...

NO ONE can reliably predict the future, it's just too complicated with too many unknowable factors out there.  Although there ARE many bad distortions in our economy that are visible to those who will look...

One important idea for individuals is to become your own Central Bank!  Diversification, fishez!

-- Gold (silver, platinum)
-- Stocks and bonds
-- Real estate
-- CA$H at home, enough for three - six months if possible
-- Etc.

Stay out of debt too.  Debt in deflation is a killer.

...

People like me (non-experts) probably in the main don't use TOR.  TOR may already be compromised anyway say the conspiracy theorists...  

If you are comfortable just using the "Regular Internet", I have used the mixing services below some 20 times each (and can highly recommend both):

bitmixer.io   (note: do NOT use the likely scammer: bitmixer.info !!)

sharedcoin.com  (may require that you have a blockchain.info wallet)


Follow instructions !!!

...

It's very important to save the Letter of Guarantee that they suggest that you do.   <=== Muy importante!!!

I had an issue with bitmixer.io, but after some back & forth, it was resolved just fine.

I have used them about 20 times now, about five times since my "issue".

I never got the feeling that I was being scammed.

...

I like bitcointalk because everyone here is decent to beginners, and there is a LOT of good information.

I occasionally read reddit's bitcoin items (blockchain.info offers up interesting reddit leads at their home page).  Which actually raises a question:

Why doesn't blockchain.info link to here anymore?

...

I have continued to use all three services in recent days without any problems.  A typical trucoin transaction runs about 5% cost over BTC price, not bad (that 5% might be used up driving over to buy BTC via localbitcoins.com...).  It takes some 90 seconds, fast!, once you are all set up.

With the mixing services, the one thing that is slightly slow (in both cases) are waiting on confirmation...

I can highly recommend all three companies.

===>  Follow instructions carefully...   

...

Mmm.  I don't know (beginner, relatively speaking, myself).  I once had to recover an Identifier to get to my wallet at blockchain.info.

I was able to get it using my 19 word mnemonic.

I am sorry I can't help.

...


threadjack


It's better to be pissed off than pissed on.


/threadjack


And now back to your regular programming on this thread.

...

Beginner BTC, Gold, and Bearing Guy has *just* enough experience with BTC to be dangerous, but I pass along the following comments re the three services.

I had an (one each) "issue" (all of them "operational" in nature) with each of them over the past couple of months or so.

In each case, their people resolved the matter in question for me.  It may be that BTC is "not ready for primetime" (for the masses, I am really a case of being one of the masses as I am no BTC (nor programming) pro -- not at all). 

Nonetheless, each of the below either fixed a glitch or made me whole.  I can recommend them all:

-- trucoin.com  (buying BTC by credit or debit card)

-- bitmixer.io  (mixing coins)

-- sharedcoin.com  (mixing coins)


===>  Follow instructions carefully...   

...

HSBC is possibly the world's sleaziest bank.  They are also one of the relatively few banks who will store "allocated gold" -- that is, gold bars with your name on them (you have the claim on Bar No.  xxxxx, 999 fine, etc.) and you are charged storage.  But, when the push comes to shove, will you get your gold bar?

Corzine "corzined" exactly those customers he was charging for "allocated" gold.  And Corzine still runs free.  Oh yes, he was a bundler for Obama...

* * *

GS is famous for sleaze as well.  ZeroHedge regularly points out that they make money off their "muppets" (their own customers) by giving them bad advice (after they make their own trades, for example, HFT is another example).

Goldman was said to be the main beneficiary of the AIG bailout in 2008/2009...

A real pair of winners.  Run, don't walk if you have money with either.

...

Maloney seems to be a calm, yet authoritative, voice in looking at the underbelly of our financial system.  To date, I have not heard negative things about him.

Were it me (and who asked me?), I would say a reasonable defense against the crooks, yet retaining investments that have performed very well over LONG periods of time, I would suggest the below holdings (will of course vary according to each person's own circumstances and comfort levels):

• 3% - 20% in physical gold (and/or other PMs)
• 1% - 20% in BTC (HIGH risk though)

Add other hard assets (land, guns & lead bullion, etc.) as you wish.

Disclosure: I own both BTC and gold, more is in gold.

...

What I am curious about re the Swiss referendum is whether the Swiss will be forced to buy 1500 tonnes as I believe they will have to do should it pass.  1500 tonnes is lot of gold (48,225,000 oz).

FOFOA has mentioned that it is hard to buy more than, say, 100 tonnes of physical at once.  Even for a Central Bank, buying large amounts of physical is hard.  And look how much trouble Germany is having getting gold back from the FRBNY...

But, if Switzerland were to "buy" their gold via the vaults of the BIS, and NOT demand that the gold leave the BIS, then maybe buying the 1500 tonnes would be more like buying "paper gold" rather than the physical.  The BIS is in Switzerland (Basle) though, so perhaps that might count as gold stored "in Switzerland".

...

