Hey was looking to purchase some BTC and looking for advice for a beginner.

[jbab]

Just trying to get some insight on if its really better to buy my BTC now or wait a few months in hopes that they will drop in price a little bit.

[rauderce]

Hi i would encourage you to keep reading more about Bitcoin

1) You can read Bitcoin's whitepaper by Satoshi, submitted in 2008
2) Sites like CoinDesk would be great to get started on getting more information on BitCoin
3) To buy BitCoins quickly you can go to sites like localbitcoins.com (not an endorsement, but their service is really simple and gets the Bitcoin to you fast)
4) Surf bitcointalk.org, a lot of information is posted on this forum
5) Get on YouTube and search for 'Bitcoin panel', you'll have a lot of the industry experts sharing their thoughts on BTC.
6) Get some BitCoins! There is no point waiting for time to pass while you are 'involved' in the whole Bitcoin scene! Plunge a few hundred bucks that you can lose into this new 'barter idea', at most if it fails you get the first hand knowledge on virtual currency.

PS: An MBA costs like upwards of 90k, a few hundred bucks for a lesson isn't too much! Plus the fact that there are actual investors investing in Bitcoin startups with millions of dollars.


Have fun!

[nahtnam]

Buy some now and some later. There is a chance that bitcoin may never go down again!

[jbab]

Thanks for the advice prolly going to try to get my hands on a BTC and see what happens.

[Casino Gambling Guy]

The media explosion regarding bitcoin has brought in a lot of new money so the price should keep going up as new retailers adopt the coin. That said, don't ignore the altcoins
(ie litecoin etc.). They are high risk but priced much lower than bitcoin so a small investment might yield high return if a second coin takes off in popularity.

[RealT]

Hello,
I have been reading the forum as a guest for several days now.  I, like the OP am interested in purchasing BTC.  I have arrived at the decision to purchase, but the only thing preventing me from purchasing is the confusion surrounding how to buy it, how to store it, how to keep it safe, how not to accidentally delete it, etc.  Honestly, it all seems too complex for non-computer experts (like me)to do, and this will certainly be an obstacle to mainstream adoption.
When I read the posts about wallets, offline wallets, etc. it is too confusing for me (and others who are I've talked to).  Is there an easy way for a nearly computer-illiterate person to purchase bitcoin and keep them securely?  I'd be grateful for a description of how to do this (list of steps and devices necessary for a secure purchase and storage).

Thank You!

[Casino Gambling Guy]

Hello,
I have been reading the forum as a guest for several days now.  I, like the OP am interested in purchasing BTC.  I have arrived at the decision to purchase, but the only thing preventing me from purchasing is the confusion surrounding how to buy it, how to store it, how to keep it safe, how not to accidentally delete it, etc.  Honestly, it all seems too complex for non-computer experts (like me)to do, and this will certainly be an obstacle to mainstream adoption.
When I read the posts about wallets, offline wallets, etc. it is too confusing for me (and others who are I've talked to).  Is there an easy way for a nearly computer-illiterate person to purchase bitcoin and keep them securely?  I'd be grateful for a description of how to do this (list of steps and devices necessary for a secure purchase and storage).

Thank You!

1. Get a wallet from a safe place like blockchain.info. Then visit a site called localbitcoins.com to arrange an exchange with a local reputable dealer. There will be a percentage added for the service.

2. If you want to trade then sign up with a reputable service such as btc-e.com and add funds through their methods such as okpay.com via credit card etc. There will be transfer fees but they will be less than local bitcoin. Once you have a btc-e account that essentially is your wallet and you will see various wallet addresses one for each type of coin such as bitcoin, litecoin, namecoin etc.

[RealT]

Hello,
I have been reading the forum as a guest for several days now.  I, like the OP am interested in purchasing BTC.  I have arrived at the decision to purchase, but the only thing preventing me from purchasing is the confusion surrounding how to buy it, how to store it, how to keep it safe, how not to accidentally delete it, etc.  Honestly, it all seems too complex for non-computer experts (like me)to do, and this will certainly be an obstacle to mainstream adoption.
When I read the posts about wallets, offline wallets, etc. it is too confusing for me (and others who are I've talked to).  Is there an easy way for a nearly computer-illiterate person to purchase bitcoin and keep them securely?  I'd be grateful for a description of how to do this (list of steps and devices necessary for a secure purchase and storage).

Thank You!

