Thoughts on Bitcoin as payment?

[folken]

I think it would be a last resort for me and I certainly agree that the money should never just sit there. The lack of traceability and no middle man is attractive though.

Agree about the not just sitting on it part. Not totally untraceable.
Recall I-phone unlockable-until the gov got some hacker to open it for them. Governments working on it- crypto traceability that is.
For now- it's a payment means and relatively secure compared to other means; and it comes with a fee to buy. Buy it if you need it; when you need it...………………...Folken

[MoJim]

Recently opened a cnmamaa acct and then learned they don't really do transfers for good or services, only to other exchanges. Nowhere on the site can I find a way to move my $ out. So I need to find a wallet to transfer the money into. Something simple and low cost. Reading back in this thread it was Not recommended to use cnb@se for our purposes. I've done a lot of homework, but still am not there yet. Any suggestions on navigating this process would be greatly appreciated. PM me if you prefer.
Thanks
MoJim

[Mr. HIND]

Set up a free wallet on Blockchain. Takes two minutes and you don't have to confirm bank info or anything to use it immediately. Check youtube to see how it's done, if needed.

Coinbase can be used, there's rarely an issue.

[MoJim]

Thanks Mr. Hind, I did see the free wallet on Blockchain, while surfing, and they claimed to have the lowest fees. I'll give it a try tomorrow. I think the fog is lifting

[LMT737]

I have always been curious. Thanks for the thread !!

[barq2]

Agree about the not just sitting on it part. Not totally untraceable.
Recall I-phone unlockable-until the gov got some hacker to open it for them. Governments working on it- crypto traceability that is.
For now- it's a payment means and relatively secure compared to other means; and it comes with a fee to buy. Buy it if you need it; when you need it...………………...Folken

I'd go further than "not totally untraceable" since the technology is built on having a commonly agreed ledger of transactions. But the point is it needs specialist expertise to trace those bitcoins - this isn't just like LE calling your credit card company! I'd describe bitcoin as a pain in the a** to trace, but it is absolutely doable unless you've gone to great lengths (e.g. tumbling bitcoins), but even that isn't 100%. I think your description of it as relatively secure for the ordinary person is totally right.

If I were a terrorist or in organised crime (I'm not!) I'd probably regard bitcoin's potential traceability as more of a problem, and that is what LE are working on most urgently (certainly GCHQ in the UK).

[Mr. HIND]

Staying within the boundary of 'personal use' quantities is a better bet than sweating current crypto security. Just my 2...

[MoJim]

The FATF (Financial Action Task Force on Money laundering) will be issuing guidelines for crypto exchanges like coinbase etc. It is a inter governmental agency and US agencies like the FDIC would likely enforce. The pending rules would force exchanges to reveal the senders and receivers names for any transaction over $1000. For the purposes of this forum $1000 is a lot, but it does signal a shift in the direction of making crypto less transparent.

My take is that the banksters really, really don't like the competition. Crypto was started to be an alternative to banking and fiat money (US dollar Euro etc) and all the loss in credit card interest and fees is probably making them uncomfortable to say the least. I think they are using the money laundering excuse to push this forward. Don't get me wrong, I"m all for battling cartels and such, but I would think that they launder by the 5,6 or 7 digit amounts not 4. $1000 doesn't sound much like cartel activity.

Anyway, heeding Mr. Hind advice "Staying within the boundary of 'personal use' quantities is a better bet than sweating current crypto security." is always a good idea. Using crypto for small items is fine, for now, but keep a low profile.

[LMT737]

Every single time I have tried it never seems to work. Haha that could be a user issue here. I just did not take the time to figure it out. A blacklisted vendor wanted me to try it. A very famous blacklisted vendor and every name I was given would not go thru. So I have not tried it since.

[Bubba Gamps]

I buy bitcoins using coinbase since the site is relatively easy to navigate, then transfer the bitcoins to a different wallet to send payment.
Coinbase does have a waiting period before the funds can be transferred to another wallet which is a little over two weeks.  You can trade the bitcoins right away, but you have to wait to transfer them.