About to buy my 1st Bitcoin

[Dissonance]

Just in case you haven't understood with all the posts above, it is not safe to leave your coins on Coinbase.

You should transfer your funds to a wallet where you and you alone control the private keys.

Guys is alot safer for a new user to leave it on coinbase then expect him to download the blockchain himself , secure it himself and backup his private keys himself. Unless OP is an IT guy (I don't know if he is) Coinbase is going to do a better job in the security department.  Coinbase is about as secure as it gets when it comes to free online hosting.  OP make sure you enable 2 factor authentication and you'll be fine.

[Wapinter]

Keeping just 1 btc and spending rest doesn't sound a good idea to me.If I were you I would have placed all my bitcoins in my wallet as prescribed here my other members and wait for at least 10 years to grow them in value.That,to me,is the best option if you have some bitcoins

[Blue_Tiger73]

You should definitely download a Bitcoin wallet. A online wallet is definitely more convenient, but much less safe. Make sure you don't lose your password or you will hate yourself. I would also invest in more than just 1 Bitcoin, but really, it is up to you what you want to do.

[calkob]

Just in case you haven't understood with all the posts above, it is not safe to leave your coins on Coinbase.

You should transfer your funds to a wallet where you and you alone control the private keys.

Guys is alot safer for a new user to leave it on coinbase then expect him to download the blockchain himself , secure it himself and backup his private keys himself.

Totally agree with the comment on downloading the entire blockchain, for a noob that is just stupid advise.  However not so sure on leaving it with coinbase.  If he has came this far to have actually purchased BTC  then he should really learn the fundementals on basic security and that is "if you dont hold the private keys you dont own the bitcoin" 

lets face it coinbase is like a bank what you see on the screen when logged in is an IOU.  Now i am sure that the guys at coinbase have the best intentions but like banks when they are given to much control sometimes things get bad, as we all have seen over the last few years with the banks.

A simple paper wallet as i have already said would sufice and he can even stick a password on it if he wants, and its completly offline unhackable.

 

[Snorek]

Just in case you haven't understood with all the posts above, it is not safe to leave your coins on Coinbase.

You should transfer your funds to a wallet where you and you alone control the private keys.

Guys is alot safer for a new user to leave it on coinbase then expect him to download the blockchain himself , secure it himself and backup his private keys himself. Unless OP is an IT guy (I don't know if he is) Coinbase is going to do a better job in the security department.  Coinbase is about as secure as it gets when it comes to free online hosting.  OP make sure you enable 2 factor authentication and you'll be fine.

I concur. Keeping 1 Bitcoin in online wallet is ok for a total newbie like Op. He will learn over time about better option for storing his bitcoins. But I don't think you need to have IT background to be able to understand basics of bitcoin storage. Software wallets are pretty easy to use even without technical knowledge. You can copy your your wallet data with no problems with any of them.

[Invulner]

Good luck on your purchase.... Do whatever you want with it. Buy something. Don't gamble it away on useless dice sites.

[yenxz]

Coinbase is safe,you can put your bitcoin there, and if you want try your first trade,just wait for bitcoin price higher than you buy first,and then sell your bitcoin,or you can use it for any payment.

[icezer0z]

Safest thing to do with a bitcoin, especially if you are keeping 1BTC for 5-10yrs, is cold storage.

Like I said, its the safest thing to do IF you can actually put your cold storage (piece of paper with a QR code and BTC address on it, backed by encryption (password)) somewhere safe.

EX:
> Safe at home
> Bank, Safety Deposit Box

This will allow no security threats via WAN or internet.

Coinbase is secure but for the user , YOU, it can become 'hacked' at any given time and you can lose your BTC. It has not happened yet and I hope to God that it does not.  Just to make you aware it can happen.

Another easier method would to be putting your BTC on a local machine at home or on your phone.  That can be done by downloading a wallet and making an encrypted backup and uploading the backup to a Flash Drive, Cloud (can become compromised), Printout of QR Code.

MAKE BACKUPS!! Cannot stress this enough!

