I am Bitcoin user. Recently given away ~$14k worth of them to redditors for supporting charities, AMA!

• If I get paid in Bitcoins, what happens?

• Where do I get the money and how do I use it?

• What is the value of a bitcoin?

• How do you earn them, the website says you can earn a very small account by doing surveys, but doesnt that give spammers free reign?

• Why should I trust bitcoins to be my payment method instead of Paypal? How will I explain it in the simplest terms to a non internet guy?

• If someone sends me a bitcoin, can my ewallet be deleted by physical actions?

• Can I convert my bitcoins into my local currency as I suppose only major stores in US accept bitcoins as of now?

• Are bitcoin transfers tracked by custom and tax agencies?

• Is there an eligible age below which it is illegal to set up an account?

If I get paid in Bitcoins, what happens? Where do I get the money and how do I use it?

Say you have an address '1xyz987abc'. When somebody sends you some coins to this address, his program sends a short message to the bitcoin network, which is then relayed to all its nodes (users) and saved in the transaction history (called blockchain).

Now, when you want to spend any bitcoins, your program will send a short message to the bitcoin network: "I am the owner of the address 1xyz987abc; I want to transfer X coins to the address 1cba456qwe". The message will be signed by something called a "private key", a long, secret number generated along with the address itself. This ensures that you, and only you can spend your bitcoins. The message propagates throughout the network, the nodes verify it (check if there's sufficient balance on your address and that you don't try to send your coins to two or more addresses at once) and save it in blockchain... etc. etc.

What is the value of a bitcoin?

1BTC is worth exactly as much as services or goods you can purchase with it. If you don't find this answer explanatory enough, answer me this: how much is $1 worth :)?

You can currently buy around 46 dollars for one bitcoin if that's what you're asking.

How do you earn them, the website says you can earn a very small account by doing surveys, but doesnt that give spammers free reign?

You earn them like anything else you earn: you can accept them for good or services you provide. You could even beg for them, but please don't. Doing surveys is a waste of time in my opinion (and have always been, this is a way older business than Bitcoin idea itself).

Why should I trust bitcoins to be my payment method instead of Paypal? How will I explain it in the simplect terms to a non internet guy?

You could look at Bitcoin as a system similar to Paypal (in terms of how you use it, no how to works!) - you only need to know the other guy's handle to make a transcation (e-mail in case of PP, address in case of BTC). The big differences are: there's no company behind BTC that tries to earn money on it (so nobody to freeze you account, or tell you what you can and can't do with your assets), there's no way to reverse BTC transaction (once they sent, the only way to get your coins back is for the other guy to send it back) and there's no transaction's size limits (you can send as little as 0.000045 cents given current prices).

If someone sends me a bitcoin, can my ewallet be deleted by physical actions?

As I tried to explain above, only a long number called a 'private key' is stored in your wallet file, which allows you sending bitcoins from addresses that you own. If you delete this file (and have no backups, and no other means of recovery) the bitcoins will still be assigned to your addresses in the blockchain; since there's no way for anyone to prove ownership though, they'll stay that way forever, unspendable.

edit: i wouldn't cannot enlirsh, even if me live will dependented at tihs

Can I convert my bitcoins into my local currency as I suppose only major stores in US accept bitcoins as of now?

That's simply not true, check out this comment thread. You can also sell your bitcoins and be paid in fiat currency if you have a bank account with IBAN.

Are bitcoin transfers tracked by custom and taxencies?

I'd like to see them try :). With some understanding of how BTC works and little effort you can spend and receive your coins pretty much anonymously.

Is there an eligible age below which it is illegal to set up an account?

See above; there's no way to check and enforce that, and nobody to enforce it neither. 3rd party services (exchanges, e-wallets) might have some TOS in that regard, and as we know everyone reads and follow those religiously :).

I too enjoy bit coins, have on dabbled on the silk road a few times.

Do you think BTC is the future?

Which vendor do you prefer or are you a vendor?

Can I have some free BTC?

Do you think BTC is the future?

I believe we need some kind of decentralized, p2p payment system at this point in human history. Bitcoin is just the first experiment trying to implement those concepts, and it seems to do very well by far, so yes.

Which vendor do you prefer or are you a vendor?

If by vendor you mean exchanges where you can buy bitcoins - I haven't really bought any serious amount. For selling I personally favor BitStamp, heard a lot good things about BTC-24 too.

Can I have some free BTC?

Since you were the first one to ask (I hope it doesn't violate any of the sub rules):

+tip .1btc verify

^{[✔] Verified: shakethatbass ---> ฿0.1 BTC [$4.72 USD] ---> Charlesm313131 [help]}

what.. what just happened?