1. Get a wallet from a safe place like blockchain.info. Then visit a site called localbitcoins.com to arrange an exchange with a local reputable dealer. There will be a percentage added for the service.

2. If you want to trade then sign up with a reputable service such as btc-e.com and add funds through their methods such as okpay.com via credit card etc. There will be transfer fees but they will be less than local bitcoin. Once you have a btc-e account that essentially is your wallet and you will see various wallet addresses one for each type of coin such as bitcoin, litecoin, namecoin etc.

Thank you for your reply.  I sincerely appreciate it, but I am not a computer person (many who want to purchase BTC aren't), and this creates a huge obstacle and discomfort with the process of buying and storing BTC.

In your post you refer to things that I do not understand and am not comfortable with, and therefore am not willing to buy BTC until I am (I think this is the position of many potential BTC buyers).

For example, your post raises the following questions:  
1.  What is a wallet?
2.  If a wallet is a physical object (or part of one), what are examples of the most secure ones?
3.  I have read that the safest way to store BTC is in an offline wallet, is this true?  If so, how do you do this?
4.  You refer to btc-e.com and I looked them up.  They are based in Bulgaria and have no customer service phone umber (just like Mt. Gox and Coinbase don't even have a phone number, how the hell is the average non-tech US buyer supposed to be comfortable with this)



I definitely have more questions than answers on this subject, and I believe this is a serious impediment to BTC adoption.

Thank You

[Birdy]

1.  What is a wallet?

A wallet is a program (or way) to manage your Bitcoin addresses, e.g. keeping track of how many Bitcoins you have and allowing you to spend them.

I think first I have to explain how Bitcoin adresses work:
You have one public Bitcoin address to receive Bitcoins (e.g. 15ho8Uv3Ho42xMD7gF31pjNzjhmtnpA2wz )
And a corresponding private key to this address that allows you to spend them (in this case: 5HuwnVoEP8Uj3s15WohWjhJvVRBkeenhv39WjiHsDBcErPpaFav)
The private key is kinda like a password.
Everyone that knows this private key can access the Bitcoins.

2.  If a wallet is a physical object (or part of one), what are examples of the most secure ones?
3.  I have read that the safest way to store BTC is in an offline wallet, is this true?  If so, how do you do this?

Yes, that's true.
If computer malware gets access to your private keys then those Bitcoins are gone, so it's better to keep the keys to bigger Bitcoin stacks offline.
The most secure ones are paper wallet and cold wallets.
A paper wallet is nothing more than the private key and public address printed on a piece of paper (and you are still able to receive Bitcoins, you only have to be online in order to spend them)
You can create those for example here: https://www.bitaddress.org
Cold wallets are the digital form of that, e.g. an wallet file on a usb stick, sd card, offline-laptop
(and there are also some more professional solutions like the Armory Offline wallet or Trezor)

[JustOne]

jbab and RealT, I understand your concerns. I just started a month ago and luckily found a mining rig seller on Craigslist. Met him for coffee and picked his brain for 2 hours. There is a lot of advice to be given in order for "regular" folks like us to get in. Fortunately for me I got up to speed in time to buy at $140 (imagine $10!).

I think there is plenty of Bits to be earned by some savvy miners or traders who seek out local consultation customers, personal and business. People are curious and they need someone to explain how it works, in person. I started an earlier post and I'm currently gathering resources to sell to merchants and hopefully empower merchants to promote and bring in their customers.

As cool as it is to see $200/BTC, the # of users needs to accelerate. With smart phone apps and low cost transactions, BTC is already better than USD in some ways, but it needs to be *real* for a lot more people, which means salesmanship.

 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=320335.new#new

[CryptoCrazy]

I agree and believe that bitcoin even at $200 is still cheap. I think the price of BTC is only going to go up. Buy now and buy later. I'm hoarding! ...LOL!

[fuyuasha]

Hey!

I would advise getting in with maybe 20% of what you intended to spend ASAP and try out as much such as you can - ex: a few online wallets like coinbase.com and blockchain.info, get one or 2 of the desktop clients and hit those too.  Also allocated some BTC to spending and tipping (like using the Reddit bot http://www.reddit.com/r/bitcointip/comments/13iykn/bitcointip_documentation).

You'll prob learn a lot by DOING (I know I did) even if it's w/ $20 in XBT and you also be helping Bitcoin (and yourself later ;-)) grow.

Enjoy, it's an awesome ride, there are no losing positions so long as you're doing and learning - that's my main philosophy!