This might make you SERIOUSLY RECONSIDER 'BITCOINS'

[fansubs_ca]

IdahoCopper and tedandcam, where have you done your buying and selling of Bitcoins?
MtGox or somewhere closer to home?

[IdahoCopper]

I sold beef jerky for BTC several times. I just gave a public key to my BTC wallet to the customers.

I did start 3 trading accounts last year, Mt. Gox, BTC-E and Coinbase. I used them to exchange the BTC for USD, when I foolishly sold my BTC. Coinbase seemed to work the best for getting USD.

[tedandcam]

I opened an account with Mt Gox as well. I discovered afterwards that this exchange is based in Japan. I funded my wallet there by purchasing the BTC from an individual here in the US. I have been considering selling some of the BTC to secure some profit. Selling the BTC on the Mt Gox exchange is easy. The money is put into an account within the exchange and shows right next to your BTC wallet. Transferring the funds to an account here in the US has me somewhat concerned. I needed to get a SWIFT number from one of my dump banks (BofA). Boy, that got their attention! ( Its a routing number to receive funds from an international sender). They were very helpful in getting me the information I needed. But, the last thing the guy asked was "If you don't mind, what do you need this for?" I asked him if he knew what BTC were and he said "Yes, some people have been getting rich on them!" I told him I havent gotten rich but, the few I have made money.

I don't like the international transfer thing. That's the kind of stuff that gets the banking industry attention for their Homeland Security , NSA, and money laundering scrutiny.I already have some banks attention from withdrawing cash $2k at a time. But I always bring it back in coin. Its obvious to the bank employees what I do. we talk quite often and they seem to like me well enough.

I need to find out if there is any exchange based here in the US, transfer the BTC to a wallet here and then sell some on that exchange to lock in some profit. I have learned a bunch and still am a newb in this area.But, it sure has been fun and interesting.

Maybe Idaho can tell us if any of the exchanges are based here in the US. Ted

[IdahoCopper]

Ted - Take a look at coinbase.com. I moved BTC from my other exchange accounts to coinbase, then converted them to USD within coinbase. It was easy to transfer the USD from coinbase to my bank account via a normal online bank transfer.

[IdahoCopper]

It is a bit clunky, but it works. Here is my 1st crack at a page for accepting BTC as payment for beef jerky, via Coinbase: http://www.beefjerky.com/BTCordnow.html

[tedandcam]

Thanks Idaho! I'm gonna give it a whirl and see. I really didn't like the idea of an International Bank Account Transfer (IBAN).

Where can I look at the price of BTC for coinbases' exchange without signing up? I can look at Mt Gox, bitstamp, btce, bitifinex and localbitcoins exchanges very easily. They all have different prices on their exchanges (Mt Gox is typically the highest price). I do want to convert at a good price. But, I am willing to convert at a discounted price for ease of transfer and keeping the Feds or NSA from snooping around me.

I have nothing to hide but, just don't like being looked at. My wife would have a fit if she thought I was garnering the attention of either! Ted

[IdahoCopper]

Ted - It is what it is. All the exchanges have different base fees and percentages. Just remember there is no free arbitrage in any efficient market. The different exchange rates reflect the varying costs of each exchange. Coinbase works to do what I need. Better is the enemy of good enough.

[tedandcam]

Thanks Idaho. I did manage to navigate around their website and the prices are quite in line with what I am looking for. AND they are based in San Francisco Thats what I am looking for! When I get a day off I am gonna set up a wallet with them and move some if not all my BTC there. I have some in cold storage. I may keep them that way. They are in my safe deposit box with private key info. My 16 yr old can handle those if anything would happen to me. Great kid! He knows my wishes and understands more of what I have going on than my wife Ted

[IdahoCopper]

I'm sure a great 16 y.o. kid would appreciate some beef jerky .... hint, hint... lol!

[Engineer]

I'm sure a great 16 y.o. kid would appreciate some beef jerky .... hint, hint... lol!

I'm waiting for the bacon jerky.

[dannan14]

I originally wanted 21 bitcoins, 1/1,000,000th of the total. While they were in the $16-$18 range I accumulated 18 BTC. Then they went up pretty quickly towards $265, life dealt its usual quirks and I needed cash, so I sold most of them around $100. Now I have 4 BTC, presently worth $1670. If I had stayed with my original intention of getting and holding 21 BTC, they would now be worth $8,760. Not a life-changing amount, but enough to take notice.

I firmly believe that bitcoin will be worth more than $1000 each in the short term and will probably be worth $10,000 each in the longer term. But that doesn't mean I'll sell any of the Ag stack to buy my way up to 21 BTC.

When they were in the $8-10 i considered dropping $200 or so on them. Funny how that would have worked out to somewhere near 21. i never consciously thought of that potential investment as being one millionth of the total even though i had all the necessary info to come to that conclusion. Anyway, i ended up spending the money on silver. i kinda wish i would have gone half and half though!

[IdahoCopper]

I got my first BTC sale on the new pages overnight. Its great to make money while sleeping.