Yes, I used them just today.  They notified me by email over the weekend that their service was again available to those who were in their pilot program (which I was in).  I do not know if their service is open (yet) to those who were NOT in the pilot program.

I had a snag: my earlier card expired, and I had to work with them, some back & forth, but they got the snag fixed.  Received my BTC just fine.

...

I used both services (bitmixer.io and sharedcoin.com) today.  Both went just fine.


EDIT: @ KimNam

I tried to visit anonymity.co.in, I could not access the page either.  So, for mixing BTC, I will just stick with the above two services I know and trust.

...

I wrote up the details of my tale of woe at the Scam Accusations discussion, but it probably needs to go here for added visibility.  I just lost ALL the BTC in all wallets at a blockchain.info identifier of mine by going to cryptomsgr.com (um, well, yeah, by thinking that the "perforated B" made them "legit"). 

Very fast, very slick, very dangerous.

Don't fall into the trap I just did.  Beware.

 

...

Ouch, I just lost all I had in a blockchain.info account (identifier number), that would be several wallets.  The amount was enough to hurt, but not enough for me to go the cops (yeah, right...).

Here is a crude Cut & Paste of them at work on the blockchain (transaction hash code first, then bold emphasis mine):

08ad57f2adc764a3e09d30625d355aa063d470ee960096a4572a365ed5dc00ed (New Message (cryptomsgr.com) )

Please do not fall victim like I stupidly did by visiting their website to "try their messaging service", if you enter your identifier and password (ahh, thinking that "perforated B" of blockchain.info's is real...), else you will lose ALL BTC in ALL of your wallets like I just did.  And it happens very fast.

Beware.

*  *  *

Anyone motivated and talented enough to go after these guys, here is what I have (although you can get the same from the above hash code):

cryptomsgr.com

And their two dirty wallets:

1EnfwpztCkSSvkwJqtJNTpfy5XusWmTbPG
12gvwAmVQfJyRqzYE2SC5jKDaZ63d3zQY2

Lots of $0.11 and $0.14 transactions involving above two wallets...

Live and learn.

 

...

I was told just the other day that BTC ATMs are on the way in Miami.

Not just one either...  

 

...

Very nice blog!  Keep us informed!


EDIT:

A member of the Miami Int'l BTC Facebook group just wrote to tell me that BTC ATMs are coming soon to Miami.  Several of them apparently...

...

I have read about the BTC ATMs going into some locations (NYC, Chicago and others), but I have not seen any, nor read of any, ATMs in my city (Miami) yet, nor any thread that discusses where there are BTC ATMs (USA) for easy use...

I also recently read that these ATMs might go over well at international airports (I would think so).

So, I invite everyone to chip in with where there are now BTC ATMs!  More ATMs would likely help the BTC Ecosystem get even stronger.

* * *

A related idea would be how profitable these ATMs are, and whether or not there are onerous regulations ("Know Your Customer", etc.) on Bitcoin ATMs. 

If these ATMs are making money (and I read today that an ATM in London did some 38,000 British Pounds of business), that might jump-start entrepreneurial interest.

...

I have been buying (and mixing) BTC on my own for several months now.  I am still a beginner with no Comp Sci background, learning on my own.  There are few knowledgeable people about Bitcoin where I live.

One of the tools I really like is blockchain.info's Taint Analysis tool.  If I understand correctly, the taint analysis shows how effective the mixing service is in hiding the the originating and receiving wallets.  Which is great, as one of the reasons why BTC is of great interest is that it is relatively easy to gain some privacy.

Some questions:

1)  blockchain.info's service measures a percentage of taint for a LOT of wallets.  What exactly is that?  I already know that a low percentage is best, but what does that number mean (or how is it calculated)?

2)  I have noticed sometimes that the colored bars (next to the sending wallet IDs) sometimes have a number "2" in them.  Does this mean that those (intermediary) wallets were involved in mixing twice (or whatever the number would be)?  I presume that one would want as few repeated wallets as possible...

3)  Does anyone else other than blockchain.info have a free taint analysis tool?

* * *

Re the above, when I receive BTC, I typically mix them by sending them first to bitmixer.io and THEN use blockchain.info's SharedCoin service.  Running both of them in sequence seems to keep the taints very low.  I have used both services some 15 times each, with no problems (other than a glitch at SharedCoin, but I got the problem resolved OK with the help of their support staff).

But, I would be interested in comments on using BOTH services in sequence as well re security & privacy.

Many, many thanks!

...

I have used bitmixer.io some 15 times now, with no problems at all.  I have used a couple of their options (once I ran them with a four hour delay, and twice I have sent them to multiple wallets).  

EDIT: Do as they suggest, save the "Letter of Guarantee page"!  That gives you some evidence to present them if something gets messed-up.

Each time I get BTC I run them through bitmixer (first) as well as blockchain.info's SharedCoin service.  Running both services in sequence like that costs more, but your BTC gets well-hidden with very low taint.

"YMMV"