Bitcointip bot Bitcoin tip, have one yourself:

+1 Internets verify

we can exchange bitcoins to each other via reddit comments now? i am feeling really dumb right now

Edit: thank you? i think...

You'll get a message with further basic instructions. Visit /r/bitcoin if you want to know more!

Bitcoin is the currency of the Internet. That is why it is so easy.

I'm glad someone finds it easy. I can't, for the life of me even figure out how to collect them or even where they are stored...

Bitcoins are just cryptographically signed accounting entries in a public ledger. The ledger is distributed (torrent style) to participating bitcoin user/nodes, so there are multiple identical copies of the list all over the internet. This allows each user to independently verify every transaction that has ever occurred.

A bitcoin user may have several wallets, which are just cryptographic signatures that allow them to sign transactions on the ledger (i.e. transfer/spend their bitcoins). The wallet is usually stored on the user's computer or on an online wallet service.

While that might not be easy to understand, it's damn accurate. I wish I could write like that :(

+tip .5btc verify

What motivated you to give away so much money to redditors instead of donating to the charities personally?

What motivated you to give away so much money to redditors instead of donating to the charities personally?

I love reddit, I love bitcoin, seemed like a natural thing to do :). Besides, I wanted as many people engaged as necessary, as I asked that anyone donating would also write a quick e-mail to the charity, explaining what bitcoin is and why should they start accepting it. Hopefully some of them put two and two together.

I know that it may seem like a waste to some of you, but hey, it's MY money :).

what services did you offer for BitCoins?

generally security related IT

Pentesting or just pening?

if you're ready to pay in BTC you can hire me over reddit, so you'd know for yourself :)

Who accepts bitcoin as a form of payment?

Who accepts bitcoin as a form of payment?

I do :). More and more people and services start to accept bitcoin everyday. Here is a good list of places. If you're in US (damn shipping fees:/!) you can check out Bitcoin Store. Also recently BitSpend was launched, which lets you buy virtually anything legal and pay in bitcoin, although level of interest forced them to temporary stop taking new orders.

Where do you see Bitcoin in the next 5 years?

I believe that in the next 5 years Bitcoin will become a widely accepted alternative currency.

Do you think that bitcoin mining is still worth it?

No, not for everyday user.

How do you pronounce your name? Is bass the musical term or the fish?

musical. i hate fish, although i occasionally enjoy fishing with friends. i made an account on reddit to comment in some electronic music subs, and i chose this handle because i have no imagination whatsoever. now that i googled it i see i'm not the only one.

When you buy btc, do you negotiate with sellers? Is there an etiquette to doing so? I was looking for some earlier - I have yet to make an actual purchase. I found sellers that were selling about USD 10 above market rate. Is that normal?

Also - how much would you say is safe to hold in an online wallet (assuming necessary precautions were taken like 2-type authentication)? Are we talking 2btc, 10btc or even more?

I don't buy much, but haggling is not unheard of AFAIK. That said, with value rising, it's sellers' market out there.

As for online wallets, only keep as much as you can afford to loose. With BTC economy growing I see exchanges and e-wallet services getting more and more mature security-wise, but you can never be sure. Remember, you're basically giving someone you don't know money to keep.

... but I'd say same goes for banks and fiat currencies :)

Basic 101 question, why would someone become a Bitcoin user?

Basic 101 question, why would someone become a Bitcoin user?

To gain freedom over what can you do with your money.

And, let be honest, drugs.

While this might give BTC a bad name, I think it's fair to say it's a real live proof of privacy and anonymity of Bitcoin ;)

Can I get some bitcoins man, I wanna order somthing awesome from silk road but I'm broke

sure you can man, I totally feel you; you must be quite high now, since you forgot to say what do you offer in return!!! lol 420 all the time 60% of the time broski

How do you get your Bitcoins on a regular basis? Do you buy them, earn them, or gamble them? How did you earn this particular sum of Bitcoins that you decided to give away?

When I do some work for somebody, I always tell them they can pay me in BTC. If they're interested, I take time to explain them the whole thing the best I can (don't charge for that obv). People reactions vary. Twice I'd got "you accept bitcoin? cool! send me your address" which made me really happy for some reason. Earned about 400btc altogether that way.

I recovered an old wallet.dat file (the basic way to store your bitcoins) that I'd long forgotten about, with quite a sum on it. I decided I'm going to share some of them with the world, and promoting free and independent payments system seemed like a noble enough cause.

