I would like to point everyone's attention to the fact that the difficulty of buying bitcoins has to do with the current banking system and regulations, not with Bitcoin itself. If you could buy bitcoins by swiping your card, its price would currently be more like $100k, not $1k. Accepting Bitcoin and trading in Bitcoin are the easiest things in the world.
It's practically impossible for regular people to buy Bitcoin
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Re: It's practically impossible for regular people to buy Bitcoin
#42Considering how the price is doing even though it is really hard to buy the things, I shudder to think what would happen if you could buy them at your local bank branch.
I've paid for BTC with a bank deposit before. Unsure if any exchanges still offer this
Plenty of private sellers still do.
Re: It's practically impossible for regular people to buy Bitcoin
#43Even these comments here are full of obstacles. Its like techies are so into btc they cant comprehend an article stating a real problem witb bitcoin. Its supposed to be easy but it isnt, all these btc exchanges/markers/sites are worse than normal banking/trade sites. No I havent handed my photo to my bank and I wont do so for all the shady btc sites mentioned here. I dont hand my ID or "get verified" to amazon when b…
I was with you until the final sentence, which makes you sound emotionally involved rather than putting forward a logical argument.
That aside, let me retort;
> Its supposed to be easy but it isnt
I agree, and I'll be hugely surprised if some enterprising individual doesn't solve the friction soon.
> No I havent handed my photo to my bank and I wont do so for all the shady btc sites mentioned here. I dont hand my ID or "get verified" to amazon when buying stuff or other currencies either.
I agree. I used bitbargain which was essentially as easy - and documentation free - as using my internet banking to transfer some funds to some bloke's bank account, who then released coin to me. It made me nervous doing it (what other system asks you to log in to your internet banking and xfer funds to some guy's account, simply trusting that they will deliver?) but it's about as easy as it gets currently.
It's a new frontier, it's bound to be rough around the edges. And make no mistake, buying BTC is the edge. Once you've passed that hurdle, the simplicity is beautiful.
Re: It's practically impossible for regular people to buy Bitcoin
#44Same experience here. I wanted to grab some Litecoin last week as people started speculating with them as well but I won't totally give up my privacy to shady websites for some gambling.
The only practical way to buy litecoins right now is buying bitcoins first, then buying litecoins with bitcoins.
Re: It's practically impossible for regular people to buy Bitcoin
#45It is not practically impossible to buy bitcoins. It may take a little effort that is all and even then it is minimal effort if you spend any time at a computer. Localbitcoins.com – You can buy bitcoins from other individuals either in person or using bank transfer. There is an escrow system in place for protection of buyer and seller. Using bank transfer you dont even need to leave your house, you can do it via onli…
Kraken.com: Up to 10.000$ a month _without_ the need to be verified (SEPA transfer). I signed up and had my EURs on the platform after two days of SEPA transfer.
Re: It's practically impossible for regular people to buy Bitcoin
#46Even these comments here are full of obstacles. Its like techies are so into btc they cant comprehend an article stating a real problem witb bitcoin. Its supposed to be easy but it isnt, all these btc exchanges/markers/sites are worse than normal banking/trade sites. No I havent handed my photo to my bank and I wont do so for all the shady btc sites mentioned here. I dont hand my ID or "get verified" to amazon when b…
You're right, it should be easier, there's some startups trying to fix this (coinbase, most notably), but there's still a long way to go.
>I dont hand my ID or "get verified" to amazon when buying stuff or other currencies either.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Know_your_customer
This is for legal compliance w/ anti-money laundering laws that many financial institutions, currency transmitters etc have to follow
Re: It's practically impossible for regular people to buy Bitcoin
#47Although I agree with many things that the author says, I wouldn't say practically impossible.
I, myself, have bought bitcoins and set up wallets for two friends and a family member, regular people as the author would say. After seriously warning them, and letting them know that chances are that they will lose all their investment, they transferred me the money and I gave them the instructions for the wallet.
However, I believe that the more the bitcoin economy grows the easier will be for people to acquire them. I also hope that people will start spending them, instead of just keeping them as an investment.
Re: It's practically impossible for regular people to buy Bitcoin
#48this guy is not doing something right, or the fact he lives in 10 different places around the world is a factor. I had no trouble at all, beyond waiting a few days for MtGox to verify me (when they were swamped at the time), and Bitstamp was a day's wait after I fixed the PNG they wanted (not enough dpi for their automated document scanner). That was just a week or two ago. so to me, all his reasons are specious ones…
I'm a Dutch citizen with a Dutch bank account (with online banking) who can do European transfers with ease. It doesn't matter where I live, as far as this concerned I'm the same as any Dutch/European citizen.
Re: It's practically impossible for regular people to buy Bitcoin
#49This is why I was unable to buy bitcoins when I first read about them on HN in 2010 and similar in 2011 when the price had gone over $1 and actually showed promise. (I have some emails to colleagues / friends showing my frustration at the time of wanting to get some) I always wanted just 1 (still do), but back in 2010 I was just going to spend £100 and see what happens. It seems in the US the people who did similar t…
I had a good experience buying via: http://bitbargain.co.uk
Re: It's practically impossible for regular people to buy Bitcoin
#50When the primary way of trading bitcoin is through unregulated exchanges based in Slovenia and Bulgaria the bigger concern should be your ability to get your money out in the future.