Bitcoin isn't suited for everyday transactions currently. For example, buying food, and necessary items. Bitcoin has been described before as not being suitable for micro transactions, and I would tend to agree to some extent. Currently, due to several factors Bitcoin isn't a everyday use currency. This is mainly due to adoption, but also because of the fees associated with purchases if they are of low value.



If you're fine with going through a third party similar to that of Paypal then most places are capable of purchasing from with Bitcoin. Another alternative is going to people on the services section, and asking for users to purchase items via fiat, in return for Bitcoin. Unfortunately, most companies aren't accepting Bitcoin natively, and will be reluctant to accept it for as long as there is a unstable, and unpredictable market. There are other alternatives to Purse that are local specific so if you search your country, and a payment merchant for Bitcoin you'll probably find something.

Usually those that are selling their services for cheap, and claim to be "web developers" are in fact those that download plugins, themes, and publicly available code, and edit it via a nice user interface. Many "web developers" claiming to be Word press experts for an example, but are in fact downloading themes, and just customizing them to the clients specifications. Usually, the specifications are something like "Clean interface, something related to sports". They then go over to one of the numerous marketplaces out there, and purchase a theme for $20 or whatever, and plant that on word press, do a few customization such as editing the title, and filling in the content for the customer, and charging double or even triple the amount. This is just one example. Most good web developers are charging a pretty penny for their services, because there's a lot to consider when developing custom content for a website.

Usually, the customers looking for "web developers" are in fact looking for "web installers", and don't know the difference. Go to any serious company, or individual, and ask for a custom designed website, and you're probably starting off in the hundreds, but most likely will end up in thousands. For projects which I haven't had time to do myself, I've been quoted as high as 100k.

During a pandemic, or any crisis whether that is locally or worldwide I would like to see people banding together, and donating their contributions instead of looking to profit off of it. For example, local stores were increasing the price of their "vital" products, and there were masses of people over buying products, and trying to sell it off. There was an example of this in America where a guy purchased a huge amount of water bottles. I believe in the end all of those were donated, but if I remember the report correctly he was originally planning on profiting off of them.

The same goes for scams. The people who are capable of pulling off scams usually are the people who pray on the weak, and needy. That's why these scammers are successful in what they do. It's an unfortunate fact to admit too, but Bitcoin is no different.

Absolutely, I agree that this is sometimes a good way of preventing people from sending funds. However, I spent a while on the phone to the operator, and they were happy with my answers, and saying that I understand the risk, as well as knowing this company well. They even send they would try, and push the payment through, but it "might fail". Of course, they came back around 60 seconds later, and said that it failed, and I would have to go into the local branch. My concern at the time was either we were going into lockdown or I suspected we were shortly. I understand fraud protection, but I also would like to think going through a long process of verifying who I say I am, as well as accepting the risks of sending to a company that brought up red flags to them, that I would still be able to send it, and accept it if there was any issues with the money.

I have changed banks, not exclusively because of this issue, but for some other concerns too. I managed to get the account switched, and purchase the amount of Bitcoin I wanted without any issues. In fact, the bank transfer cleared within 15 minutes, and the Bitcoins were in my address within the hour.

I think my mentality is shifting, and don't want to be able to deal with most of my funds online as travelling to a local branch is just sometimes not possible especially with time sensitive purchases.  I understand that the protocols that the banks go through such as fraud, stolen funds etc, but that should be able to be done without going to a local branch in a pandemic.

As already mentioned it can give a quick indication of high priority reports. If there's a lot of reports then its more likely to be serious as a lot of users around here don't report every rule breaking post, and instead only report when they think its urgent. Think malicious links, and the usual. We moderators should probably just do CTRL + F, and search commonly used keywords, but generally we take a quick glance, and act on more serious ones first. Some moderators might just do it chronologically. We all have our own different methods, but a unhandled report doesn't mean much at all. I would say that almost all reports which are left unhandled has been seen by at least 2 different staff members.  

Although I do agree that the reporting system could potentially be streamlined, and a few features added here, and there. (I'm thinking along the lines of multiple queues) it generally does the job pretty well.

Although, the OP may be a little biased with their wording. Its a legitimate thing to raise to the community. There's been a rather large movement of coins, which could influence the market. Although, I agree with your suggestion that users should be wary of the motives behind news articles, and other users of the forum when it comes to predictions, and news. Its definitely something that could influence the current price. I also think its a good idea to have discussions on these sort of events for users in the future to look back at, and compare it to their situation. It might help users determine the best approach when large amounts of Bitcoin has been moved.