Are you rich?

That depends on point of view I guess, but no, I don't feel rich. I have more than enough though (as in more than I need).

What do you think of the 'alt' currencies like Terracoin and Litecoin?

I don't see their point to be honest.

Would it have been possible to do what you did using Paypal or credit card, etc.?

Paypal maybe, but too much of a hassle. Besides I can almost see my account getting frozen after the n-th payment of $100 to yet another individual. And then who knows how long to explain them what and why was I doing with my own money. Ain't nobody got time fo' dat.

Thanks to /r/bitcointip, I only needed btc client and my browser (reddit and receipts check).

How did you get the bitcoins - did you buy them, earn them or mine them?

Accepted around ~400 btc as payments for my services (mind that prices were much lower). CPU mined lots of them long time ago and forgot about them, only to recover them recently.

Do you know of any web pages or articles that lay out the history or background of Bitcoins? They seem like a fascinating thing that I'm only barely understanding.

Check out the original paper.

How does one get bitcoins anyways? That confuses me.

Someone who has some already must send them to you.

You earn them like any other currency - through work, exchange or gift from a person that already has some.

Here is some of the third category:

+tip 0.01 BTC verify

How do you get the BTC that you receive on Reddit to another address? From what I can tell, you can't manually enter wallet information into the Bitcoin client.

You message /u/bitcointip bot with instructions, e.g. withraw 1btc 1xyzMyDesktopWallet

two questions, first, Is the closet analogy that bit coins are like stock based of the use of the internet? If that's not all that correct, can you explain bit coins in the simplest way possible? Ive heard of their use in tor but haven't seen them promoted anywhere else.

second, Do you think to the company, it would be worth it for amazon to promote using bit coins? sense the value fluctuates it doesn't seem reliable, as well as the anonymity factor.

I don't think I get the analogy, could you rephrase that?

As for explaining bitcoin in a simple way, We Use Coins do a much better job than I ever would. I'll happily answer any questions about particular aspects of BTC, given that I'm able to do so.

As for Amazon, as much as I would love to see them accepting/promoting BTC, it's waaaay too early for that. Although I don't think it violates their TOS if individual merchants wish to do so.

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Someone pointed me towards Kiva in my charity thread. I liked the idea instantly and promptly joined in.

When did you start your adventure with Bitcoin and why?

When did you start your adventure with Bitcoin and why?

I think it was late 2009/early 2010. I was struck by the simplicity and elegance of the process, plus I've always been a privacy freak. Didn't really except for it to take off to be honest.

What is your charity of choice / which charity would you like to see accept Bitcoin the most?

Any of them really. Hopefully a major one, so the rest would follow. If I had to choose, I'd choose one that provides people with the most basic things, like food, water or shelters.

I spoke to WaterAid at a hackathon a while ago about Bitcoin. They seemed very interested in the idea.

That's so cool! I hope something comes out of it.

Would you be able to confirm that you aren't just an ordinary Joe, but a Big Time Operator?

I would, but I won't. Most of my coins sit in the same wallets since I got them, knowing the addresses could possibly be used to link to my other accounts and maybe my real id even, which I find repulsive to say at least (linking, not my real id that is).

Besides, I'd much rather answer as an ordinary Joe who use Bitcoin to questions of other ordinary Joes who are curious about it.

Privacy and anonymity are core perks of Bitcoin, let's stay in that spirit.

Bitcoin seems to be something that older children and teens would be able to naturally understand better than adults that are set in their ways. Do you think something similar to what you did could get young people involved with charity and Bitcoin at the same time? Give the kids some amount of coins with the stipulation that X amount needs to go to a charity?

Yes I do. It'd be good if the kids would have to invest something on their own too, like time or work. Coins could be rewarded in a contest of some kind. If you have anything specific in mind let me know, I might want to chip in if I like your idea :).

How do you give/receive bitcoin tips on reddit?

With help of /r/bitcointip bot. Here's a quick start guide and full documentation. It works only on some subreddits by default though, you need to send some coiny love in author's direction (he deserves it fully!) to use it on every sub.

Well there's an exception of few subreddits who explicitly banned bitcointip bot for unknown reasons. That makes me a saad panda. I'm looking at you, /r/technology, wtf.

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I don't believe mining can be profitable right now, unless you have access to cheap electricity, can invest some heavy fund first and are DAMN SURE what you're doing. Hopefully prices of ASICs will be dropping down some and that situation may change.

Amazing. I love Reddit's generosity at times. Good on you!

And as for my question... Why bitcoins? Do you trade in them? Mine them?

