3 ms·

As opposed to creating changetip accounts, coinbase accounts, giving them your id and complete personal info, paying exchange fees, paying txn fees, installing

As opposed to creating changetip accounts, coinbase accounts, giving them your id and complete personal info, paying exchange fees, paying txn fees, installing bitcoin, waiting for confirmations, being exposed to volatility, etc.

ryanlol 11y ago
You're talking about using bitcoins to transfer USD. Bitcoin provides a good way to transfer bitcoins between people, USD doesn't have a similar mechanism.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- aliakhtar 11y ago
  Even for a bitcoin to bitcoin transfer, you need 1) a changetip account, 2) verifying it, 3) downloading bitcoin client + installing it, 4) understanding wallet security. Much less work than paypal accounts (which most people have at this point, anyway). Plus, bitcoin is not much use unless its converted to fiat.
  - ryanlol 11y ago
    If you really want to use changetip, sure. There's no need to download or install a bitcoin client when options such as blockchain.info and xapo are available. Wallet security is pretty much the same you'd be practicing with your bank accounts, which you pretty much need to actually utilize paypal (And to be honest, sometimes to get bitcoins too). Paypal barely has enough users worldwide to cover half of US population, so most people definitely don't have it. Of course bitcoin has even less users. Pretty much 100% of my income is in bitcoins, about 90% of my expenses are paid for in bitcoins. I use bitcoins to pay for flights, groceries, rent and so on. Of course my situation is rather unique, but it does go to prove that bitcoins aren't completely useless by themselves.
    - aliakhtar 11y ago
      > There's no need to download or install a magic bean client when options such as blockchain.info and xapo are available. You mean the same blockchain.info which was making http requests to random.org to generate their rng, and when the http requests became a 301 redirect to https, it just used the first 32 bytes of the redirect message to generate the rng, hence producing the same random seed for all their wallets since may 2014 or such? And all other online wallets also have problems. From what I've seen, using an online wallet is highly discouraged due to security risks. > Wallet security is pretty much the same you'd be practicing with your bank accounts, Frankly, that's bullshit. Wallet security is a really complicated topic, which often starts with, 'get a laptop disconnected from the net, and do a blank install of a linux VM'.
      - ryanlol 11y ago
        Maybe you should look more into the blockchain bug, it was caused by fucked up android phones having broken /dev/urandom for whatever reason. IMO it's a pretty fair assumption to make that all modern linux distributions would ship with /dev/urandom. How exactly is wallet security any different from bank security? Bank transactions don't tend to be reversible either.
        aliakhtar 11y ago
        So they were not using the 32 bytes of the 301 redirect message from random.org as the rng seed for all their wallets? > How exactly is wallet security any different from bank security? I don't need to start by installing a blank linux VM on a permanently offline computer, to have a secure bank account.
        ryanlol 11y ago
        No they weren't. The bug affected a very small minority of the apps users running broken android versions. Why would you have to do that with bitcoins? How are bitcoins any easier to steal than your bank credentials?

ryanlol 11y ago

You're talking about using bitcoins to transfer USD. Bitcoin provides a good way to transfer bitcoins between people, USD doesn't have a similar mechanism.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
aliakhtar 11y ago
Even for a bitcoin to bitcoin transfer, you need 1) a changetip account, 2) verifying it, 3) downloading bitcoin client + installing it, 4) understanding wallet security. Much less work than paypal accounts (which most people have at this point, anyway). Plus, bitcoin is not much use unless its converted to fiat.
- ryanlol 11y ago
  If you really want to use changetip, sure. There's no need to download or install a bitcoin client when options such as blockchain.info and xapo are available. Wallet security is pretty much the same you'd be practicing with your bank accounts, which you pretty much need to actually utilize paypal (And to be honest, sometimes to get bitcoins too). Paypal barely has enough users worldwide to cover half of US population, so most people definitely don't have it. Of course bitcoin has even less users. Pretty much 100% of my income is in bitcoins, about 90% of my expenses are paid for in bitcoins. I use bitcoins to pay for flights, groceries, rent and so on. Of course my situation is rather unique, but it does go to prove that bitcoins aren't completely useless by themselves.
  - aliakhtar 11y ago
    > There's no need to download or install a magic bean client when options such as blockchain.info and xapo are available. You mean the same blockchain.info which was making http requests to random.org to generate their rng, and when the http requests became a 301 redirect to https, it just used the first 32 bytes of the redirect message to generate the rng, hence producing the same random seed for all their wallets since may 2014 or such? And all other online wallets also have problems. From what I've seen, using an online wallet is highly discouraged due to security risks. > Wallet security is pretty much the same you'd be practicing with your bank accounts, Frankly, that's bullshit. Wallet security is a really complicated topic, which often starts with, 'get a laptop disconnected from the net, and do a blank install of a linux VM'.
    - ryanlol 11y ago
      Maybe you should look more into the blockchain bug, it was caused by fucked up android phones having broken /dev/urandom for whatever reason. IMO it's a pretty fair assumption to make that all modern linux distributions would ship with /dev/urandom. How exactly is wallet security any different from bank security? Bank transactions don't tend to be reversible either.
      - aliakhtar 11y ago
        So they were not using the 32 bytes of the 301 redirect message from random.org as the rng seed for all their wallets? > How exactly is wallet security any different from bank security? I don't need to start by installing a blank linux VM on a permanently offline computer, to have a secure bank account.
        ryanlol 11y ago
        No they weren't. The bug affected a very small minority of the apps users running broken android versions. Why would you have to do that with bitcoins? How are bitcoins any easier to steal than your bank credentials?