Coinbase processes the transaction and currency conversion. One of the Coinbase techs bought a bag of jerky. That really helped me to see and understand the order flow process and make a few minor tweaks to the new BTC pages.

Next up is a press release to the media, and some postings on the BTC boards to get the word out to all those folks who got bitcoin for $0.01 each and now want to spend some at $443.40 each.

[tedandcam]

I got my first BTC sale on the new pages overnight. Its great to make money while sleeping.

Coinbase processes the transaction and currency conversion. One of the Coinbase techs bought a bag of jerky. That really helped me to see and understand the order flow process and make a few minor tweaks to the new BTC pages.

Next up is a press release to the media, and some postings on the BTC boards to get the word out to all those folks who got bitcoin for $0.01 each and now want to spend some at $443.40 each.

Congrats on that 1st sale Idaho! Even better...that BTC has grown in value since the sale! Trading at new all time high of $542.24 as I post. It was probably around $450 when you made the sale. Thats a 20% increase.

I agree with your earlier post that these will soon hit $1000. At that point I have some serious considering to do on how many to sell. I won't sell more than 80%...but I will have to sell a chunk. Just a matter of profit taking. All this stuff is fun but, I do have to be prudent with what has come my way. Ted

[IdahoCopper]

Ted .. unless you have a pressing purpose for the money ... dont sell your bitcoin hoard. 21 million coins vs 7 billion people is the metric to remember. $1000 PER BTC IS ONLY THE START IN THE NEXT 10 YEARS.

[tedandcam]

Thanks Idaho, I definitely don't need the money and shouldn't have a need ever. It was money I "threw away" when I purchased them. I do need to try and keep that mindset.I have looked at BTC as a hedge, and they actually have performed as a hedge. It could serve my family well to keep that hedge in play. $602 as I post. Even my 16 yr old is amazed as to what is happening with BTC. Ted

[barrytrot]

I sold all my BTC other than the 2 Casascius coins on my desk at around $450 last week some time.

Odds of it going STRAIGHT UP without a pull back? Very little.

Also the one thing that people need to remember with BTC is the barrier to entry is ZERO. BTC is the king of its type right now and probably will be, but another "coin" filling its spot is definitely a possibility. I still am VERY bullish on crypto currency in general, fyi. I'll buy back in when it goes lower. If it doesn't I'll be very surprised.

[beauanderos]

bitcoins is performing the way silver and gold would if they weren't suppressed

[blackrabbit]

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101205416

Bitcoin over $600, shoulda, coulda, woulda. Damn!

[InfleXion]

Ted .. unless you have a pressing purpose for the money ... dont sell your bitcoin hoard. 21 million coins vs 7 billion people is the metric to remember. $1000 PER BTC IS ONLY THE START IN THE NEXT 10 YEARS.

I would caution against this line of thinking, BitCoin has no exclusivity on being the only digital currency. Competition is inevitable, and BitCoin is a speculator's market. I'm not saying there has to be a mad dash to the next big thing, but it is a possibility.

[InfleXion]

The other thing to remember is that a global digital currency is in the powers' best interests for having a centralized system of control. It's right there on the game plan. Considering how much money the Fed spends, they or any other central bank could easily rig the market by buying and selling to each other at agreed upon bid/ask. There is no regulation here. To assume that BitCoin can rise to such heights without their blessing or cooperation is more than I am willing to do.

[aloneibreak]

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101205416

Bitcoin over $600, shoulda, coulda, woulda. Damn!

now $800

happy for anyone who is making bank on these

im gonna go clank a couple ase's together - sure wouldn't be able to do that with digital blips...

[scyther]

This is killing me. Why didn't I buy some over the summer. I was going to. Agh! Of course I know it will crash the moment I buy in...

[Engineer]

This is killing me. Why didn't I buy some over the summer. I was going to. Agh! Of course I know it will crash the moment I buy in...

IMHO the big boys are running it up and they'll let it crash soon.

[scyther]

This is killing me. Why didn't I buy some over the summer. I was going to. Agh! Of course I know it will crash the moment I buy in...

IMHO the big boys are running it up and they'll let it crash soon.

I'm sure it will crash soon... but how low? I think it will still be higher than it was 2 weeks ago.

[tedandcam]

Volatility is sure to increase as the price increases. And I am sure that just like Au and Ag the "Big Boys" have a hand in it. But at least there has been some growth in riding out the current tides. Depending on entry point and stomach for the volatility.

I remember the stomach churning and second guessing when I first bought Au and Ag. I learned a lot putting my money into them. I became much more patient over time in what and when to purchase. Like others, some of the best moves I made were ones I walked away from and waited for something better. I love my roll searching. Thats the best money I invest. The reason I keep it is because I know that it is sound over time.

For me on BTC, the stomach churning and second guessing are past me(at least for a long way down). I "threw away" $600 a year ago when I purchased them.I threw away another $600 a few weeks ago and got 2 physical BYC. I may throw another $600 away on them next year, after some crash and a leveling off period. I'll wait it all out and see what I do.