SIMPLE BITCOIN BEGINNERS GUIDE

[one4all]

@jgm63 As also you have provided a very nice and informative guide! Thanks again!

Bookmarked for future research

 

[jgm63]

Updated monero notes

To further increase anonymity, you can use monero (XMR).

1 Setup a coinbase or coinmama account and buy BTC
(see notes above for how to choose between coinbase and coinmama - there are various factors involved)
2 Setup a bitcoin wallet, eg wasabi or electrum (optional, but good idea)
3 If you carried out step 2, then transfer BTC from coinbase to bitcoin wallet

4 Setup an XMR wallet using "mymonero" (There are more "ideal" ways to create XMR wallets but they are more complex and it takes a long time for the synchronise process to complete)

5 Use morphtoken to buy XMR using BTC :
> send BTC to morphtoken from coinbase (or from your BTC wallet if you set one up)
> morphtoken will send XMR to your XMR wallet

If morphtoken is blocked in your region, try using the TOR browser (connect to the same morphtoken.com URL). Alternatively you could use a VPN (try connecting to a server in a different country, try different countries). Alternatively, try "changenow.io".

When asked for your "bitcoin refund address", you can simply give the address of your bitcoin wallet, which you should see if you click the "receive" button / tab (or similar).

6 If the vendor accepts monero, then pay the vendor from your XMR wallet

7 If the vendor doesn't accept monero, then use "xmr.to" to send BTC to the marketplace / seller :
> send XMR to xmr.to from your XMR wallet
> xmr.to will send BTC to the marketplace / seller

If xmr.to is blocked in your region, try using the TOR browser (connect to the same xmr.to URL). Alternatively you could use a VPN (try connecting to a server in a different country, try different countries). Alternatively, use morphtoken or changenow.io (you might still need to use TOR or a VPN with those).

When asked for your "refund address", you can simply give the address of your mymonero wallet, which you should see if you click the "receive" button / tab (or similar).

In general, leave time gaps of at least 2 or 3 hours between each step.
You also want to vary the amounts of money being transferred.
You can do this by taking the final amount to be sent to the marketplace / seller, and adding say 10 to 15%.
You would then buy that increased amount in step 1 within coinbase.
Then when performing the transfer for step 3, reduce the amount being transferred by 2 or 3%.
And so on, reducing the amount at each step.

 

[Death.]

Excellent again. As a Bitcoin expert myself this is brilliant and to the point.

 

[faust]

@jgm63 This is absolutely brilliant! Thank you for the information and your effort!

 

[jgm63]

Monero notes : payment with improved anonymity

OVERVIEW :
> Setup coinbase or coinmama account and buy BTC
> Setup bitcoin wallet, eg wasabi or electrum
> Transfer BTC from coinbase/coinmama to bitcoin wallet
> Setup XMR wallet using "mymonero"
> Use morphtoken website to buy XMR (send BTC to morphtoken from BTC wallet, morphtoken sends XMR to your XMR wallet)
> If vendor accepts monero, pay vendor from XMR wallet
> Otherwise use "xmr.to" website to send BTC to vendor (send XMR to xmr.to from XMR wallet, xmr.to sends BTC to vendor)

DETAIL :

General notes (not essential but may improve anonymity)
Leave time gaps of an hour or two between each step.
Vary the amounts of money being transferred, as follows :
> Take final amount to be sent to marketplace / seller, and add say 10 to 15%.
> Buy that increased amount in step 1.
> When performing the transfer for step 3, reduce the amount being transferred by 2 or 3%.
> And so on, reducing the amount at each step.

1 Setup a coinbase or coinmama account and buy BTC
(see these notes to choose between coinbase and coinmama, and further notes here)
2 Setup a bitcoin wallet, eg wasabi or electrum. If using coinbase this is optional, but a good idea. If using coinmama this is required (coinmama has no "built in" wallet).
3 If you carried out step 2, then transfer BTC from coinbase/coinmama to bitcoin wallet

4 Setup an XMR wallet using "mymonero" (There are more "ideal" ways to create XMR wallets but they are more complex and it takes a long time for the synchronise process to complete). You can download and install mymonero or access it as a web wallet (scroll to bottom of webpage, click "Quick access wallet online"). Note : you can't use TOR to access the mymonero website. Use a regular browser.

