Instant Bitcoin Purchases at Coinbase • Hacker News Board

Re: Instant Bitcoin Purchases at Coinbase

#31

Post by jrockway » Thu, Jul 11, 2013, 10:32 PM UTC

lwhalen wrote: post #14

To 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…

It's a standard service aggregated from public records, credit reports, etc. Sign up for any sort of ... anything, and you'll be asked these. UPS accounts, brokerages, Google Wallet, etc.

In many cases (I haven't tried this one in particular), the site you're visiting does not see the questions and answers, so only organizations that already know every detail of your life get to see them.

They seem creepy, but you have to ask yourself: why wouldn't some company know my address and who else lived there at the same time? The companies that send me catalogs and pre-approved credit offerings certainly know. (I forget the entire list of questions, but all the ones I've seen lately are address-based.)

Re: Instant Bitcoin Purchases at Coinbase

#32

Post by lwhalen » Thu, Jul 11, 2013, 10:32 PM UTC

chatmasta wrote: post #28

lwhalen wrote: post #14

To 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…

Our team at Startup Weekend actually worked on "Identity Verification for Developers." So I'm pretty familiar with this. These kind of questions are called "wallet questions." You can get a lot of them from county records, which are public.

Don't suppose you could share a few links where I could find out about digging up this kind of information on myself, could you? I'm kind of curious to see what kind of data-trails I'm dropping :-)

(he asks as he starts dropping search terms into Google...)

Re: Instant Bitcoin Purchases at Coinbase

#33

Post by downandout » Thu, Jul 11, 2013, 10:36 PM UTC

mahyarm wrote: post #29

downandout wrote: post #11

Someone credible is finally trying to compensate for the abysmal failure that is Bitinstant (see 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 purc…

Isn't that like most credit cards, bank accounts with online banks and creating a 'link' between bank accounts you own already at this point?

The 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.

Re: Instant Bitcoin Purchases at Coinbase

#34

Post by tocomment » Thu, Jul 11, 2013, 10:44 PM UTC

wilfra wrote: post #18

tocomment wrote: post #12

I'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?

Buy 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.

Very good point! I still think there's got to be a solution to selling bitcoins without so much overhead.

Re: Instant Bitcoin Purchases at Coinbase

#35

Post by sneak » Thu, Jul 11, 2013, 10:46 PM UTC

citricsquid wrote: post #16

lwhalen wrote: post #14

To 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…

Probably your credit report. The information you mention is what would be on your credit report, assuming that car was purchased with financing.

I have never financed a car yet my auto ownership history is in these databases.

I think they buy them in bulk from state DMVs.

Re: Instant Bitcoin Purchases at Coinbase

#36

Post by ferdo » Thu, Jul 11, 2013, 10:52 PM UTC

Different 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.

Re: Instant Bitcoin Purchases at Coinbase

#37

Post by baddox » Thu, Jul 11, 2013, 10:55 PM UTC

ferdo wrote: post #36

Different 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.

It only defeats some of the purposes of the currency.

Re: Instant Bitcoin Purchases at Coinbase

#38

Post by drx » Thu, Jul 11, 2013, 10:56 PM UTC

lwhalen wrote: post #14

To 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…

Does anyone a Stripe-like startup providing a service like this?

Re: Instant Bitcoin Purchases at Coinbase

#39

Post by oscilloscope » Thu, Jul 11, 2013, 10:56 PM UTC

magoon wrote: post #26

Think about it -- this is news because Bitcoin is a less approachable currency than....stamps, or baseball cards.

Those 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.

Re: Instant Bitcoin Purchases at Coinbase

#40

Post by baddox » Thu, Jul 11, 2013, 10:59 PM UTC

joelrunyon wrote: post #6

Isn'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.

Pseudo-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).