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Instant Bitcoin Purchases at Coinbase
- sgornick 13y agoHow can I see what level my account is at? What are the limits for Level 1?
- sgornick 13y agoAh: https://coinbase.com/verifications https://coinbase.com/verifications
- atom-morgan 13y agoThis is huge for Bitcoin. Keep up the good work guys!
- FlailFast 13y agoLove it! You guys keep getting awesome-er. If I may make one humble request...would love to see a lower transaction limit (<0.01BTC) in the API. My personal project (and I) would be forever grateful.
- joelrunyon 13y agoIsn't the point of bitcoin to stay anonymous? It's nice to be able to purchase it instantly, but it seems to be going against the purpose of bitcoin.
- wmf 13y agoFor some people the point of Bitcoin is to get rich via speculation.
- rglullis 13y agoWhile your comment is very much true, there is some apparent snarky feel to it that seems unnecessary. In my case at least, there is no speculation element attached to bitcoin. In fact, its volatility is very detrimental. I am dividing my life and work projects between the US, Europe and Brazil. I'd love to be able to just charge people in BTC. I wouldn't lose 6-7% every time I needed to convert money from USD to BRL, or from BRL to EUR. I can't say how much easier it would be for me to report taxes... Widespread adoption of BTC could be a good thing in itself. There are other groups of people interested in bitcoin besides the "fiat must die", the silk roads and the speculators.
- atom-morgan 13y agoI'd say it depends on the person.
- citricsquid 13y agoA feature bitcoin provides is it can be "anonymous", however most bitcoin purchases and purchasers don't need anonymity. see here: http://zerocoin.org/ http://zerocoin.org/
- pdog 13y agoNo. Bitcoin itself is simply a technology -- there isn't a "point" to it. Bitcoins can be anonymous if there's no information linking the transaction or public address back to you.
- baddox 13y agoPseudo-anonymity is one point of Bitcoin, but the only feasible way to quickly acquire Bitcoins pseudo-anonymously is to buy them in person, which defeats another point of Bitcoin (it being an online currency).
- bdcravens 13y ago"the point"? no. More of a side effect, but something that alot of folks have clung to. In reality it's pseudo-anonymous, and depending on your interpretation, it's the opposite on anonymity: all transactions are conducted in the open. (the exchange of currency that is; not the underlying identity of item of value on the other side of the transaction)
- ww520 13y agoIf I give you cash, can I buy bitcoin without the hassle of fully verified identification?
- Brian-Puccio 13y agoYes. https://localbitcoins.com/ https://localbitcoins.com/
- downandout 13y agoSomeone credible is finally trying to compensate for the abysmal failure that is Bitinstant (see http://bitinstantscam.com http://bitinstantscam.com and basically any Bitcoin forum). That is fantastic. However, let's not get carried away. This is not instant for first-time users. You still have to go through verification and wait at least 4 business days for your first purchase to go through before reaching the qualifications for instant purchases. Coinbase really needs to adopt convenient, instant deposit methods such as Western Union and Moneygram in order to reach critical mass.
- mahyarm 13y agoIsn't that like most credit cards, bank accounts with online banks and creating a 'link' between bank accounts you own already at this point?
- downandout 13y agoThe problem is that most people who find themselves in need of Bitcoins for the first time need them immediately. Having to wait several days is a deal killer for many people in this position. That puts a huge damper on new adoption.
- dobbsbob 13y agoLucky for coinbase is now prepaid credit cards you buy in stores have an activation delay for unknown reasons, here it is a 3hr delay and they don't bother telling you except for tiny fine print, and everytime you try to use it before delay is up, it resets all over so seems like your card never works. So if people are still buying PPD cornerstore visas then they'll wait for bitcoins, especially since bitcoins are used for niche items like drugs (lol), VPNs/hosting, speculation or cheap remittance
- bdcravens 13y agoI've used Bitinstant, and it worked well enough (was a small transaction, however). My impression is that it isn't a scam, but more of a bunch of nerds in over their head.