5 Use morphtoken website to buy XMR using BTC :
> send BTC to morphtoken from coinbase (or from your BTC wallet if you set one up)
> morphtoken will send XMR to your XMR wallet

If morphtoken is blocked in your region, try using the TOR browser (connect to the same morphtoken.com URL). Alternatively you could use a VPN (try connecting to a server in a different country, try different countries). Alternatively, try "changenow.io".

When asked for your "bitcoin refund address", you can simply give the address of your bitcoin wallet, which you should see if you click the "receive" button / tab (or similar).

6 If the vendor accepts monero, then pay the vendor from your XMR wallet

7 If the vendor doesn't accept monero, then use "xmr.to" website to send BTC to the marketplace / seller :
> send XMR to xmr.to from your XMR wallet
> xmr.to will send BTC to the marketplace / seller

If xmr.to is blocked in your region, try using the TOR browser (connect to the same xmr.to URL). Alternatively you could use a VPN (try connecting to a server in a different country, try different countries). Alternatively, use morphtoken or changenow.io (you might still need to use TOR or a VPN with those).

When asked for your "refund address", you can simply give the address of your mymonero wallet, which you should see if you click the "receive" button / tab (or similar).

 

[enjolras]

Back when I was using XMR.to on a computer, it was publishing an Onion address to load the site via Tor
I just noticed they are swimming backwards. Situations are never frozen

Monero Website XMR.to Removes Onion Address, Becomes Less Private

Update from Twitter: Our onion address is temporarily down. It will be back tomorrow. Our onion address is temporarily down. It will be back tomorrow. — xmr.to (@xmr_to) 29 July 2019 Monero has been gaining

cryptogazette.com

https://xmr.to/blog

> If vendor accepts monero, pay vendor from XMR wallet

That's the mother of all matters. It should be the starting point of utmost importance, that could turn everything upside down.
In the past, A expressed willingness to look after any coin suggestion. I can't tell it's the same person nowadays, that would be receptive, given the communication skills have drastically changed. C should be already familiar with it through EM.
The quest would be that peeps request to pay by Monero, until it's accepted.
Then a Monero guide could be written, with several alternatives that are minimalistic in approach, very straight forward, yet optimised, more secured, using less services and tech setups.

edit : it seems you should recommend this URL as of now (clearnet no-JavaScript version), to load on Tor
https://xmr.to/nojs/

 

[jgm63]

Note...
Coinmama may have issues sending to bitcoin addresses starting with "bc1" (segwit / bech32 address).
Workaround :
> Use electrum (not wasabi)
> Create a new wallet (File / New)
> Select "Legacy" instead of Segwit, at the relevant step
In the new wallet, on the "Receive" tab, you should see an address starting with "1" (legacy / P2PKH address).
You should be able to buy bitcoin on coinmama using that address.

 

[Michael1127]

Monero notes : payment with improved anonymity

OVERVIEW :
> Setup coinbase or coinmama account and buy BTC
> Setup bitcoin wallet, eg wasabi or electrum
> Transfer BTC from coinbase/coinmama to bitcoin wallet
> Setup XMR wallet using "mymonero"
> Use morphtoken website to buy XMR (send BTC to morphtoken from BTC wallet, morphtoken sends XMR to your XMR wallet)
> If vendor accepts monero, pay vendor from XMR wallet
> Otherwise use "xmr.to" website to send BTC to vendor (send XMR to xmr.to from XMR wallet, xmr.to sends BTC to vendor)

DETAIL :

General notes (not essential but may improve anonymity)
Leave time gaps of an hour or two between each step.
Vary the amounts of money being transferred, as follows :
> Take final amount to be sent to marketplace / seller, and add say 10 to 15%.
> Buy that increased amount in step 1.
> When performing the transfer for step 3, reduce the amount being transferred by 2 or 3%.
> And so on, reducing the amount at each step.

1 Setup a coinbase or coinmama account and buy BTC
(see these notes to choose between coinbase and coinmama, and further notes here)
2 Setup a bitcoin wallet, eg wasabi or electrum. If using coinbase this is optional, but a good idea. If using coinmama this is required (coinmama has no "built in" wallet).
3 If you carried out step 2, then transfer BTC from coinbase/coinmama to bitcoin wallet

4 Setup an XMR wallet using "mymonero" (There are more "ideal" ways to create XMR wallets but they are more complex and it takes a long time for the synchronise process to complete). You can download and install mymonero or access it as a web wallet (scroll to bottom of webpage, click "Quick access wallet online"). Note : you can't use TOR to access the mymonero website. Use a regular browser.

