) and place a little higher than market buy order. Problem solved. No authentication required, no waiting for withdrawal.

to bad no one is using it, i registered there, but then i saw the volume, and i was astonished, there is none essentially, how can we use that service if no one is there


why bothering with local site, you can just buy in any online exchange, i don't think bitcoin need to have local exchange all over the world and in any nation

also i presume they require document for a certain amount

It could take an age to get a deposit into somewhere like Bitstamp from Australia. As ever you're constricted by the old school banking system.

And it can make sense to stay local depending on your country. In Germany bitcoin.de is integrated with Fidor bank so sells and buys are near instant. You don't have to wait for the exchange's bank to talk to the other ones. It's also super fast in the Netherlands.

If you like the "no questions asked", there is belgacoin.be.   There's a serious problem in that they use the exchange rate at an arbitrary moment when your money arrives, but as bitcoin is much stabler now than 6 months ago, this problem is less.
Of course you have to do an international bank transfer from Australia, which can probably take several days.  But you'll get bitcoins.  At an unknown rate, whenever your money arrives.
So if you really want bitcoins, you don't want any questions asked, and you don't mind up or down 10% or so, you can go there.

The easiest is way for me to buy is through local bitcoin meetups...cash in hand, simple transaction!

This.. Using a local online payment method you pay a small fee (site needs to profit), but you get your coins instant without waiting for your funds to clear. Really great services, once you use them, you can't go back..

the easiest should be pay directly in bitcoin, and remove all kind of trouble about taxes and regulation, no one will bother tracking you back, if you are not buying very expensive stuff

we need wave directly payed in bitcoin for this, but someone smart enough can already do it via mining, or if he is early adopter he can use(not dumping, paying directly) his bitocin when they will skyrocket

I find cash transactions not the best way to buy bitcoins. It always incurs a large fees and isn't safe all the time. Its still a pain for me, if I wish to buy bitcoins and I don't feel much safe with buying large amounts off exchanges . So this definitely needs to be solved.


Buy bitcoin with bitcoin How ?

what i mean is via mining or via your salary, if you can find a job that pay you directly in bitcoin(like signature campaign) you are done, you can buy your stuff via all4btc and don't bother with fiat even once

Yes, kind of misunderstood before. You can also use sites which convert your wages to bitcoin immediately as well, so thats another great way to avoid the hassle of buying.

Please sign & share the petition if you haven't already!

https://www.change.org/p/treasury-of-the-australian-government-make-australia-a-bitcoin-friendly-country (https://www.change.org/p/treasury-of-the-australian-government-make-australia-a-bitcoin-friendly-country)

Hello, ANX, just for your information, I am another user that was meaning to buy bitcoins via your service and got scared away when I saw that questionnaire.
Ther's no way I'll put my life in danger by publishing all that information just to buy a few BTC. It's not worth that.

Yes we all know that buying Bitcoins at the moment is still very complicated. But as the industry progresses, I am sure this will change as well. I see a huge progress in buying this year compared to last year. There are more exchanges, more services etc. Let's just give it some time and keep working on it.

I'm appalled that you think this is not ridiculous. I'd use stronger words myself.
It always surprises me that a company is willing to listen to the lawyers so completely, knowing that they will lose such a large fraction of potential customers.

We are, after all, just talking about a simple currency conversion here.

I would take a thick black marker and write "Get Bent" on the application. Then I would mail it back, because that questionnaire is nuts. The law does require exchanges to do AML and KYC compliance, however this goes far beyond what is required. It is also important to understand that the protocol requires no identity at all and this is in no way a bitcoin problem. So if you don't like the legal requirements than YOU must change them. You would be better serving your efforts to send a letter to your elected representatives than writing here. Only YOU can change these laws by voicing your opinion and voting to show you mean it.

I would argue that the days of being able to affect anything of this magnitude by sending letters (even millions of them) are long gone. Even a Snowden, followed by a public outcry against surveillance wasn't enough to put a dent in that.

The only way to effect change is to bypass the problem. Companies affected need to be ignored (as they seem to be already). Users need to choose to use companies that don't bend over so easily, even at some risk. Naturally that isn't gonna happen overnight, but as long as the options remain, I think it will slowly happen.

I agree with you that market force is a great strategy. Seeing money left on the table inspires business to join your efforts. I would never fill out the form in this thread for example. But I don't think it hurts to directly contact law makers. They do listen, even though many things that 80% of the population supports do not happen.

I also think that if you vote, participate, write letters; and still nothing happens... Then you have earned the right to bitch up a storm. If I start with "poor me, the gov is evil" then I seem like a complainer.

I find most exchanges are asking for sensitive information. I agree they need to act within the law and make sure the applicant is genuine but I have reservations about uploading a scan of my passport for example.

Yes, and I own one.  The problem in the US is still purchasing the coins to fill the machine.  Coinbase won't, Kracken can't for my state, Not sure yet about Campbx.