- tocomment 13y agoI've wondered about starting a service to sell bitcoins via credit card but the catch is he service holds your coin for you for 6 months or whatever the period for chargebacks is. Is that a viable idea?
- wilfra 13y agoBuy BTC from tocomment Inc with credit card. If in 5 1/2 months the price of Bitcoin is lower, issue a chargeback and take no loss. If the price is higher, do not issue a chargeback and take the profit. Sounds like a bad deal for tocomment Inc.
- jafaku 13y agoCredit card companies and Paypal will shut you down for being "high risk" or whatever. I wouldn't bother trying.
- t0 13y agoVirwox.com does this. They hold for a few days and charge high fees, but they certainly don't ask for lots of information like Coinbase is now doing.
- jelled 13y agoAlso, if you happen to live in the land of the free you can expect to pay a few hundred grand procuring the proper money transmitter licences.
- vessenes 13y agoLove it! Nice work guys.
- lwhalen 13y agoTo be honest, it's kind of creepy. I just identified myself, and they somehow knew what month and year I purchased my car, a list of names I may or may not have been 'associated' with, a list of counties I may or may not have lived in, and stuff like that. I'm not particularly comfortable with a company knowing that much about me, but it's already complete so... horse, meet barn door? I wish they would at least tell me what sources they're getting this information from.
- pdog 13y agoWelcome to the new economy.
- citricsquid 13y agoProbably your credit report. The information you mention is what would be on your credit report, assuming that car was purchased with financing.
- sneak 13y agoI have never financed a car yet my auto ownership history is in these databases. I think they buy them in bulk from state DMVs.
- jlgaddis 13y agoI think the GP is correct. One such question is something similar to: "You may have opened an auto loan in January 2010. If so, how much is/was the monthly payment? A. $0-99 B. $100-299 C. $300-499 D. $500+ E. I did not open an automobile loan in January 2010." Information like that could certainly be obtained from your credit report but I doubt the DMV knows how much my car payment was.
- makeramen 13y agoI don't remember what other sites they were, but I've done this a few times for identity verification, seems like there's a central provider somewhere that does the same thing for different businesses
- magoon 13y agoThink about it -- this is news because Bitcoin is a less approachable currency than....stamps, or baseball cards.
- oscilloscope 13y agoThose are simple because they are physical artifacts, but let us consider the process of using those for trade. A thirteen year old wants to send $4 to his friend. He wants to put money in a pool to buy a 4-pack of Terraria on a Steam sale for $10. He will receive one of the copies for his $4. His friend lives in another state. He buys an envelope for 20 cents. He buys a stamp for 46 cents. He tries to look up his friend address on Facebook. It's not there. He sends his friend a text message, asking his address. He addresses the envelope with his friend's address and his own return address. He licks and places the stamp in the top-right corner. He folds the dollar bills in a piece of scrap paper from the printer. He seals the envelope and drops it in a mailbox. Several days later, his friend receives the $4. The friend deposits this with his own $6 to get a Visa prepaid debit card. Friend uses the prepaid card to buy Terraria on Steam, a gaming service which requires an account and email address. Now, consider a transaction of $50 for a baseball card. Sending cash in the mail requires two stamps and two envelopes. Who sends the letter first? What happens if one letter doesn't arrive? Even stamps and baseball cards can present challenges for real-world transactions where physical co-presence between two parties is not possible.
- magoon 13y agoAgreed. Now consider Bitcoin: Somebody wants to pay somebody else for something using Bitcoin, but can't because You Can't Buy Bitcoins.
- ferdo 13y agoDifferent strokes for different folks, but I'll never understand why someone would want to buy bitcoins with their personal info attached to the coins. It seems to defeat the purpose of a pseudonymous, decentralized currency.
- baddox 13y agoIt only defeats some of the purposes of the currency.