5 Use morphtoken website to buy XMR using BTC :
> send BTC to morphtoken from coinbase (or from your BTC wallet if you set one up)
> morphtoken will send XMR to your XMR wallet

If morphtoken is blocked in your region, try using the TOR browser (connect to the same morphtoken.com URL). Alternatively you could use a VPN (try connecting to a server in a different country, try different countries). Alternatively, try "changenow.io".

When asked for your "bitcoin refund address", you can simply give the address of your bitcoin wallet, which you should see if you click the "receive" button / tab (or similar).

6 If the vendor accepts monero, then pay the vendor from your XMR wallet

7 If the vendor doesn't accept monero, then use "xmr.to" website to send BTC to the marketplace / seller :
> send XMR to xmr.to from your XMR wallet
> xmr.to will send BTC to the marketplace / seller

If xmr.to is blocked in your region, try using the TOR browser (connect to the same xmr.to URL). Alternatively you could use a VPN (try connecting to a server in a different country, try different countries). Alternatively, use morphtoken or changenow.io (you might still need to use TOR or a VPN with those).

When asked for your "refund address", you can simply give the address of your mymonero wallet, which you should see if you click the "receive" button / tab (or similar).

Do I have to take real names for example for coinbase ? (For the registration)

 

[bukowski]

Do I have to take real names for example for coinbase ? (For the registration)

Yes

 

[enjolras]

I tested again the mobile app Wirex, in order to acquire Bitcoin by card. The registration is simple but took 1 day of wait to be approved. The cost to buy BTC by card is only 1.5%-3% (depending on the amount)... to my knowledge it's the least expensive of all places (by card).

Poloniex is immediate to process the verification and requires no selfie. Fees (for card) = 3.5%

 

[TotallyIsolated]

Why has this thread not been nuked? This blatant spam has nothing to do with suicide.

Crypto is just a scam - dont fall for it. Its like an MLM pyramid scheme - a tiny fraction of people will make money, and the vast majority of people who sink money into it will lose every penny.

 

[enjolras]

Errrr
We're not here to invest but to pay with more anonymity than other means, plus because that's the way imposed by merchants
Besides, there are cryptos (stable coins) that are correlated to fiat money that pay interest. Look for DeFi / Celsius, that functions like your bank to generate revenues, except they're shared not robbed. Nuances nuances

 

[jgm63]

Why has this thread not been nuked? This blatant spam has nothing to do with suicide.

Crypto is just a scam - dont fall for it. Its like an MLM pyramid scheme - a tiny fraction of people will make money, and the vast majority of people who sink money into it will lose every penny.

As @enjolras stated, this thread is simply telling people how to purchase bitcoin so they can make purchases from vendors who accept bitcoin / monero, etc.

It is not telling people how to make money from bitcoin trading or mining, etc.

 

[enjolras]

I tested again the mobile app Wirex, in order to acquire Bitcoin by card. The registration is simple but took 1 day of wait to be approved. The cost to buy BTC by card is only 1.5%-3% (depending on the amount)... to my knowledge it's the least expensive of all places (by card).

Poloniex is immediate to process the verification and requires no selfie. Fees (for card) = 3.5%

I stand corrected. Not recommending Wirex in the end. The BTC withdrawal (transfer out) fees have been gigantic, above $12, which adds up 1.6% to my 750€ purchase. Moreover, they're announced late rather than in advance = poor transparency & not so practical to deposit into the Cake mobile Wallet (to receive BTC directly exchanged to XMR/Monero) with the given order of the steps to handle
Noteworthy: with Wirex, one could acquire other cryptos than BTC to induce low tx out fees, like XRP (Ripple), even ETH (Ethereum) to deposit into Cake, but the exchange fees will then be higher than BTC>XMR cause XRP>XMR or ETH>XMR is an indirect conversion for the exchange partners of Cake (ChangeNow and Morphtoken). Overall, the logic with altcoins' circuit should be a better value but XRP & ETH require more than 1 set of string/input to transfer coins, unlike Bitcoin, so for the rookie, why not avoid it.

————

Therefore, for card purchases, I'm recommending Binance & Poloniex equally, which both permit to trade the acquired BTC into XMR (Monero). The fees charged for the card are both 3.5% (processed by Simplex for the identification steps). The trading fees are almost identical and the cheapest of the industry (very slight advantage for Binance, to neglect) and the withdrawal fees reasonable (approx $4 for Bitcoin and likely around <$0.5 for Monero) and transparent.

