5 ms·

Okay honest question: How did you get bitcoins? I've looked around and my options seem to be to give my CC number to a shady website or to meet someone in perso

Okay honest question: How did you get bitcoins? I've looked around and my options seem to be to give my CC number to a shady website or to meet someone in person and give them cash. Is there really no safe-sounding option?

yafujifide 12y ago
Have you tried Circle? They're funded with over $17 million [1], so I don't think they qualify as shady, and I'm pretty sure they let you buy with a credit card. [1] edit. Double checked and the looks like it's $17 million: http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/26/bitcoin-gets-another-boost-as-circle-internet-raises-17-million/ http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/26/bitcoin-gets-another-boost-...
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- walden42 12y ago
  Completely free with ACH purchases.
JoshTriplett 12y ago
I found Coinbase quite painless.
mkramlich 12y ago
Coinbase
blhack 12y ago
Coinbase supports ACH transfers. They're hardly anything I would call a "shady" website. They're also backed by ycombinator and Andreessen Horowitz. https://www.coinbase.com/about https://www.coinbase.com/about
- Istof 12y ago
  weren't they the ones not fulfilling orders when the value of bitcoins fluctuated "too much"...
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
  - smtddr 12y ago
    They had their growing pains to be sure, but I'd still say they're the best if you have a USA bank account.
  - coinbase-craig 12y ago
    We've never canceled orders due to price changes.
    - anon1385 12y ago
      You can tell that this is a carefully rehearsed PR account since the issues at Coinbase never was about "cancelled orders". That's a very literal and lawyerly rebuttal of Istof's comment. A trustworthy human being would have known exactly what events Istof was referring to, and answered that accusation rather than trying to hide behind semantics. The issue at Coinbase ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6932224 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6932224 ) was them taking weeks to fulfil orders, while sitting on your money, during which time the price of bitcoin was fluctuating wildly, and then processing them at the original bitcoin price, rather than the current (lower) price. End result is the customer getter far fewer bitcoins than the current market rate and accusations that Coinbase was pocketing the difference. One of the submissions about it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6929705 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6929705 Note that it took considerable pressure from the HN community (and possibly YC) before Coinbase even refunded the guys losses. They wanted to just give him a token $50 worth of bitcoins, when the profit Coinbase had made from delaying the transaction was more like $12k. This wasn't a one off either, there were other stories on HN ( e.g. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6933360 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6933360 ) and threads full of people on /r/bitcoin detailing similar experiences. Nobody could get their money out or get any reply from the company and for a while it looked like it was another mt.gox. There was a total failure of support and communication.
icebraining 12y ago
If you're in Europe, you can do a SEPA transfer to someone on localbitcoins - you don't have to meet in person.
imaginenore 12y ago
1) Bitcoin ATM 2) Any reputable exchange (Bitstamp, Coinbase) 3) LocalBitcoins
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
jordigh 12y ago
I accept them for services provided over the internet. So far, math tutoring. I spend them on services that accept bitcoins. So far, VPN, Julian Assange's book, a few Amazon books through gyft.com, and a couple of meals at local restaurants. Seeing your question here and the answers it's getting, sometimes I feel like I'm the only one treating bitcoins like a currency instead of a commodity.

yafujifide 12y ago

Have you tried Circle? They're funded with over $17 million [1], so I don't think they qualify as shady, and I'm pretty sure they let you buy with a credit card. [1] edit. Double checked and the looks like it's $17 million: http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/26/bitcoin-gets-another-boost-as-circle-internet-raises-17-million/ http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/26/bitcoin-gets-another-boost-...

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
walden42 12y ago
Completely free with ACH purchases.

JoshTriplett 12y ago

I found Coinbase quite painless.

mkramlich 12y ago

Coinbase

blhack 12y ago

Coinbase supports ACH transfers. They're hardly anything I would call a "shady" website. They're also backed by ycombinator and Andreessen Horowitz. https://www.coinbase.com/about https://www.coinbase.com/about

Istof 12y ago
weren't they the ones not fulfilling orders when the value of bitcoins fluctuated "too much"...
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- smtddr 12y ago
  They had their growing pains to be sure, but I'd still say they're the best if you have a USA bank account.
- coinbase-craig 12y ago
  We've never canceled orders due to price changes.
  - anon1385 12y ago
    You can tell that this is a carefully rehearsed PR account since the issues at Coinbase never was about "cancelled orders". That's a very literal and lawyerly rebuttal of Istof's comment. A trustworthy human being would have known exactly what events Istof was referring to, and answered that accusation rather than trying to hide behind semantics. The issue at Coinbase ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6932224 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6932224 ) was them taking weeks to fulfil orders, while sitting on your money, during which time the price of bitcoin was fluctuating wildly, and then processing them at the original bitcoin price, rather than the current (lower) price. End result is the customer getter far fewer bitcoins than the current market rate and accusations that Coinbase was pocketing the difference. One of the submissions about it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6929705 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6929705 Note that it took considerable pressure from the HN community (and possibly YC) before Coinbase even refunded the guys losses. They wanted to just give him a token $50 worth of bitcoins, when the profit Coinbase had made from delaying the transaction was more like $12k. This wasn't a one off either, there were other stories on HN ( e.g. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6933360 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6933360 ) and threads full of people on /r/bitcoin detailing similar experiences. Nobody could get their money out or get any reply from the company and for a while it looked like it was another mt.gox. There was a total failure of support and communication.

icebraining 12y ago

If you're in Europe, you can do a SEPA transfer to someone on localbitcoins - you don't have to meet in person.

imaginenore 12y ago

1) Bitcoin ATM 2) Any reputable exchange (Bitstamp, Coinbase) 3) LocalBitcoins

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]

jordigh 12y ago

I accept them for services provided over the internet. So far, math tutoring. I spend them on services that accept bitcoins. So far, VPN, Julian Assange's book, a few Amazon books through gyft.com, and a couple of meals at local restaurants. Seeing your question here and the answers it's getting, sometimes I feel like I'm the only one treating bitcoins like a currency instead of a commodity.