The risk

[SgtSpike]

One company around here (I forgot which one, because I've never used the process, only heard about it) allows you to deposit cash at a Chase bank, and they will immediately update your account balance with USD to spend.  That might be a good option to look in to since you're running into roadblocks elsewhere.

Cheers - but I am in UK...

Ah, I must've missed that earlier... Afraid I am not familiar with options for those in the UK!

[slider1978]

I was very wary when I first started. I decided to start mining with some spare equipment, that way I could learn about BTC "from the ground up" and not really risk any money doing it. I mined 10 coins, sold them on Mt.Gox and tranferred the money to Dwolla, then to my linked bank account. Withdrew the money and took my family out to eat. After that I knew I had a system that worked for me.

For the first few months my goal was to take every coin I mined, sell it, and get the money out of the "BTC system" because I just wan't sure if it could be trusted.

Things have really changed for me in the past 8 months of being a part of Bitcoin. I've gone from 45MH to over 2GH in my mining operation and I've started to invest the coins with others who are starting mining companies and lending companies.

Just thought I'd share my story with you. there are 2 things I wish I would have done differently:

1. i wish I wouldn't have sold all those coins in the beginning

2. I wish I would have become an active member on these boards sooner instead of just lurking.

[stabaho]

Bitinstant.com maybe

[elvizzzzzzz]

One company around here (I forgot which one, because I've never used the process, only heard about it) allows you to deposit cash at a Chase bank, and they will immediately update your account balance with USD to spend.  That might be a good option to look in to since you're running into roadblocks elsewhere.

Cheers - but I am in UK...

If you ever need to convert £114 to Euros and back again, consider yourself fortunate to have more than £100.
That's one reason why I'm interested in bitcoin. And yes, I'd agree there is a risk in buying bitcoin, but that
risk should reduce with time.

Another reason is that people providing information on these forums have an incentive (tips) to provide good
information, so the quality here should be better than elsewhere.

[phantomcircuit]

I look into buying some coin though and find the company I am about to deposit money through (Intersango) have an intermediary company set up at a residential address that they want me to send funds to, and their bank has frozen their accounts.  In fact they seem to need to change their banking arrangements every couple of months.

Intersango here.

The intermediary company is necessary not to trick the banks but due to the restrictions on who can represent a company when opening and dealing with an account.

The director of Intersango LTD does not currently reside in the UK and the shareholders are spread around the world.

The current lock on our account is due to a technical glitch which should be resolved soon.

In general the banks do not particularly like dealing with bitcoin exchanges because we move large amounts of money yet hold comparatively little and refuse nearly all attempts to clawback funds.

Basically we're exactly the wrong kind of customer for a bank.

[tlhonmey]

You can try bitcoinmap.com to find someone near you who would be willing to trade for cash.  Meet someplace public with security and wi-fi.  It's pretty hard for someone to rip you off under those circumstances.  At least, it's hard to do without ending up in jail for assault...

[kevinmark]

nice post.

[Goomboo]

Risk.

What do you define risk as?  There are many different kinds of risk.  In trading alone there are basis, counter-party, price, liquidity, default risks...

Risk.  Find out what exactly your "value-at-risk" is here.  I'm risking USD to gain USD.

[jekker]

There's tons of exchangers out there that can give you "real currency" for bitcoins.

[hgmichna]

As to the reluctance of banks and PayPal to exchange bitcoins, consider that bitcoin is a disruptive technology. If it keeps growing it will disrupt a lot of bank and foreign currency exchange business. It will also disrupt several other money spinners, particularly governments' ability to get at your money.

So it is to be expected that bitcoin faces resistance on several fronts. Fortunately these actors are too stupid to see in time what we see. If things go as we hope, then bitcoin will be too big, and it will be too late when they wake up. Too many voters will take bitcoin into account.

If you are in Europe, you can vote already today for the first pan-European party, which is also the only one friendly to bitcoin---the pirate party. Times are changing, and they are changing fast.

[box750]

There are risks in Bitcoin, but the payment company you mentioned, Paxum, also carries risks, as you pointed out they deal with pornography, Visa might suddenly decide that they do not like them and shut them down, anyone with money in one of Paxum accounts will then have a hard time getting it back, this already happened a few years back with ePassporte, they traded for many years until they got shutdown by the credit cards without notice and lots people found their money frozen online.

Bitcoin might not be as secure as your local bank, with Government guarantees against bankruptcy, but it is as secure as Paxum or CCBill, with the added advantage that nobody at the top of the company can suddenly decide to suspend your account because of the way you want to spend or earn the money.

[Myrtlewood]

This forum, and especially the newbie area is a hotbed of people just not understanding what this crazy bitcoin thing is.  It takes a while to "get it", but Bitcoin genuinely has promise and is already working.

[Matthew N. Wright]

This forum, and especially the newbie area is a hotbed of people just not understanding what this crazy bitcoin thing is.  It takes a while to "get it", but Bitcoin genuinely has promise and is already working.

Too true.

[cbeast]

If everyone would invest ten dollars (no great risk) we would really see bitcoin blow up.

[Costia]

If everyone would invest ten dollars (no great risk) we would really see bitcoin blow up.

i would prefer to see somebody spending 2BTC rather than investing 10usd in speculations

[Matthew N. Wright]

If everyone would invest ten dollars (no great risk) we would really see bitcoin blow up.

i would prefer to see somebody spending 2BTC rather than investing 10usd in speculations

+1

If you're looking for a place to spend BTC, our new 64-page color magazine is just 1BTC.


https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=60636

[cbeast]

If everyone would invest ten dollars (no great risk) we would really see bitcoin blow up.

i would prefer to see somebody spending 2BTC rather than investing 10usd in speculations

+1

If you're looking for a place to spend BTC, our new 64-page color magazine is just 1BTC.


https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=60636

Your counting your chickens before they hatch and you don't even have the eggs yet.