We've got a mole somewhere ladies, and gents.

Although,  I can see your point there is often many comedians which joke about current events, no doubt COVID-19 has been part of that. I understand that some comedians do get into trouble fairly regular, and British comedian Ricky Gervais comes to mind, however I think sometimes comedians are at their funniest when tackling sensitive topics. The thing is their audience knows its a joke, and most of the time its the news that try, and bury their career.

I'm glad you posted this, I think with Google a lot of people only know about their search engine, and trust them as an authoritative source. So, it would probably be wrong to display incorrect information about COVID-19, and probably jokes would be slightly more distasteful if they were to do it. However, Bitcointalk is a forum about Bitcoin, and cryptocurrencies primarily. People aren't coming here for Cornavirus news, unless it relates to Bitcoin in some way. I think Google should continue doing a april fools, but should probably steer clear of something related to the pandemic. However, I don't think Bitcointalk has the same weight on its shoulders due to it being a forum, and not having the authority or services that Google have to offer when in relation with the current pandemic.

Although, that might be true. If this is a transaction of this volume separate to the normal exchanges volume, and thus being added on top it could effect the price. Although, it definitely isn't guaranteed its a good observation, and should be taking into consideration if you're looking to trade Bitcoin in the next coming days.

Its rumoured to be Bitmex which I haven't confirmed for myself as of yet. However, the general consensus is large amounts of Bitcoin will effect the market. Although, its difficult to predict what trend it might cause. It could equally cause a rise in price, or even a fall in price. There's several others factors that traders have to take into consideration. Just know that this has the potential to cause a little instability in the next few days. 

Bitcoin whales are no different than fiat whales in the sense that they can manipulate the market when they deposit, or withdraw large amounts. It is somewhat unpredictable how much it will effect the market, because it also depends on what else is going on, and more importantly what other investors are doing. Although, I'll admit that a young currency like Bitcoin, and a limited resources currency at that will be more influenced  by whales due to the fact that there's less money in circulation, and I believe a lot of the percent of current circulation coins are owned by whales. Whales dumping isn't always a bad thing though, and can actually encourage others to invest at low prices, and therefore diversify the shares of the total Bitcoin circulated coins.

There's plenty of valid reasons when Bitcoin goes up, and down. Its not random, and is impacted by world events just like any other currency. However, just like other currencies finding out what the actual cause is, and being able to validate claims is almost impossible. Causation is something which is studied in a wide variety of fields, and its uncertainty is no different in Bitcoin. I'll be honest, it seems that you probably don't have a grasp on what the possible causes could be, and making a statement such as "Bitcoin will definitely recover" without actually knowing why that is the case isn't a good idea. You may have faith in others who do know, and that would be totally valid, however Bitcoin like anything in this world isn't guaranteed to recover. Do I think it will? Yeah, but I couldn't put a time frame on it, as we haven't been in this situation before. All world economies are shot, and will be for a while after the current pandemic. Bitcoin halving you could argue will have a positive effect on Bitcoin, and you probably would be right. Although, having said that if the current pandemic is still peaking around the world then we could possibly see Bitcoin drop even further before, and immediately after the halving.

I've changed banks as of yesterday. The banking system I am now with doesn't require my physical attendance with large transactions, however will still need to verify big transactions to prevent fraud, or unauthorized payments going out of my account, which I'm fine with. It wasn't the fact that they checked whether the payment was authorized it was the fact that they seemed against Bitcoin, but also the fact that they required my physical presence in a pandemic where we've been told that non essential travel should be avoided. I have friends within the banking system which are working from home, and only the "essential" within the bank are there physically so I definitely didn't take well to requiring a citizen, and customer to travel when everything had already been verified.

Anyway, I've confirmed that the new bank is at least publicly accepting to Bitcoin, however I'll see if there's any issues next time I'm looking to purchase some. Currently, the accounts are being switched over.

Yeah, most abuse complaints aren't actually replied too, however form my experience they usually take a lot longer to act. I'm wondering whether this is due to your complaint or possibly another one made prior to yours.

Anyone that wants to avoid this happening; bookmark the actual Chipmixer website. I would probably recommend against bookmarking on Tor, but make sure you triple check the website address before sending any amount.