Seriously?
What's the reasoning from coinbase?
Is your atm doing user id and verification?

Have you considered getting coins from coinbase to your own personal wallet first, then to atm?
Or maybe even with a couple extra steps there? I imagine you'd want to play safe with the coinbase account by including the steps to start with, then reducing the effort later.

i know lots of people who have bought it recently and in the past, i never have , though

sign up for banx io exchange or another exchange or trade/buy from someone willing to sell some here on the forum , just be careful.

Of course its hard to buy. Unless you use localbitcoins where you can buy with cash nothing faster.

I don't think so, i see many BTC sellers all around.

In many cases, when exchanges ask all these invasive questions, they are not doing it to interrogate you. I have found the same for banks in many cases. They usually don't *really* care what you put down as long as it's not "illegal activity". They have to ask all these questions for regulatory/KYC reasons. Just so they can say that they asked, in case shit ever hits the fan for them. They're just trying to protect themselves.

It's definitely harder to get a credit card and yet they are used worldwide and on a very large scale.

Bitcoin is going somewhere!

At least it is already changing the world and giving people the notion of how bad government controlled currencies are!

Someone who thinks buying bitcoin is too hard must have a hard life. I guess he'll never buy a car or rent an apartment. Come to think of it, how did he manage to create an account here? That seems way too hard.

maybe you can try to buy bitcoin in other site  :o

i tried to buy bitcoins here a month or so ago online with  CC.

Have to say I never did buy any.

When I seen all the information that they wanted I said no.

They wanted almost a whole life story.

I mean everything.   I have to say it is way easier to buy a car or even a house compared to purchasing BTC.
Which I find to be ridiculous.  They worry about fraud and all these other scams.  Well it happens with other sorta of currency and even prepad debit cards which you can literally lie and some of them activate your card in pretty much any ones name.

The local btc sites I dont really like either.  Most of the time you cant buy the amount you want because they all want to drop a bunch or have a min they will sell.   then you have the online like Feebay purchases which same of the seller charge way more then what they are worth.  And some vendors even require you to take a photo of you holding your ID and send it to them before they will send you your coins.  And then there are even some that state you must be verified and have an active ebay account for more then 90 days.   It is seriously ridiculous.

Even though BTC states that it is decentralized it to a point is not.  With the regulations and such that have been put in place it is still controllable. It all depends on how you look at it.  If you look at the big picture even though it is decentralized the network it is on world wide just makes is a spread out super computer with a large block chain.  In general it is decentralized however it is proving to not be uncontrollable.

OK anyways.

I personally think governments are afraid of this sort of thing simply because they do not have FULL control.  So they do what they can to make it harder.  We need to find a way around it.

For the scammers and such out there.  If you own bitcoins and you dont want someone stealing your shit.  Know how to protect emm.  Dont have your private keys available to everyone and dont give out information and get with a trusted wallet.

I dont know.   This subject kind of annoys me really.

Interesting (and almost relevant) story...
I had a meeting with my financial advisor a couple days ago. This guy handles many people's portfolios and has asked me about bitcoin in the past (even called me once to ask about trading them on an exchange).
On this recent occasion, I steered our conversation to bitcoin and he commented that it was hard to get.
I told him i use localbitcoins a lot, and that there were traders almost everywhere. That shocked him. He wasn't aware that, even in this city where he lives, he was surrounded by traders at his beck and call.

Moral of the story: even those in the financial field with an interest in bitcoin still have very little idea about how to get bitcoin.
They don't automatically think of peer to peer trading, and it needs to be pointed out specifically.

Maybe in Austrilia that happens because in the UK you can buy bitcoins with credit card using coinbase.

Buying Bitcoin is pretty annoying. The best is getting on Bitcoin. Make jobs being on Bitcoin a common thing and Bitcoin will start raising. People just don't care enough to go through buying to use it, they will buy only if they want to treat it like gold, not like an actual currency. It defeats the purpose if everytime you want to buy something you have to first buy Bitcoin and then buy whatever when you could just buy directly with fiat. In most cases you aren't getting any advantages out of doing that. So in my opinion the success of Bitcoin can't come from expecting people is going to exchange their fiat for BTC to buy stuff.

I agree that is is really difficult to buy bitcoin but it is almost impossible to sell bitcoin without compiling with KYC. Services like Coinbase or Circle have to follow the law and ask for verification to all bitcoin buyers that is how the law is. The only way to change that is either to lobby the government and convince them to change the laws or use illegal bitcoin exchanges.

I vote for illegal bitcoin exchanges.  As you know damn well they wont change the law.  They are afraid people will use it for other reason and may lose tax money somewhere.

Do I have to register to buy BTC there? How long does the transaction usually take?

On the other hand don`t you guys think that cryptocurrency field is a little bit unfair? People work whole life and achive nothing while some tricky guys have a real stroke of luck and become a milionaire immediately thanks to crypto..