If one doesn't know or will be confused how to trade 1 cryptocurrency for another (via the XMR/BTC pair) at a trading exchange, XMR can be purchased directly by card through AnyCoinDirect or Bitnovo, but the total cost will be higher (around 8%), about double in total
(I compared with other services that were worse, like Changelly and others)

 

[enjolras]

Changing again my top recommendation, since been practicing again & more, testing different portals.

Bitpanda is really the best for Bitcoin purchase by card, and also perfectly suited for wire transfers (free deposits). The verification is more demanding than other sites because it requires video verification, but once setup, it's perfect, with high security. The fees to deposit fiat by card are 1.49%. Then, load the Bitpanda PRO site (different site), and transfer your deposited fiat at Bitpanda to Bitpanda Pro for free. From there, Bitpanda Pro is a real typical exchange with trading interface. It might upset some but is manageable really. Then the trading fees are 0.1%. In total, Bitpanda turns the most cost efficient by card, at just 1.6% fees in total, and the experience is flawless (austrian/german standards, excellent support)
0.1% trading fees... even by free wire transfer deposit, is several times cheaper than Coinbase or Coinmama (relatively, although we are talking of sub % magnitudes)

 

[Nada]

-- About MONERO (and not Mymonero) --

If for some reason (like, picturing yourself as an online security expert when you know sweet f*** all about digital currencies), you decided to download the Monero application instead of setting an online wallet with Mymonero (as suggested by jgm63), you may be disturbed by how long it takes for your wallet to fully synchronise, and thus be fully operational. Worst, you might load it through Morphtoken without any apparent change in its balance, despite the trade being "complete" on the latter.
Do not panic (just yet): use this tool to verify the transaction is reported and your coins didn't vanish. Then, you can either wait for up to several days, or decide to speed the process up.
The wallet by default works in "local node": it downloads the entire blockchain on your computer. A slightly less secure but acceptable alternative is to point it to a "remote note": it uses a third-party server to access the Monero network. Depending of the wallet you chose (Monero offers the GUI or CLI models), the way to change from a node to another is different. Here is how to do it with a GUI wallet (instructions are easily available for the CLI wallet, but if you're a CLI user you probably know what you're doing as it seems much more complex in the first place):
1) access your wallet in "advanced mode": by default it is in simple mode, so you must close it (arrow pointing right in the top right corner), click "change wallet mode" and then "advanced";
2) SETTINGS > NODE: by default it will be set on "local", you can switch it to "remote";
3) find a trusted node's address and its port: as of the writing of this post, some were listed here (do not forget to check them as explained).
The sync process is then a matter of minutes. If you already had "morphed" XMR to it, the transaction will appear in the history and the balance will be restored...

 

[Busdriver]

Paying with Monero gives some anonimity compared to paying with BTC. How would Tails fit in the proces of paying more anonymously with Monero?

Or are the steps outlined by @jgm63 in this post enough?

 

[Eadamk]

I noticed CashApp lets you buy and send bitcoin. what about that?

 

[BrokenArrow]

This is definitely a good guide and covers most stuff.

If you REALLY want to be anonymous, set up TAILS from a bootable USB device, install a Feather wallet in TAILS for Monero.

Then buy Monero over the clearnet, or exchange BTC for XMR and move it to your regular clearnet desktop wallet that is tied to your identity.

Then transfer it into the anonymous TAILS Feather wallet, before sending it to the actual receiver.

So, the path is: BUY MONERO FROM EXCHANGE----->SEND TO YOUR NORMAL DESKTOP WALLET---->SEND TO YOUR ANONYMOUS TAILS WALLET---->SEND TO FINAL RECEIVER

Bitcoin is now jokingly referred to as 'Surveillance Coin' as there are private companies set up with the sole purpose of scanning the ledger of transactions (which is totally visible to everyone) so they can pair off transaction amounts with addresses in order to bust people for making illegal purchases.

Coinbase have also refused transactions and gotten the police involved where people have tried to send Bitcoin directly to 'bad' crypto addresses.

 

[BrokenArrow]

I don't mean to hijack this thread or spam it in any way - but the below video illustrates the key differences between BTC and Monero really well and it's worth watching if you're considering using cryptocurrencies to make purchases.

 

[deadinside44]

@watchhergarden