It's practically impossible for regular people to buy Bitcoin • Hacker News Board

Re: It's practically impossible for regular people to buy Bitcoin

#81

Post by tigerweeds » Thu, Nov 28, 2013, 6:46 PM UTC

consti2k wrote: post #45

celticninja wrote: post #16

It 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.

Minimum withdrawal amount is eur 500 fee 1%, minimum fee = eur 100

100 EUR fee for a bank transfer? that's insane.

Re: It's practically impossible for regular people to buy Bitcoin

#82

Post by rsiqueira » Thu, Nov 28, 2013, 6:51 PM UTC

wellboy wrote: post #53

Not really, just use http://virwox.com/ and you can Bitcoins through credit card or paypal instantly. There is a daily account limit though of $110 for new accounts, after 10 days of $150 etc.

I've just tried VirWox and unfortunately I was not able to buy bitcoins there since there is a minimum of bitcoins that I need to buy (this was not informed in their FAQ). So I'm requesting that they refund my paypal payment. Let's see what will happen..

Re: It's practically impossible for regular people to buy Bitcoin

#83

Post by summerdown2 » Thu, Nov 28, 2013, 7:07 PM UTC

PaulJoslin wrote: post #14

This 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…

Me too. I tried several times, but was always stymied by living in the UK away from London and not wanting to give my personal/financial details to a site I didn't trust on the internet.

If there was a way to pay cash and get bitcoins, I'd have done it years ago.

Re: It's practically impossible for regular people to buy Bitcoin

#84

Post by summerdown2 » Thu, Nov 28, 2013, 7:16 PM UTC

wcummings wrote: post #46

antocv wrote: post #31

Even 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

Pardon my ignorance, but I thought bitcoin was supposed to be an anonymous cryptocurrency.

I've read recently that there was a large bitcoin transfer (which had to happen in public due to the nature of the currency), and now all the sites are requiring highly sensitive IDs to function (eg passport scans).

I'm honestly confused. This all seems more restrictive and less anonymous and groundbreaking than cash would be if it were introduced today.

Re: It's practically impossible for regular people to buy Bitcoin

#85

Post by drcross » Thu, Nov 28, 2013, 7:24 PM UTC

The very first sentence shows that the author does not know what he's talking about. Tulips manic is not an accurate comparison because the number of Bitcoins can't be increased except through mining which is a predetermined rate. Tulips can easily be increased by planting more.

Re: It's practically impossible for regular people to buy Bitcoin

#86

Post by Guest2931 » Thu, Nov 28, 2013, 7:25 PM UTC

mpg33 wrote: post #79

koevet wrote: post #52

I don't agree. The first time I acquired bitcoins it was through this website: https://localbitcoins.com I signed up, posted a request for a meeting and two hours later I met a guy at a main station of a European capital where I got my bitcoins. Few days later I signed up for MtGox. Again, the verification process took around 24 hours and from that point I was able to buy and sell bitcoins using my regular bank accou…

Same here...localbitcoins was very easy.

Is this really practical for mainstream use though? If I want to buy a single bitcoin, I need to meet a stranger and bring $1,000 in cash? If this is the recommended method of acquiring bitcoins, it deserves to fail.

Re: It's practically impossible for regular people to buy Bitcoin

#87

Post by teringnering » Thu, Nov 28, 2013, 7:28 PM UTC

People in the EU should really try bitcoin.de. This is a reputation based marketplace. First level of verification is not hard, taking 2 days.

Re: It's practically impossible for regular people to buy Bitcoin

#88

Post by agashka » Thu, Nov 28, 2013, 7:30 PM UTC

mpg33 wrote: post #79

koevet wrote: post #52

I don't agree. The first time I acquired bitcoins it was through this website: https://localbitcoins.com I signed up, posted a request for a meeting and two hours later I met a guy at a main station of a European capital where I got my bitcoins. Few days later I signed up for MtGox. Again, the verification process took around 24 hours and from that point I was able to buy and sell bitcoins using my regular bank accou…

Same here...localbitcoins was very easy.

I am a Canadian resident, and went through canadianbitcoins.com about 3 months ago. It was relatively easy and didn't take much time to get my bitcoins.

Re: It's practically impossible for regular people to buy Bitcoin

#89

Post by guard-of-terra » Thu, Nov 28, 2013, 7:41 PM UTC

pieterhg wrote: post #26

peteretep wrote: post #13

?! In the US, Coinbase is easy In the UK, Bittylicious is easy I'm sorry it's so hard in Germany, but your title should be "It's hard to buy Bitcoins in Germany"

I'm not from Germany, but Netherlands. But your point stands if you're talking about everywhere outside UK/US.

From Russia (and Ukraine perhaps) it's like very straightforward too. You just set up a btc-e.com account and send in cash via Qiwi.

There are a lot of local services mentioned in the comments, so it seems. If there aren't in Netherlands why don't you create one?

Re: It's practically impossible for regular people to buy Bitcoin

#90

Post by spiralpolitik » Thu, Nov 28, 2013, 7:48 PM UTC

Should be retitled "It's practically impossible for people in my country to buy Bitcoin" as the generalization defeats the point of the article as at least for 300 million people (some of whom are "regular"), the process of buying bitcoin is no more difficult than the process of signing up for a PayPal account.

If you are not one of these countries then contacting your representative/member of parliament and asking them to campaign the legislation changed is generally a much better way of getting the situation resolved than writing whiny articles on the internet.