Bitinstant help

[hubbabubbabaker]

I desire to make a cash deposit via BitInstant on My Wallet. But the prompt keeps making me think that it will exchange the USD for bitcoins for me and I don't want to do that just yet. I was wondering is that what it does? Or does it take the USD and put it in My Wallet so I can use it on Mt. Gox anytime? The latter is what I'm looking for.

[hubbabubbabaker]

HALP! But really if some could. Many thanks.   

[BitcoinTate]

HALP! But really if some could. Many thanks.   

You can either have the deposit sent directly to Gox where you buy the BTC yourself or you can have Bit Instant take your deposit, and then convert USD to BTC and then they will send you the amount in BTC to your wallet address.

[hubbabubbabaker]

What if I transfer the money directly to Mt. Gox. I just need a place for the money to sit until I want to trade it. Is Mt. Gox secure? If I wanted to put money into bitcoins for the longterm should I go with Mt. Gox or just purchase it straight out of My Wallet.

[BitcoinTate]

What if I transfer the money directly to Mt. Gox. I just need a place for the money to sit until I want to trade it. Is Mt. Gox secure? If I wanted to put money into bitcoins for the longterm should I go with Mt. Gox or just purchase it straight out of My Wallet.

I trust Mt. Gox but keep most of my BTC offline on a pc & thumb drive that is not connected to the internet. If you send the cash to Gox you will pay the Bit Instant Fee and then the Gox trade fee as well as the Zip Zap fee. Less fees if you just send it to your wallet address. But not by much.

If you want to be able to trade right away or at a moments notice (unless the Gox lag sets in) send it to Gox.

[hubbabubbabaker]

Alright thanks a lot. I'm think I'm going to go with Mt.Gox for now.

[David Rabahy]

A Bitcoin address only holds Bitcoins and that's it.  It does not hold US dollars or anything else.

A Bitcoin wallet is just a convenient tool (application) for;

1) generating Bitcoin addresses (and the keys that control them) in the first place
       an address itself is not private per se -- in fact, you have to reveal it in order to have it be the target of a send
       you will never see and don't need to ever see the key but it is there in your Bitcoin wallet
2) receiving Bitcoins into those Bitcoin addresses
3) sending Bitcoins out of those Bitcoin addresses to another Bitcoin address
       the ability to send Bitcoins out of an address is only possible by the holder of the key

A personal Bitcoin wallet residing on your own personal computer (or other device) is not the only way to generate Bitcoin addresses.  Mt.gox and other service providers will generate (and manage) Bitcoin addresses (and the corresponding keys) for you too.  Mt.gox and other service providers provide additional services, e.g. converting US dollars into Bitcoins and vice verse.  The trick is getting US dollars or any other non-Bitcoin currencies) into your Mt.gox or other service provider account in the first place.

A personal Bitcoin wallet residing on your own personal computer (or other device) of Bitcoin addresses is yours and yours alone as long as you keep it secure.  For example, you should encrypt your wallet immediately and then back it up regularly (after every transaction).

A Bitcoin address (and corresponding key) generated for you by a service is naturally at risk *but* the service providers are highly motived to be trustworthy.  Their reputation would be utterly ruined if they didn't keep the Bitcoin addresses generated for you secure.

No matter how a Bitcoin address is generate (via a Bitcoin wallet application or via a service provider), there are multiple ways to get Bitcoins into your Bitcoin addresses.

1) For a fee, Bitinstant can do it via cash delivered in-person to a CVS or Walmart.
2) With limitations, Coinbase can ach it out of your checking account.