Please read my comments in this thread, those questions have already been answered.

What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?

On a second thought, let's not use Bitcoin; it is a silly idea.

Thanks for this, mega interesting. I helped some internet stranger out with some code last year and he tipped me £100 in bitcoins, when they were about £10/bitcoin. I've not done anything with them, but now I'm seeing news stories everywhere saying they are £30/bitcoin, have I tripled my money? Sell them or keep them? All a bit of a mystery to me!

No, you still have 10BTC. Some people are ready to pay three times more than what they'd pay when you got them, sure, but I'd hold to them if I were you.

One more question from me - I just want to make sure I'm understanding this.

to be safe - let's say I meet up with someone and trade them cash for BTC. They scan a QR code that I have either on my phone or on my computer. If we're connected to wifi, the transaction will [probably] go through right then and there. If not, the transaction will clear the minute I get into a wifi zone.

THEN, is it good practice to transfer the BTC from that address to a different one, ensuring the person you just met can't try to gain access to the account they just sent to?

Also, if you're not in a wifi zone, what's to stop the seller from pretending to transfer you BTC, take your money and then leaving?

Thanks for the AMA - I've been on research overload the past 36 hours and I'm at the point where it's all coming together.

THEN, is it good practice to transfer the BTC from that address to a different one, ensuring the person you just met can't try to gain access to the account they just sent to?

There's no way for them to access those funds once sent. That's one of the key features of the whole thing.

Also, if you're not in a wifi zone, what's to stop the seller from pretending to transfer you BTC, take your money and then leaving?

Obviously you need a way to check if the transaction confirms. If you have no wifi access, there's always 3G. Or, an e-wallet that sends you a text on incoming transactions. Or someone you trust monitoring a wallet. Or dozens other ways you could do that. Not to confirm it somehow would make you a fool, and those are known to be easily parted with their money.

If someone wanted to cheat you, I'd be more afraid of "I've got a knife/gun here, now leave your cash and GTFO" scenario.

I don't have any questions right now but to say kudos! I want to learn more about btc and im googling away, will you have this username for awhile if I had a question that needed further clarification?

Again keep up the good work, this reminds of old reddit a bit.

Sure. If you could ask, here instead of pm'ing , that way more people can benefit.

is there any way you can guide me to the best way to start mining and becoming proficient at bitcoining? thanks

Unfortunately no. To understand why I don't think new users should start their adventure with Bitcoin by mining, see my other comments in this thread.

I have about 60 workstations running high end graphic cards at my disposal 24/7 with no electricity charge to me, could i be mining and profit from it?

If you don't own them you should ask for the owners permission first - I believe they put a guy in jail for something like this at some point. No wonder, you're basically stealing resources.

If you own them, be sure to understand what you're trying to achieve and do your own calculations - or at least check any numbers some website might give you.

I have known about bit coins for about two years. would you say its a good investments. i believe when i first went to mtgox.com it said they were trading for about fifteen dollars. if im correct a bitcoin is worth about 30-35 right now. is it true that only a certain number of bitcoins will be genereated because if that is the case wouldnt the value skyrocket once no more bitcoins are being generated. that being said should i buy some and hold onto them?

There can only be 21 million BTCs, that's a number hardwired into the system. Bear in mind that it's a figure to be reached in a year 2140 though, lots of shit can happen until then.

As for the investment part, you need to judge for yourself. I'd advise you to only put any cash that you wouldn't mind loosing, unless you're absolutely sure what you're doing.

How does it feel that you are one of my favorite people in the world for letting me get my feet wet in the Bitcoin market and also letting me donate to a good cause?

Pretty good actually :). Now I hope that you'll hold on to your coins and donate some more when their value grows.

Unfortunately, I found out that there was a slight glitch and some may have been removed from my account, however, if they depreciate in value, I shall buy, buy, buy and I think I might make it my goal to donate at least once every month to a good cause! Think that's fair? :D

That's more than fair, that's awesome. Just one thing though: if you want to buy coins and treat them as an investment, like with any other investment don't put any money in it that you can't afford to loose. You never know.

Yea, I have been hearing that for quite sometime, however they just are such a good investment and so tempting :'( Like seriously the growth of Bitcoins in even the last week has been phenomenal!

That's why you should be cautious, it's not natural. Most of those "investors" will dump their coins on the slightest price drops, which makes that market so unstable. If you want to invest in btc anyway, buy as many as you can, store them in a safe place (physical paper wallet/brain wallet) and forget about them for a year or two.

Or you could try and run your own btc related business, but that's a whole different story...