I've tried to stay away from cards that allow you to spend Bitcoin, because I've had the attitude over the last few years of trying to hoard Bitcoin without spending much of it. If I did spend it I would replace it rather quickly with my fiat funds. However, after running into a few issues recently which I've documented in my post history  I'm considering looking to use Bitcoin more like a currency, and less like a investment. I started off Bitcoin using it as a currency, but the potential that Bitcoin had to go up in price I always begrudged spending it at lower value amounts. However, this isn't because I planned to dump Bitcoin back into fiat whenever it reached a certain point, its just the fact I didn't want to spend 0.025 at $100, when later it could be $10,000, and I look back, and regret that decision. So, I've opted in the last few years to make most purchases in fiat, and hoard with Bitcoin until I'm happy with the value. I think this has probably been a mistake, and I'll be looking at cutting out banks for most of my transactions, and only using them for certain things. Mainly, for receiving transactions such as salary, paying bills, and purchasing Bitcoin.

That definitely is number one priority, however when government funding isn't covering their bills, and more importantly they can't feed their family some might opt to get into Bitcoin to try and recuperate their money. Its a risky solution, but will definitely appeal to certain people within the world. Unfortunately, the way the world works is a lot of people will put money before a lot more important things.

I'll be honest during the dip in Bitcoin price I wanted to purchase a large amount before I was blocked by my bank. This was a calculated move, and the pandemic had no effect on the decision in fact it didn't even enter my mind at the time. However, now that I'm thinking about the pandemic, and a potential lock down in my country its got me thinking that maybe keeping my money might have been the best outcome because of local businesses for food will not be accepting Bitcoin. I'm still kind of annoyed that I couldn't purchase it at the time, but these are things that need to be considered, and I'm hoping that not too many people in Italy have done an impulse buy before considering the long term effects that COVID19 could have. I think due to their circumstances (being in lock down), that a lot of people would have been more aware of the effects than myself, and other people from other countries.

Yeah, this isn't exclusive to Bitcoin, and is happening every day with fiat currencies. Not just for the corona pandemic, but also other viruses which have existed before; Think Ebola, and SARS. Most people are somewhat decent, and just tend to wander off the path a little, before finding their path again. No one is perfect, but I don't think that excuses those that are exploiting a pandemic or any other virus for that matter. There are some crimes, and "scummy" behaviour that you can forgive, and give another chance. But, when you are exploiting something as important as health, and robbing people of money when they could need it the most because of the record amount of people out of jobs, this is probably inexcusable.

This is definitely bad news for Bitcoin, but not exclusively. Its bad news for all currencies, and humanity that people will stoop this low in crisis.

Which probably won't be the case. This could happen of course, but I wouldn't say its likely. The fact that hackers were brought into the conclusion also seems to be a huge jump. Unless, the hackers have information on you, then I would argue that a active person is far more susceptible to hacks because of social engineering, and various other attacks. There's a big misconception that there's a huge load of elite hackers out there that can work on practically no information, and hack users accounts. However, this isn't the case as I would argue most "hackers" are script kiddies, and the other hackers would likely attack the platform, and not individual users unless they were high level targets. For example, such as Satoshi's account or email, thus the account here has been deactivated. If we were to expect a large amount of accounts under attack, then it would likely be through a database leak, rather than individual attacks. Individual attacks would take far too long, and might even be impossible.



This has been something that I've questioned, and many others have. For example, people who are infected with the disease, but are dying from cancer are included in their statistics. However, it isn't clear what actually killed them, and they're treating it as a contribution to other diseases because of it putting more strain on the immune system, however in actuality it may have not been a contributing factor at all. The death rate might well be blown up due to these reasons, because it doesn't seem like they're waiting for a autopsy to confirm their conclusions as it seems that the statistics are up dated as soon as someone is positive, and then later died. I'm wondering whether the statistics upon review after this settles down will be greatly misrepresented.

I'm not suggesting Bitcoin can replace fiat currency. What I am suggesting is banking as they exist today is not needed, and alternatives should be sought after. I don't think Bitcoin will dislodge fiat currencies from its perch nor do I think its suited for that purpose. What I do see Bitcoin as it a way for you to control your money without involving any third parties.

Yes, I understand that. They are declining using them as a service to process the order, and theoretically you can use that money for anything else other than cryptocurrency. You sign up to their terms of services, and they have the right to reject any transfer of money that they wish too. However, the point still stands that by doing so, they are a third party which is preventing you to do what you want to do with your money. I'm not suggesting the bank is a bad bank for disallowing the purchase, rather I'm venting my annoyance that this occurred, and I accept the fact that they can do this. I'm not suggesting they're going against their policies, and are scared of Bitcoin, because lets face it they are not.