- pdeuchler 13y agoWhat, did you expect bitcoin to suddenly create an anonymous economy out of thin air? Unless you can create value, and then charge bitcoin anonymously for that value you have to convert previous holdings into bitcoin. You can do so anonymously via cash P2P. But if you would like to convert funds from the current system, you have to 1) use the current system 2) play by their rules. This really doesn't even hurt the anonymity of bitcoin anyway, simply buy your bitcoins, run them through a tumbler, and voila, out comes anonymity.
- ferdo 13y agoI've never used Bitinstant, Coinbase or any of the other services that would attach my info to btc. I've worked to establish trading trust with other Bitcoin users and have traded physical metals and electronic gear for btc. It takes a little more effort but all good things do.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- eeky 13y agoThe purpose of bitcoin is that the user controls it. It's about trust. Do you trust a bank with your money? Cypriots sure found out the hard way when their bank accounts were suddenly frozen. Do you trust a government with your currency? Argentinians sure don't as they're experiencing 10-20% inflation rates. Bitcoin allows you to store your wealth without being fleeced by currency controls of parasitic central banks. It's refreshing and quite profitable.
- geuis 13y agoI have an issue with Coinbase. I have an account that I opened a few months ago but didn't use. I'm trying to sign into it now, and it brings me to a screen asking for a code from "Authy" (whatever that is) or Google Authenticator. Ok, so I grab GA again. GA wants me to setup an account using a key provided by Coinbase. Coinbase has never provided such a key to me, as I have never setup GA to work with them before. Fine, click "Code not working" and they'll text the code to you. Why they don't do this to begin with, I have no idea. Anyway, its now been 15 minutes and no text has come through. Exactly what is a user supposed to do when their entire login system is broken and offers no information on what to do? Please, please, PLEASE test your systems BEFORE you go public and make big announcements.
- awt 13y agoYou might try Authy. It's been working well for me.
- drivebyacct2 13y agoMy SMS code took a while because they didn't support Google Auth when I opened my account and trying to force Authy was just a stupid move. This is pretty standard two-auth fair though, I'm pretty sure you have to activate Authy to even open the account.
- bdcs 13y agoIf you have a discount phone service plan, e.g. Straight Talk, you may not be able to receive short-SMS/premium-SMS/texts-from-5-digit-numbers. I, like the other reply, recommend Authy. Also, barmstrong will probably chime in eventually.
- barmstrong 13y agoSorry to hear that happened. Please send us a note on http://support.coinbase.com/ http://support.coinbase.com/ SMS is unfortunately unreliable in some instances. You should be able to receive a call with the verification code also as a backup.
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- vijayboyapati 13y agoI filled out my verification details and it said failed to verify, you have 1 day to wait. Details were correct, so not sure what happened.
- aeosynth 13y agoI was told "Insufficient Data for Questions". I guess my public record is not juicy enough.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- Splendor 13y agoTried to sign up twice. Didn't receive the required email either time. :(
- barmstrong 13y agoWe're a little backed up on sign up emails at the moment! Should be arriving shortly (scaling up workers). Apologies for the delay.
- quackerhacker 13y agoWay to go Coinbase! It's awesome to see some innovation coming to Bitcoin. This model (instant purchasing) is similar to Paypal's Instant payment, and even accounting for the risk/reward, I think it's an absolutely great method to help push Bitcoin adoption and position Coinbase for a goto for merchants and more importantly customers.
- eeky 13y agoLol, I bought bitcoin with coinbase when this HN article was first posted 3 hours ago, and the price has gone up almost 5% since then. Is bitcoin magic or something?
- tedkalaw 13y agoThere's a big rally going on. It found support around 68 a week ago and it's been steadily climbing since.
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- wowfat 13y agoStill cant purchase bitcoin in the UK
- cdvonstinkpot 13y agoInstant my ass. It took 2 weeks for the ACH transaction waiting period, then they said they couldn't do it anyway because they were being my conscience for me & decided I was being to risky. Said to try again in 2 weeks. Not to mention the initial account setup time I've waited. Needless to say I'm looking for a new btc vendor.