[Bsims]

Give it a few years. Once the Supreme Court overturns the Bradley Act in their next session, a lot of states will legalize it in some form or other.

I suspect you are right. But even a few years will likely be too late for me (73 and poor health).

[ace7550]

Is bank account the only way to buy ?

You can also buy with a credit card but there is a fee and you can only do it for smaller amounts. I always use wire. I transfer a few thousand in one shot and then I am set for a long time.

[ace7550]

I got a question. I downloaded the mycelium wallet to my phone. And they gave me a bunch of random words to write down. Is that the seed? Also I lost the random words I wrote down. So what does that mean? I can't ever transfer that wallet to a different phone? Can I still have money deposited to that wallet and access it? Or should I just close the wallet and never use it again. This stuff gets confusing.

That random set of words was most likely a secret key for you to use in case you ever lost your login info. I would transfer to a new wallet and forget about the one that you lost the secret key to.

[themike78]

That random set of words was most likely a secret key for you to use in case you ever lost your login info. I would transfer to a new wallet and forget about the one that you lost the secret key to.

Thanks.

[MeanPeopleSuck]

Is bank account the only way to buy ?

EDIT: Sorry, I didn't see Ace had already answered this.

There's sites you can use credit/debit cards to buy Bitcoin, but their fees tend to be ridiculous: 7-10% kind of stuff. If you do go that route, I'd recommend Bitstamp.net. Their gouging's slightly less bloody than other places like Coinmama.

But really, the best way to fund your first account to buy Bitcoin is by b_ank wire; it requires a small amount of ID verification and takes a few business days to settle, but the fees are very low and you're allowed to send a lot more money than the credit card route.

FWIW, I think Bitstamp.net's also the best starter account for the b_ank wire method (why does SBR censor the word "b_ank"?), but Coinbase works, too.

[boneheaded1]

I suspect you are right. But even a few years will likely be too late for me (73 and poor health).

Well that sucks. Hope it's been a good run up to this point.

And I hope you do live to see it.

[Bsims]

Well that sucks. Hope it's been a good run up to this point.

And I hope you do live to see it.

Thanks, it has been a good run, and I'm kicking ass on MLB this summer. I tell people that looking back on my life, the only thing I'd change is that I would have played more baseball.

[boneheaded1]

Thanks, it has been a good run, and I'm kicking ass on MLB this summer. I tell people that looking back on my life, the only thing I'd change is that I would have played more baseball.

Do you mean play physically or gamble more on it?

Would love to show this to my kid. 21 years old. Walked away from playing in college, as the starting first baseman. I get it, we lived a little more than an hour away from the JC he was playing at so it was some long days. He had UNR looking at him and Santa Clara. He probably would have made it to low AA ball high AA at the most. He was mainly a catcher but they had a catcher but no first baseman. So he played first at college instead.

I was a little ticked when he hung it up because it was big time commitment on my part up til that point. I actually don't like the sport much at all so how he got into it I'll never know. But he would always ask me to catch him, pitch to him, hit ground balls, etc. and it was time spent with him so I said alright. He was always good, never the best kid in the league but always one of the 5 best. Then in high school he really turned it on. Made Legionball and was invited to an invite only travel team. And I do mean invite only. It wasn't one of those pay and you're in. He had to try out and someone got cut to make room for him. If you were a big time high school player in the county you were on that team. Even had some kids from other counties. The 18U team had the current player of the year from three different leagues and every runner up. And everybody on the team was a first team all league for their school. When he was 15 he played on both the 15u and 18u. 15 years old and facing 17-18 year old pitchers with scholarships to D1 schools. A lot of travel the to tournaments. Played at the Seattle/San Diego spring training facility several times for some big time tournaments./showcases. 16 years old hitting 420 feet with a wood bat. Anyways you get the picture. Dude had skill. He worked hard at it too. Even he knew he was most likely a long shot. On the exclusive team he was a starter but not the star. The stars from that team went on to get drafted. One is in the royals organization, another in the diamondbacks organization and four others at pac12 schools on some type of partial scholarships (in baseball if you are good enough to be offered a full scholarship at a high level D1, you are no doubt being drafted in the first 5 rounds).

So he knew he was a long shot but he still expressed interest in playing it out and I wanted him to. Play until you are either told you can't play anymore or you have gone as far as you can and the drive is gone.

