No. I have never lost a Satoshi. Frankly, the people who I see lose their money here are often meeting the scammers half way.  Just follow a few basic rules and you will be fine.


1. Never "invest" in anything here. I would only consider investing in a licensed and registered business with a business plan and a lawyer for my lawyer to deal with.  If they are not a licensed business then they are not a business.

2. Never loan coins. The only exception for me is a "secured" loan. I would need to hold a car title or the deed to a house, something I could sell for more than the loan principal.

3. Don't get side tracked with crap like alt-coins. First finish your degree in cryptography, then you will see why bitcoin is what you want.

4. Trust no one with your coins or private keys. Trusting no one is at the very core of Bitcoin.

I am looking for a stainless steel Remington 700 action and bolt. A left hand short is action preferred.  I am building a new F-class gun and need only the action, but will consider a whole gun. I may also look at other bench / F-class guns.

LOL, I think that is actually a different one. I thought what I saw was in English.
Her neyse, Türkiye'de Bitcoin görmek güzel. Ben Galata'da bir daire tutmak için kullanılır.

Yes, thank you Bruce. You served during a crazy time and I know you put up with a lot of B.S. Thanks!

For what it's worth, I have used them and had no issues. I like that you can easily fund your account with a cashiers check. It's relatively fast and cheap. But it's been a while since I traded there.

SIDE NOTE: You guys are reminding me of a funny thing that happened a few years back. A reporter on some morning show was doing a thing on bitcoin and she had been given a paper wallet for the story. She opened it up and proudly showed the QR code to the camera. Look, this is worth $100, she exclaimed! Of course she was showing the QR for the private key and some quick thinker scanned it and moved the BTC immediately. She seemed very confused about how someone just robed her.

There is also the problem of the operating system. In the DPRK all computers are supposed to run "red star", which is a closed source Linux distro that spies on everyone for the DPRK government.

Last I checked, newegg and tiger direct both took bitcoin and have a full selection of Macbooks.


http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=mackbook+pro&N=-1&isNodeId=1

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/search.asp?keywords=macbook+pro

also Overstock

http://www.overstock.com/search?keywords=macbook+pro&taxonomy=sto2&ralt=sto33,sto3,dep473&TID=AR:TRUE&searchtype=Header

So the guy who anonymously published bitcoin as an open source project now wants to patent it?

Ok. 

Selling stuff is perhaps the easiest way. What do you have that you will part with at a bargain price? There are also online tasks like translating that may help. But I would give up on the options you listed. If you wanted any other type of money you would not even consider these things. For example would you take a job working all day to earn $1? That is what a faucet is. If you wanted gold would you try mining it? That what mining is like now, it involves a huge investment in equipment. Or if you needed a $1000 would you expect to get that from gambling, a system in which it is  guaranteed that the odds are against you?

It always cracks me up that we try a pole to answer a question like this. What good is a pole? Because a pole is how we determined that the Earth is flat? 

I am hoping for a pop and fall to $600. We seem heated up with speculation. Let's break $800 in August or September when we have a valuation based more on utility.

Why would you make it more difficult to buy a perfectly legal item? I have bought several guns for bitcoin and there is nothing sketchy about it. I still have to pay to have it shipped to a licensed firearms dealer in my state, I still have to submit fingerprints and have a background check, I still have  the stupid waiting period, on and on. People who talk about how there are no gun laws have no idea what they are saying.

Here is a good place to buy guns for bitcoin. ( http://shop.centraltexasgunworks.com/ )
They are a full service gun shop and can get most anything.

I'm a teacher also and use BTC to help explain economics. But please, we are "required" to death. 

My advice is to substitute the word money for bitcoin. So the question is "how can I earn MONEY"?

1. Sell something
Think about an online garage sale. What are you willing to sell at a low price? Perhaps something you want less than others. Or you could make fishing lures, fancy shirt buttons. Someone needs those things.

2. do some kind of work
What can you do online? For example maybe you speak more than one language and can translate. Or if you code you could fix someones website. It could be that someone in your city needs help in real life and you could arrange something.

The main point is that bitcoin is just money and most economic rules apply to all forms of money.

I'm trying to honeypot that F#@^er !  

Or maybe do both in case he/she has any photoshop skilz?

EDIT: Here is an explanation for Linux users. Every user should at least know how.
https://www.unixmen.com/steganography-in-ubuntu-hide-your-files-inside-an-image/

It may also matter where you live. BTC is of course global and in many countries there are few options for holding or diversifying your wealth. There are also failing currencies that are even less safe than bitcoin's volatility. So it could be a safe haven for some.

Oh watermarking. Sure why not. In fact going to full "sego" (steganography) likely would not even be noticed. I like it!

Whale or minnow, complaining makes little sense if you are gambling. When you lose it means that the most likely outcome happened. A loss should be expected.

Good points both!
It is true that I am exposed at an exchange because they must receive and hold fiat until I buy. And there is the paradox of having to give your identity to meet the legal requirements for obtaining *anonymous money.  You could go with a shady exchange that does not do AML/KYC. However then you are putting your trust in criminals. I don't have a great solution for this. I try minimizing the time I keep a balance at an exchange. I send fiat, buy coins, then withdraw ASAP. When it comes to purchases I simply would not patronize most businesses that require my identity to buy something. Sometimes I have had to, for example when buying firearms, but most places I have bought from don't care who you are when paying with cash or bitcoin. I mean, they have been paid. What difference does it make who paid?

*I know, I know.