What I am suggesting is I'll be using banking systems to what is necessary, and not for storing money. I like to be in control of my money, and that includes sending money when I want without hitting road blocks. I have changed banks, just out of principle that I didn't like that they blocked cryptocurrencies not because I think they've done anything wrong, but rather out of spite, because there's no reason why they would need my physical attendance. For example, there are now modern day banks which have no physical locations, and are exclusively digital. That doesn't mean that I'll be putting all my money into Bitcoin either, its likely I'll be keeping a cash reserve in which I can use whenever I need to without going through a bank.

I will be looking for a bank which is cryptocurrency friendly within the UK, but only because its convenient, and not because its my preferred thing to do. For example, paying in cash has a lot of drawbacks as well. My direct criticism on the bank is the fact that we went through everything, and confirmed it. He even said he'll try, and push it through. However, they require my physical presence for what ever reason, despite there being no local branch to me, due to it shutting down a few years ago, and not exactly living next to major cities. Also, the fact that there's a current pandemic going on, and its been declared to avoid non essential travel. These are the reasons why I'm annoyed, and feel out of principle will either have to find another bank due to the obvious convenience that they offer in modern day life, or look at an alternative.  Bitcoin is one of the alternatives, but I'm not stating that its a complete replacement, and can replace fiat currencies. I'm still going to be using fiat currencies, that is clear as my company will not pay in Bitcoin.


I'm using one of the most popular banks in UK, and I know one of the other big banks in the UK doesn't like cryptocurrency through contacts that work for them, and specifically works in the fraud department. This was a somewhat large amount, and I know that's probably why it did get flagged up when combined with the reason "cryptocurrency purchase", because I've paid more than double the amount before without even a phone call. My inner conspiracy nut is telling me this is because they have popular exchanges blacklisted, but that might not be the case, and its just the fact that is was a large amount, and it was deemed for cryptocurrencies. I could have been vague, but I believe being honest is the right approach, and I like to be somewhat up front when asked what I'm buying to the bank.

This is something that I'm going to have to look into. Although, honestly I hate involving third parties when in my mind it is unnecessary, and that might just be a personality flaw on my behalf.

Yeah, I didn't try convincing the customer support on the end of the phone. I just accepted it, and thanked him for his time. I will definitely be looking into different banking. This is an observation that I've made, and might not be totally accurate, but it seems the older the bank the more likely they're to be against cryptocurrency transactions or at least not as welcoming.

There's a lot of users that keep a eye on "high" level profiles on this forum. When I returned to the forum from a period of activity I had several users contact me to provide a signed message from addresses that I had previously posted on the forum. Dating all the way back to 2015.

As for the estimation of the deaths, that would be assuming that the spread of age on the forum is the same as the statistics in other countries. The statistics are chance of death will widely vary due to the fact that Bitcoin, the internet, and cryptocurrencies in general apply to a certain individual, and I would estimate that the younger generation is far more likely to be interested than those that are in their seventies plus. That also brings up the fact that there's likely a lot of programmers, and other users which can work from home, and significantly reduce the chance of getting infected. Unfortunately, due to the varying circumstances you cannot apply the same statistics of the current virus to the forum users.

I would estimate that the majority of accounts that can be hacked, have already been hacked due to the database compromises in 2015. Most active users would have likely changed their credentials or their credentials were already good enough to withstand the attacks that a malicious user could've performed on the hashed data.

I'm definitely going to look into changing banks, because as I mentioned I'm going to need a bank to receive payments from my job. I'll be withdrawing into Bitcoin far more regularly, and will have to find a bank which doesn't prevent me from doing so. I could just stay with the current bank, and use the alternatives you've mentioned, but out of principle I'm not going to do that.

Its annoying, and I'm almost convinced its because it was for cryptocurrency. As I've said previously I've made higher payments to relatively unknown companies unless you're familiar with expeditions. Companies like Jagged Globe, adventure consultants, and mountain madness aren't going to be known to many, but that went through without any issues. I believe the bank likely has a flag for certain exchanges. I used a somewhat popular exchange, and maybe that was my issue. I understand the fraud prevention, and contacting you. However, if you've done everything in your power to confirm your identity, you should be able to send it without physically going to the bank, especially since non essential travel has been issued in my country. Now the Bitcoin price is raising, and I've missed the gap that I identified I'm quite annoyed.

There was also a service which got their private key generation wrong which resulted in private keys being compromised. I can't remember the specifics or whether it was accidental or the server was compromised. At the end of the day, I wouldn't trust anything which relies on connecting to the internet to generate, and wouldn't trust any software that you haven't verified isn't compromised. I wouldn't even trust manually creating a private key with a dice due to the easily made mistakes. Paper wallets are good, but I would probably still rely on using a offline computer to generate those private keys.