How to get some bitcoins anonymously?

Discussion in 'privacy technology' started by lucygrl, Feb 27, 2014.

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  1. lucygrl

    lucygrl Registered Member

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    How to get some bitcoins anonymously? Is it a good idea to try and mint some? If so, what is the best way?
     
  2. lotuseclat79

    lotuseclat79 Registered Member

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    Hi lucygrl,

    Minting Bitcoins these days requires lots of computing horsepower which requires paying high power/electric bills which unfortunately are out-of-reach for individuals unless you are an individual with unlimited ( huge ) financial resources.

    You might try to look up Bitcoin at Wikipedia to find out how to get some Bitcoins anonymously.

    -- Tom
     
  3. mirimir

    mirimir Registered Member

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    It's becoming harder and harder to buy Bitcoins even a little anonymously. What's possible depends on where you are. And there are trade-offs.

    Mailing cash to a seller is anonymous, but you have no recourse if they burn you. It hurts their reputation, perhaps, but that doesn't help recover your cash.

    Meeting in person, to exchange cash for Bitcoins, also involves risk. Go with trusted friends to cover you.

    Bitcoin.it has two good resources:

    https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Buying_Bitcoins_(the_noob_version)
    https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/How_To_Buy_Bitcoins_With_Your_Credit_Card

    I recommend buying as anonymously as you can without putting yourself or your money at great risk. Once you have the Bitcoins, it's easy to anonymize them, as described in https://www.ivpn.net/privacy-guides/advanced-privacy-and-anonymity-part-7.
     
  4. lucygrl

    lucygrl Registered Member

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    Is there one wallet that can handle most cryptocurrencies or does each currency have its own wallet?
     
  5. mirimir

    mirimir Registered Member

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    I've never looked into that.

    Generally, there probably isn't, because the protocols are different.

    But you can have multiple wallets in one Whonix instance, one for each cryptocurrency.

    With hosted wallets, accessible via browser, you can have as many as you like. But I don't recommend those, because they're insecure, and may disappear without warning. They're OK for receiving initial purchases, however, if that's necessary.
     
  6. rock_man

    rock_man Registered Member

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    I am still learning about bitcoin and I own none currently, but one of the important take-aways so far...

    Hosted wallets are necessary for online exchanges. Once the transaction clears, get the funds out of that online wallet quickly. Ideally, get them offline as soon as possible. Only transfer what you need to an online wallet for making a purchase. Large amounts should be in offline, cold storage.

    This is one of the lessons learned from the Mt. Gox debacle.
     
  7. mirimir

    mirimir Registered Member

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    Actually, there are at least three sorts of wallets:

    1) Hosted wallets are needed for trading on exchanges. They're also necessary if you want access a wallet via multiple devices.

    2) Hot wallets are online, and synchronized with the blockchain. Each Bitcoin client can manage many wallets. The classic Bitcoin-Qt client is fully part of the blockchain swarm. Although it doesn't try to solve new blocks, it still handles many GB of data, and is a network and CPU hog. The Multibit client is online, but it's synchronized with the blockchain via a third-party site. I haven't seen claims that it's less secure than the Bitcoin-Qt client.

    3) Offline wallets are indeed safest for storing large amounts. However, I don't believe that it's possible to transfer Bitcoins between wallets offline. All wallet-wallet transfers must be part of the consensus blockchain. If they're not, they didn't happen, as far as the Bitcoin network is concerned. What is possible is transferring wallets from one client to another. But it's not possible to transfer parts of wallets.
     
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