Episode-1850- Getting Started with Bitcoin and Ether
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Coinbase is the Safe and Easy Way to Get Started with Bitcoin
Today I am going to go into the basics of what Bitcoin, Ether and other alternative currencies are, how they work, why they work and how you can use them.
I am not and I do not claim to be an expert on alternative currencies. What I do have is an exceptional understanding of money and economics, and while Bitcoin and other alt coins are not “money” as defined by the US Government (which is good by the way), they are in fact money and every bit as legitimate as the US Dollar, in fact as you will see today perhaps more so.
My hope at the end of the show today is that if you want to use bitcoin you know how to and can do so without fear. To dispel the continued propaganda myths around alt currencies and to dispel the dumbest myth of all, that Bitcoin is akin to virtual Tulip Mania.
Join Me Today To Discuss…
- First how conventional money works
- Monetary Creation
- Where the “value” comes from
- Why this insane system does in fact work
- How Bitcoins are “mined”
- Why Bitcoin is deflationary
- What makes Bitcoin secure or not secure
- How Bitcoin can be very public or very private
- What is Ether, how is it different from Bitcoin
- What about other alternative currencies
- The easy way to get started
- Coinbase (Click Here to Set Up an Account)
- A lot like Paypal
- Can hold Bitcoin and Ether as well as Dollars
- Yes they do report to the .Gov
- They are extremely secure
- Allows you to buy, sell, send and receive Bitcoin
- Coinbase (Click Here to Set Up an Account)
- My final thoughts on Bitcoin as an “investment”
- Instantly Liquid (48 hours in a vault)
- Can be completely hidden from seizure
- Is not legally money (this is good)
- Total quantity and production is know
- More users must increase the value of it
Resources for today’s show…
- Join the Members Brigade
- The Year 1850
- Join Our Forum
- Walking To Freedom
- TSP Gear
- AgriTrue.com
- TspAz.com – Support TSP When You Shop on Amazon
- GrandaddysGun.Com
- CoinBase.com
- Article on Investing in Ether
- Twenty One – Corey Smith
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Have you seen the site fiatleak.com
It is a global map that shows when a bitcoin is purchased which country did it happen in. Crazy to watch the world wide active especially what’s happening in China. Thanks for covering this topic
Why not use KeePass to store the bitcoin number? Then you have direct control over it. You can have it so you have to have the key to get into KeePass. So it would be similar to CoinBase, where you need that second verification.
Enjoyed the show. I’m a programmer but haven’t really gotten into BitCoin yet. I guess I’m a late adopter for a lot of technologies. I think part of the reason I will be coming in late is that there really aren’t that many places to use it and I’m conservative with new technologies (except new programming languages, I’m light years ahead in that area 🙂 ).
Best place to spend bitcoin right now is purse.io buy absolutely anything amazon sells but buy it with bitcoin. Straight off the bat you can save 5% but if you want to bid on a discount I have saved up to 18%. The other side of the transaction is someone wanting to buy bitcoin and use amazon credits thay have. Fun fact the largest digital currency in the world is amazon credit. Look in to the mechanical turks. Amazon pays a huge virtual army of online workers and pays them in amazon credit. Like the company store. In some situations they don’t ship to some of the places these people live interestingly they do have access to the internet to do work. they do want bitcoin and sometimes are willing to pay a 18% premium to buy my amazon wishlist if I pay them in bitcoin. Purse.io holds the bitcoins in escrow. When I receive the items by normal mail or ups I login and confirm. Purse.io releases the funds. The one time I didn’t get my items purse.io gave me back my bitcoins.
I just checked out purse.io. Thanks for posting Michael. I love shopping on Amazon and I am looking to get started with Bitcoin thank to Jack’s episode. Looks like this is a great way to do that.
You can even buy bitcoin on purse. by paying for the other persons amazon wishlist and have them pay you in bitcoin. I wouldn’t do it myself, good option for under served area maybe. I can get a better rate on coinbase for the same reasons jack mentioned, I am just saying you can. There are lots of options these days.
This is good info, thanks Michael!
Great episode Jack. I love the song choice too.
I don’t mean to be the only bitcoin geek on here yammering. But I do have to mention the double entendre of a song about the number 21 in a bitcoin episode. The whole ever only being 21 million in existence part. I laughed to myself when I realized it had nothing to do with bitcoin at all. Great song and everything it just that there is a genre on YouTube for people writing songs about bitcoin.
Here is one https://youtu.be/oc9GiB0MePs
If you like discounts try using https://airbitz.co/ as a wallet for “spending money” level holdings. You can even sometimes get gift cards for Starbucks (up to 20%) or target (up to 10%) with it. The other side of the transaction is a company https://coffee.foldapp.com/ that buys unwanted or partially used gift cards form people at less then face value. Due to low friction with bitcoin to transfer value they can resale a $5, $10 or $20 gift card with in the app using a scan able QR code at a profit. I have walked in to Starbucks several times logged in on thier wifi, bought the gift card at a discount. Bought my coffee, resold the odd $2.35 or whatever balance back for bitcoin before leaving the store. I have noticed the cards are not available every time like they were a year ago.
Other then that cool feature it is a great wallet in general for iPhone or Android. Great security and a backup feature that can reload your holdings on to a new device from the blockchain (if you activate it). Useful if you say drop your phone in the toilet and it had some bits on it.
I loved your explanation on how money works. Thanks for adding that to the show. Many people don’t realize how money is created.
Folks, you can spend your bitcoin just like USD, anywhere you want to.
You hook a Shift debit card up to your Coinbase account. They send you a debit card with a Visa logo.
You use it anywhere you can use Visa, without converting anything. Shift automatically converts your Bitcoin into USD and pays the merchant, debiting the money out of your Coinbase account.
You’re welcome.
Also, if you come over to Poloniex to start trading in crypto currencies, two rules:
1. The people chatting in the trollbox are NOT there to help you. They’re there to make money. Don’t ask them for help, they will troll you because you’re being lazy. Research the coins yourself and make informed decisions. Google is your friend.
2. Buy low, sell high.
@Carrie B, 1 1/2% for each trade to bitcoin adds up pretty fast. I think I would only want to do it if there was some kind of discount that made up for the loss in money.