Bitcoins Information.

I'd really appreciate if someone could give me a guide or write explaining how exactly bitcoins work.


What I Know:

-Wallets Exist to hold bitcoins, many are hackable and you run a risk of your bitcoins being lost, I've heard something about a key unique to your own computer etc.

-Bitcoins flux huge amounts it would seem

-Bitcoins transactions are irreversible and unable to chargeback




What I dont know:

-What is the best wallet, and I need to know where/how to do this like,personal computer key thing so I know my bitcoins are safe.

-Where/How do you send/recieve bitcoins

-Is there a way for someone younger then 18(17) without a paypal/bank account/WU to get IRL cash selling bitcoins?

-Is there a way for bitcoins to be changed into gift cards/store credit?

-What exactly is "1" bitcoin, I've seen like crazy decimals of bitcoins and stuff on primedice, if you could explain how the decimal system works with bitcoins it'd be helpful(like is 0.1 =10% of 1 bitcoin, etc).


I tryed to be specific so I could get specific responses.
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What I dont know:


As far as i'm aware, there's no really 'best wallet'. I believe coinbase is pretty good though.

You can send bitcoins to other peoples wallets, they'll just have to give you their wallet address.

I mean, if you sell BTC to people here on Sythe at decent rates i'm sure someone would pay WU. Don't really think the margins would be good enough to make a profit though.

Not sure if you can exchange or purchase gift cards with BTC, do some research on vendors that take BTC and see what products you can get.

Yes, 1 Bitcoin (BTC) is currently worth $375. If you had .1 BTC you would have $37.50 worth.


Hope I helped.

 

Try this thread: http://www.sythe.org/cryptocurrency-discussion/1665753-what-crypto-currency.html

 

1. The best wallet is a subjective question. You may very well end up using more than one type of wallet. There are online wallets for convenience of speed, but lack the enthusiasts security. Then there are wallets like Armory which offer multisig addresses and heavy encryption on keys that you own and are never shared or store online. All around though, if you aren't keeping anything over 10k in bitcoins, either blockchain.info, coinbase.com, or circle.com (my new favorite) would be best.

2. Sending bitcoin is like sending mail, just extremely faster. You know the address where you're sending them, and once sent and confirmed the network (everyone) agrees that those bitcoins now exist in their new address.

3.Legally? Probably not. Is there a way? Well unless you feel comfortable meeting face to face with someone, then probably not. You listed most of the ways people get it out to fiat, so if you can't use any of those things, then you probably will have a difficult time transferring it to fiat. Most banks allow 16 or older so you could transfer it to banks from sites like circle.com or coinbase.com at that age. Maybe younger if you can get parent permission to create an bank account and the bank allows it.

4. Definitely. Gyft.com does this with almost every major store brand known and accepts bitcoins.

5. 1 bitcoin is just the largest unit of bitcoin. 0.00000001 is one "satoshi" as most people agree.. I think that name is stupid, but people agree on it. The number is, again, subjective. Bitcoin is already predestined to have only 21 million full coins, but that leaves room for many angles of interpretation. One could move the decimal place one to the right and say there will be 210 million coins. Many people like the idea of mbtc. 1 mbtc is 0.001 btc. So if you have 1 full bitcoin, you have 1000 mbtc. Like I said, see it however you wish, don't let not having a full bitcoin give you problems using them.

 

I'll try best I can to answer.

Being "hackable" doesn't really mean much. Paper dollars are "Stealable." Money in your online banking account is "hackable," etc. Bitcoin wallets are very secure if you use them properly, they're quite safe to hold.

Yes.

I use electrum client, that way you don't have to constantly download the blockchain. Its pretty secure, and if you're keeping under a few bitcoin that's what I'd recommend.

There is plenty of information on google on the various clients and how to secure bitcoin properly. You can always keep it completely offline, only used on a fresh windows install, etc.

Just make sure to keep offline backups of your wallets, and write down any passwords and store them securely.

You can buy them on an exchange, or from an individual, etc etc. You can of course sell things for BTC.

Once you have a wallet, to send you type the other persons address and an amount and it'll send. Just be careful its copied correctly. To receive you just give out your address.

Well, you can always buy things with them. There is a site called gyft.com where you can buy giftcards instantly for bitcoin. But plenty of places accept bitcoin as payment.

As far as getting IRL cash without a bank account, paypal, and not wanting to pick up WU not really. Same as selling anything, you kind of need those.

gyft.com

1 bitcoin is 1.

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Units

edit: Although the other guys explanation is better.

I hope that kind of helped.

 

Thanks everyone for the help!

 

bump, the more info the better!

 

Everything has been answered, ask more questions.

 

New Questions:

Why is BTC so vastly Unstable?


How much of a Risk do I run of losing money?

Is BTC going to be around a long time?

Is it true there will only be 21 million bitcoins sold?