Hope this helps

[cryptoclone.com]

Learn about bitcoin/altcoin trading as well as arbitrage trading, there are many useful tools out there that will allow you to make a lot of profit by these methods, and before you know it you will have 10 bitcoins instead of only 1!

[Altynbekova]

Learn about bitcoin/altcoin trading as well as arbitrage trading, there are many useful tools out there that will allow you to make a lot of profit by these methods, and before you know it you will have 10 bitcoins instead of only 1!

Yeah very true if I was you I will do this what cryptoclone.com said.

Or research more about bitcoin the use with it. 

1 bitcoin is good to have, but having more is better so just learn how to trade and that stuff so that you will get more bitcoins.

[bitlancr]

Really depending on if you're going to spend it by trading or buying altcoins or not, if not then best things you can do is safe it on a desktop wallet.

If you're going to use your bitcoin then you could just leave it in your coinbase wallet. I wouldn't leave it there if you're just going to let it sit there.

And yes like everyone said here, make back ups of everything, your private keys.

[ranochigo]

Just in case you haven't understood with all the posts above, it is not safe to leave your coins on Coinbase.

You should transfer your funds to a wallet where you and you alone control the private keys.

Guys is alot safer for a new user to leave it on coinbase then expect him to download the blockchain himself , secure it himself and backup his private keys himself.

Coinbase only covers insurance IF they are at fault, eg. inside hack. It would be impossible for them to cover if the computer have malware and the account gets compromised. SPV wallets are secure enough for most people, Bitcoin Core does not offer significant advantage if you are not going to process hundreds of payments daily or use the RPC.

It is easy for anyone to backup their private keys or when using HD wallets, a seed. It can easily be restored in case of a hard drive failure.

[LuckyYOU]

It honestly depends on what YOU want to do with it.

If you're going to spend a certain amount, you can place the rest that you're not going to use in your offline wallet.

If you're going to save it up then it's best to put it all in an offline wallet.

[MaxTax]

So my question is:   Once i buy my first bitcoin, what exactly do i do with it?

Do i leave it in my coinbase account?  Is it safe there?

Or do i transfer it to my desktop computer?


I'm not familiar with this yet.   I plan to always keep a balance of 1 bitcoin in my account for 5 years to 10 years,

the rest of the bitcoin i buy i will spend online.



What is everyone's advice?   

For the amount that you're not going to spend it's best to place that in an offline wallet

The rest you could keep in your online wallet. Make sure to make backups of your private keys

[yoona]

Here we go, first impression to know bitcoin and they don't know what to do. Its often happened, confuse what should i do with this coin etc etc some people know bitcoin as investment plan only. Do your own research about bitcoin and decide what have to do.

[Sir_lagsalot]

Coinbase isn't very safe, if you ask me. Use bitcoin-qt or electron. Pretty much the best out there. Only just coinbase if you're poor and don't have anything to lose and you want to use them so they can post your transaction fees

I never keep over a bitcoin in my coinbase account, let me tell you that.

[1Referee]

Whatever exchange you use, and no matter how trusted it is. Never leave any of your coins in your exchange account, unless you are actively trading. If you're not trading, then send it to your offline wallet, and securely store the wallet file in a USB stick. You can even encrypt the wallet file before saving to your USB stick, if you so wish.

[Amph]

Coinbase isn't very safe, if you ask me. Use bitcoin-qt or electron. Pretty much the best out there. Only just coinbase if you're poor and don't have anything to lose and you want to use them so they can post your transaction fees

I never keep over a bitcoin in my coinbase account, let me tell you that.

AFAIk coinbase is safe enough as an exchange, because they have insurance that cover your funds, not like other exchange, and they are directly regulated with IRS

so if you really want to store online, they should be your first choose, betetr than blockchain.info for sure

[Bitcoin Market]

It is better not to leave it in the exchange if you do not want to trade bitcoin. Trading is not for most people, especially it is your fist bitcoin.

[RobinHoodster]

Oh wow you have money that is good that you are buying bitcoins now.

I can afford it for know so I am just gona wait that the price will go down.