He still had room to play at a higher level than he was whether at a D1 school and then the minors or just straight to the minors. But he just gave up on it. Going out and hanging with his friends was more important than hitting the books. I told him to just suck it up and take cheese classes. I knew he was only there for ball and he would have to do college all over again once ball was over but he just didn't want to do it.

All I could do is tell him how much he was going to regret this decision down the line. He's been out two years and it's over now, you don't take that much time off and come back. Not unless you were a god.

And I know the day will come where he will admit he ****** up but it will offer little solace as he pissed away a chance to just chase a dream and most likely come closer than 98-99% of all the guys who ever had that dream in high school.

Sorry for the story but your little baseball comment brought that out of me. Still a sore spot for me cuz I was there doing the work and sacrificing just as much as he was. Not because of my "little johnny" syndrome but because he worked hard at it and had ability and I wanted to give him an opportunity to chase it even though I was pretty sure he would only get close to he prize.

Anyways, keep killing the MLB. I stay away from it. Don't really follow it as I don't really like the game that much. Thanks to my kid; I have a deep understanding of it and an appreciation of the skills and abilities of the players but it's just a fricking boring game.

[pattymayo]

Is bank account the only way to buy ?

See if there are any bitcoin atms near you

A bunch here in NYC, just go to the ATM with cash, buy it, send to Airbitz then send to sportsbook. Entire process takes minutes.

No need for coinbase

[swordsandtequila]

You can also buy with a credit card but there is a fee and you can only do it for smaller amounts. I always use wire. I transfer a few thousand in one shot and then I am set for a long time.

Are you referring to ItBit? I created an account and my only options for fiat are wire. FAQ says credit/debit/paypal are not currently accepted (supposedly in the works).

[ace7550]

You can use credit card at other exchanges but Itbit does not support it yet.

[MeanPeopleSuck]

See if there are any bitcoin atms near you

A bunch here in NYC, just go to the ATM with cash, buy it, send to Airbitz then send to sportsbook. Entire process takes minutes.

No need for coinbase

Very cool post. I've never deposited bitcoin via ATM, so do you mind if I pick your brain a bit?

How does that work, do you need a special debit card? If so, where do you acquire it? Which exchange's prices do they use to exchange dollars to BTC? How bad are the fees?

Thanks in advance!

[Optional]

Very cool post. I've never deposited bitcoin via ATM, so do you mind if I pick your brain a bit?

How does that work, do you need a special debit card? If so, where do you acquire it? Which exchange's prices do they use to exchange dollars to BTC? How bad are the fees?

Thanks in advance!

The ATMS are often run by one person or a small company.

If you use an ATM you can try to ring the operator and work out whatever you want to do payment wise with them. And also negotiate the commission rate charged. Default seems to be about 8% but market rate is more like 4% for regulars if you negotiate.

[Sam Odom]

am waiting on Starbucks (gasp) to install BTC ATMs in their stores... rumors of this been on going for 2yrs

can already load Starbucks app with btc

[MeanPeopleSuck]

The ATMS are often run by one person or a small company.

If you use an ATM you can try to ring the operator and work out whatever you want to do payment wise with them. And also negotiate the commission rate charged. Default seems to be about 8% but market rate is more like 4% for regulars if you negotiate.

Thanks for the info, O. 8%? Screw that noise.

To OP: make your first deposit by bnk wire, then, if history holds -- no promises on anything in crypto -- but if history holds, it'll increase in value so much you may never have to add to your initial investment. I was trying to think when the last time I actually did a wire INTO Bitstamp and I honestly can't remember.

[ChuckyTheGoat]

am waiting on Starbucks (gasp) to install BTC ATMs in their stores... rumors of this been on going for 2yrs

can already load Starbucks app with btc

Would love to hear stories like this. I'm not a big technology guy. I have 2 thoughts on Crypto:

1) I'm not sure I envision Cryptos getting to the point of being processed at most restaurants. Can't get hung in the network. More likely, Bitcoins downloaded to a rewards card, which can work automatically.

2) I'm a big believer that the market is going to settle in on just 1 or 2 of these Cryptos. Other than BtC, how are these smaller Cryptos going to distinguish themselves? I have a feeling that almost all of these minor Cryptos are going to play out like Penny-stocks that go to zero.