Originally Posted by
mickeycrimm
I want to start buying bitcoin. I'm a complete novice and don't want to get screwed. So I'm looking for advice from any of you that know anything about it.
First question: Is Coinbase okay or should I buy somewhere else?
2nd question: Can I buy bitcoin with a credit card?
I started out with coinbase because that's where I was recommended(it wasn't the best recommendation). It was certainly easy to set up, it's probably one of the most reputable and well-known. They do require a photo ID and I believe they wanted a selfie as well.
I ran into some small limit problems when I attached my debit card. I think I could only by like $5- twenty bucks worth at the beginning. Eventually, they rose my limits, I'm not even sure how much I can buy at this point. When I bought with a credit card there seemed to be a fairly big delay from the time I made the purchase to the time and actually got hit my coinbase account, I can't recall exactly how long, but it was more than 24 hours. I was able to purchase $2,000 worth using my credit card.
(Unfortunately, I got f***** out of that $2,000 which would have doubled at this point. I'll explain later how I got f*****. )
As Dan pointed out, Buying and selling crypto on coinbase kind of sucks with the fees, but it's not a complete go breaker if you're not constantly buying and selling and depositing and cashing out. Don't let buying and selling crypto be confused with transferring crypto to and from casinos or other wallets. I haven't noticed unusually high transferring fees. In my opinion you're better off finding someone to sell you cryptocurrency privately and save all the fees, ditto for when selling it.
I heard Robinhood is good, but I have no idea if that's the case.
I have yet to have a problem depositing or withdrawing from an online casino to coinbase. I do know a few people that have had a small issue using it for online gambling, I think that issue consisted of a warning. Coinbase is supposed to comply with all us regulations. From my understanding they can potentially track whatever you're doing.
Soon after I got into crypto I purchased two Trezor Hardware Wallets, I think they cost about 50 bucks. I think that's one of the safest way to keep and use cryptocurrency and remain anonymous(depending on how you purchase the crypto)
Depending on what you're doing you might need wash/ mix your cryptocurrency so it doesn't look like it's coming from the same person/ people. That's not so easy to do when you're using a hard wallet(you can use a mixing service). Coinbase naturally mixes up coins so you get to avoid that step.
How I got f***** out of $2,000. I had my brother purchased me some more Bitcoin somewhere in the $4800 range when it dropped. When my brother went to send me my Bitcoin, but it didn't seem to arrive. I told him to send me the Bitcoin address he sent it to. When I looked at the address he sent it to and looked at the address I told him to send it to it wasn't even close(I like, how can you f****** a copy and paste?). After doing some investigation, it turns out he had a virus on his computer that switches any Bitcoin address once you paste it anywhere. SO ALWAYS CHECK THE BTC ADDRESSES BEFORE YOU HIT SEND.
And here's the thing, my brother is very meticulous at running virus scans and malware protection with a fire law and all that with this computer. Even after words he still couldn't find and delete the virus he had to do a completely format of this computer.
If you're just doing some online casinos I don't think there's anything wrong with starting off with coinbase it's fairly easy to use and the fee shouldn't hurt you too bad if you have a fairly good bonus or whatever you're doing online.
Also you can advance to coinbase Pro for free and the fees are a lot less on coinbase Pro if you're doing any kind of crypto Trading.
I'm far from a Bitcoin expert, I still learn stuff as I'm going there's a chance that I have no clue what I'm f****** talking about. I would love for someone else to chime in had some advice or correct anything I had to say.